Anyone have any experience with Motobecane bikes?
I am specifically interested in their line of full suspension mountain bikes
that are available on ebay and bikesdirect.com for a fraction of the cost of
other major brands. I am uneasy about buying something that I have never
ridden, and can only seem to find their products at online retailers.
Thanks,
Tim Oakes
New York City
Do a search; they’ve been discussed.
Old Motobecane were great bikes. The company was bought out and the brand is now just a name that’s plastered on bikes from Taiwan. Decent bikes, and I think some people often buy their Ultegra-equipped road bikes just for the grouppo, strip it down, and sell the frame.
You might check roadbikereview.com to see if anyone’s ridden the specific bike you’re looking at.
Have a friend who bought the tri bike this year. Super Cheap with an Ultegra Kit. Seems like a decent bike for the money. You can always buy a better frame and switch parts
Thanks Bryce & Chris.
I checked out ‘Motobecane’ and ‘Sprtymama’ in the archives. Was helpful. Seems as if a lot of people have bought bikes from her (sprtymama) on ebay and have been pleased - she has road, tri & mtn. bikes.
Assuming one is willing to maybe have to swap out the frame down the road should things go wrong, the components are easily worth the price.
Anyone familiar with the WTB Speed disc wheels that are spec’d on her mtn. bikes?
http://stores.ebay.com/SPRTYMAMA-BIKE-SHOP
Thanks,
Tim
nothing terribly wrong with those frames, nothing terribly right either. Generally from what I’ve heard (heard a lot and never actually ridden one) they aren’t made from as high quality and as articulately butted tubing as many other frames. This isn’t always a bad thing but it generally means that the weight is probably going to be a bit higher than a similar frame design from other brands. They generally use a tried and true four bar linkages which are pretty good but not really cutting edge (if that matters).
The parts spec is usually pretty solid with a smattering of crap parts on them that might need to be replaced, often you’ll find the crappy parts in areas like the brakes, saddle, or crank. But then sometimes the parts kit is superb and as others said you could easily buy the bike, ride it a while and if you ever wanted to upgrade, just keep the parts and buy a new frame.
The wheels are decent wheels, pretty common wheels and if you want more opinions go to mtbr.com and search the reviews for them.
Other good options are KHS, IronHorse or even Jamis bikes which all make it a point with a good many of their bikes to produce decently performing, if slightly overbuilt and underengineered frames that are spec’d to the nines for nice low pricepoitns. Plus you can generally find these bike (especially the IronHorse) at blowout pricing.
If it were me, I’d be picking up an IronHorse with a DW-Link rear suspension. Do a search on them on the internet and dig around a bit. Can’t remember if it was Cambria, BikesDirect or who it was but they are priced at an insane value if you get lucky.
Also realize that after a certain point a bike is a bike, but some of the name brands do have very very very good reason for costing more than some of the off name brands… Just depends on what your values are.
I have a 2005 Motobecane Fly 9357 (the hardtail with XT, XTR, and some M-Wings cheap stuff), and I’ve loved it. It weights 21.2 pounds, with pedals, and is an absolute rocket. Only problem I’ve had with it was the stock skewers were crap - my rear wheel would drop and I’d go flying over the handlebars if I was hammering - sounds bad, wasn’t really. A set of Salsas fixed that. I also broke the stock Velo saddle - which was a really nice saddle, I miss it. I’ve put a lot of really hard miles on it, raced it, and wrecked it a lot, and the frame is holding up well (Riding mostly at 165lbs).
Thanks Tai.
mtbr review re: the WTB wheel set was helpful, and not favorable at all.
I’m going to check out some bike shops this weekend who carry Ironhorse, KHS, and Jamis. A friend also recommended Rocky Mtn. & Kona.
Thanks again,
Tim