Bikes Direct.com

jrstevens said:

Anyone have an experience good or bad they can share from purchasing a bike from www.bikesdirect.com. They seem to offer great prices on Motobecanes and Mercier bikes that are well spec'd. in fact the prices seem almost too good to be true. Is this a merchant one should stay away from? Any comments would be appreciated.

JS

They offer a discount because they take last years equipment, slap their names on them and sell it at a discount. I think it is cheesy because they are being deceitful about it. I read a post saying that this years Motobecanes are last years Fuji's.

Here is more in it:

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t166131-.html

I didn't see the post where that was stated however I compared one of this year's Motobecanes they're selling with an '04 Fuji model on the Fuji bike archive and they do look suspiciously familiar. Thanks for your post. Any other comments out there?

JS

jrstevens said:

I didn't see the post where that was stated however I compared one of this year's Motobecanes they're selling with an '04 Fuji model on the Fuji bike archive and they do look suspiciously familiar. Thanks for your post. Any other comments out there?

JS

One of the guys that was building a 04 fuji team superlight frame on bikeforums.net noticed his frame was exactly like the motobecanes of this year. That is where I heard that one.

If you do a search on this forum for bikesdirect or windsor you'll see alot of posts about bikesdirect.

Don't worry about it not being a legit business. They have actual stores in Phoenix. I've posted about my Windsor Fens I bought off them. I'm now up to almost 800 miles on the bike and it still rides great.

I don't know about the past models thing, but even if that is true I would think your still getting a great deal over last years prices. And as far as I know Fuji is a good brand(I test rode one at a local shop before buying my Fens). So if they want to slap a different sticker on a Fuji frame so they can sell it cheaper more power to 'em.

The only thing I have seen brought up about bikesdirect that may be a cause for concern are warranty issues. But I haven't seen anyone post anything bad about that so far.

jrstevens said:

I didn't see the post where that was stated however I compared one of this year's Motobecanes they're selling with an '04 Fuji model on the Fuji bike archive and they do look suspiciously familiar. Thanks for your post. Any other comments out there?

JS

I'd ignore the brand names and model years on these generic bikes. You're obviously buying a high-volume generic frame made in China for this money; that's what a bargain ride is all about.

A guy here has been riding a "Motobecane" from bikesdirect for the last two seasons and is very happy with it.

Appears most folks are pleased with their purchases from bikesdirect.com I don't think I saw a single negative remark. If I end up going that route I'll post about my experiences.

JS

jrstevens said:

Appears most folks are pleased with their purchases from bikesdirect.com I don't think I saw a single negative remark. If I end up going that route I'll post about my experiences.

JS

Only negative I've heard on this forum is that it's hard to get accurate specs and technical info from them, such as exact frame tube measurements.

Apparently they aren't paying a big marketing and technical staff to come up with all the specs and answer customer questions. To me, these unknowns are the only real disadvantage. At the LBS, I can measure, sit on, inspect and test ride what I'm buying before I hand over the money. That's worth something in the business transaction, at least to me.

I had a good experience with them a few years back. I ordered and promptly received a 2003 Motobecane Le Champion. The bike was delivered right to my door, was professionally packaged, and arrived in fine shape. I've been riding it now for three seasons and really like it. I shopped around quite a bit, both online and at local bike shops, before I decided to go with bikesdirect. I paid $1,095 (including shipping) and have found the bike to be a real deal for the money . . . Kinesis 6061 aluminum frame, carbon fork, full Ultegra and a Velomax circuit wheelset. I spent another $200 to have my local bike shop assemble and tune the bike and replace the saddle and chain with better components. My LBS owner thinks it's a great bike and said that he couldn't sell a full Ultegra bike with a similar frame and wheelset for less than 2k, so I figure that I came out well ahead vis a vis a similarly equipped Trek or Cannondale purchased locally (not to worry, my LBS makes plenty from me on accessories, maintenance, shoes, clothing and miscellaneous gear). The key is to know what you're getting. Motobecane is a "generic" bike -- a good Taiwanese frame and fork spec'ed with good to very good components. But a bike like this will never get you much respect from the "elite" in your local cycling club. If you're about "bike envy," Motobecane is a bad choice. If you don't care about prestige and are more about enjoying the ride and knowing that you got a great deal, you'll be very happy with any of Motobecane's higher end road bikes. Hope this helps.

There are shops that are supposedly sister companies with bikes direct but won't admit it. I purchased an 04 Fuji from my LBS and was considering The Motobecane LeChampion they had in stock (same price and specs as the one on BD.com). The same shop offered lifetime service on the bike so I'm not worried about a crappy warranty. Research your local bike shops and you might find one of bikes directs stores. Screw what people say about bikes directs bikes not being good just because it doesn't carry big names. I say go for it. (BTW, I am not biased just because I ride a Fuji. My other bike is a FS Giant Reign 2 which also rules 🙂 )

[font=Times New Roman]Here’s the real deal. Bikesdirect.com, Motobecane, Mercier, Windsor, and Dawes are all the same people. Even on Ebay. These guys bought the trade names mentioned above in an attempt to resurrect them. [/font]

[font=Times New Roman]There is a simple truth about how most road bikes are built. However, dealers and brands try to hide this from customers. [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman] Most Road Bikes sold in the USA are made in Taiwan by 'factories' which you have probably never heard of. Such as IDEAL who builds for Fuji[/font][font=Times New Roman], Trek, Motobecane, Windsor, Terry, Dawes and many others.
Another common factory is Merida who builds for the likes of Specialized, Jamis, Mercier, Felt, Bianchi, and many others.[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]What is interesting is that these 'factories' in most cases only do assembly. They buy everything on the bike from subcontractors who make assorted parts of the bike. Then the 'factory' just applies the appropriate Name Brand decals, assembles, and boxes the bike and jacks the prices up. [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]In the case of the frame, several frame shops in Taiwan build road frames for many high end brands. Frame builders like Kinesis, A-Pro, and Astro build frames for brands like Fuji, Trek, Motobecane, Specialized, Felt, Dawes, Bianchi, LiteSpeed and dozens of others. In fact, several 'Italian' brands buy frames in Taiwan and ship them unpainted to Italy; then paint and decal them - mark them 'Made in Italy' and sell them for rather high prices. This is illegal to do in most countries including the USA if they get caught.[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]The other important components on the bike are the same from brand to brand. That is Shimano pieces and so forth. And many times the 'branded' parts such as stems, bars, and even wheels are all made in the same factories in Taiwan. For example, Ritchey, VeloMax, Bontrager, American Classic, and many other have wheels built in Taiwan (including the rims and hubs and final assembly). [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Re-branding is common in the bicycle industry (just like in most other consumer products - think of DVD players, TVs, and even shoes). So a smart consumer can get the best value by not paying much attention to the decal on the down tube - and focus on the bike, the fit, and the price (and the discount).[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]I bought the Dawes real steel DLX and love it. All for $330 shipped to my door. They offer a great warranty and since I don’t trust bike shops with working on my bikes it suits me fine. I even save big by buying my cycling gear from online stores and Ebay. I save over 50% on everything in this way. So listen to the hype and buy high dollar name brand or read the facts above, the choice is yours.[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Below is the domain registrants for some of these companies. Chicabike on Ebay is Motobecane, dawes is bikesdirect on Ebay, not sure who Ebay seller [/font][font=Arial][font=Arial]sprtymama[/font] is I believe [/font][font=Arial]Windsor[/font][font=Arial]. Could be wrong on that but I’m sure it’s one of them.[/font]

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[font=Arial]Domain Name.......... [font=Arial]dawescyclesusa.com[/font]
Creation Date........ 2004-04-30
Registration Date.... 2004-04-30
Expiry Date.......... 2014-04-30[/font]

[font=Arial]Admin Name........... michael spratt
Organisation Name.... spratt cycle support, inc
Organisation Address. 3203 old barn court
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. [font=Arial]ponte vedra beach[/font] Organisation Address. 32082
Organisation Address. FL
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Domain Name: MOTOBECANE.COM [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Administrative Contact : [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Johnston, C chicabike[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman][email hidden] [/font]

[font=Times New Roman] [/font]

[font=Times New Roman]176 Summerfield[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]US [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Phone: (904) 887-6262 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Fax: 999 999 9999 [/font]

[font=Arial]
Domain Name.......... [font=Arial]cyclesmercier.com[/font]
Creation Date........ 2001-09-01
Registration Date.... 2001-09-01
Expiry Date.......... 2006-09-01
Organisation Name.... J. Mukhalis
Organisation Address. 176 Summerfield
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. [font=Arial]Ponte Vedra[/font]
Organisation Address. 32082
Organisation Address. [font=Arial]FL[/font]
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES[/font]

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[font=Arial]
Domain Name.......... [font=Arial]windsorbicycles.com[/font]
Creation Date........ 2003-03-23
Registration Date.... 2003-03-23
Expiry Date.......... 2013-03-23
Organisation Name.... Rebecca Pratt
Organisation Address. [/font][font=Arial]9848 Robin Hill Lane[/font][font=Arial]
Organisation Address. NULL
Organisation Address. [/font][font=Arial]Dallas[/font][font=Arial]
Organisation Address. 75238
Organisation Address. [font=Arial]TX[/font]
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Domain Name: BIKESDIRECT.COM [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Administrative Contact : [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Sander, David [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman][email hidden] [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]PO BOX 503[/font]

[font=Times New Roman] [/font]

[font=Times New Roman]BARKER, TX 77413-0503 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]US [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Phone: (713) 587-6808 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Fax: (281) 579-1603 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Technical Contact : [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Verio Inc, [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman][email hidden] [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]5050 Conference Way N[/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Boca Raton, FL 33431 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]US [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Phone: 888-663-6648 [/font]

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[font=Times New Roman]Fax: - - - - - - 707-251-5310 [/font]

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I bought a Moto Le Champion from BD and I had a good experience. They sent me shipping confirmation with tracking promptly after the order, and the bike arrived when it was supposed to. However, I have seen some posts from people (either on here or bikeforums.net) where they didn't have a great experience. I guess it's hit or miss - their customer service for the most part consists of one person (Anne), so if you email and don't hear back, keep emailing and she'll get back to you.

As for the last year's parts, that's only valid for the frame. The component group (for the Le Champion at least) is Ultegra 10, and that's this year's gruppo. It's true, the Le Champion is the Fuji Team SL, which isn't a bad bike, I'd be more concerned if the frame were a Walmart bike, but it's obviously not. Another quick note on rebadging: A few Tours back, Lance rode a Trek titanium TT bike. Well Trek doesn't do titanium, actually it ended up being a rebadged Litespeed. Now I wouldn't confuse Litespeed and Fuji, but it's just an example that rebadging is quite common.

From what I've read most people have had good experiences with bikesdirect. I've dealt with Mike myself so they do have more than one person now.

jrstevens said:

Anyone have an experience good or bad they can share from purchasing a bike from www.bikesdirect.com. They seem to offer great prices on Motobecanes and Mercier bikes that are well spec'd. in fact the prices seem almost too good to be true. Is this a merchant one should stay away from? Any comments would be appreciated.

JS

I just wanted to follow up to my original post. I ended up purchasing the SL Le Champion in late July of last year for $1100. Started training on it in September and have recently raced using this bike. I upgraded to Ultegra cranks, swapped out the wheels for Neuvation R28SLs (awesome wheeleset BTW) and changed to a Thomson Elite seatpost. The bike now weighs in at 17.85# on race day. Sure this bike doesn't turn heads at races but I couldn't be more pleased with it's overall performance and stiffness. The ride isn't plush but nor am I getting beat up either. I happen to have a good rapport with my LBS so they don't mind doing some minor adjustments for me FOC. So in the end analysis I would have to say this worked out rather nicely for me.🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hello how are you. What wellington bike model do you have. Is good bikes?

Congrats on your new bike, I hope it works out very well for you.

Almost all bikes no matter if you get it from your LBS or Bikes Direct are made in China these days and in the same factory that puts out the brand name bikes puts out the "generic" brands, I much rather call generic brands decal brands, they are simply a decal with no real company behind it. There have always been generic or decal brands, some of the old time favs were Nishiki and Centurion, both were top notch generic/decal brand bikes.

Who cares if Bikes Direct puts on last years model of Dura Ace of Ultegra? I didn't hear anyone last year complaining about those groups then or this year on their 2013 brand name bikes!

I have a friend who bought a Motobecane Titanium road bike from Bikes Direct (BD) about 3 years ago and he still loves his bike and he rides it a lot at around 5,000 miles a year. He loves his bike so much that after test riding it myself I almost bought one of the Ti models but BD couldn't get any stock for over a year so instead I found a good sale price on a Lynskey. Had BD had it in stock when I wanted it I would have bought it without hesitation that's how good that bike rode and how good it's worked, not to mention it would have saved me nearly $800! I would have gotten the BD bike mail order, but I also got the Lynskey mail order and no complaints about that bike I got.

BD does sell a lot of bikes, but considering how many they sell they have a very low complaint ratio.

Warranty issues, the only warranty issue I ever heard on a forum (not saying this was ever the only problem BD ever had) was a guys chain was somehow screwed up from the factory and a link was stiff, upon pedaling it for about 5 miles it froze completely causing the rear derailleur to sheer off and into the spokes. BD replaced the wheel, chain, derailleur hanger, and the rear derailleur. From that experience I read I recommend to anyone buying a bike by mail order to first assemble it themselves since that's really quite easy, then take the bike down to an LBS to have it "tuned up" to make sure all things are working right and aligned properly. Even though I've been around bikes a long time I took my Lynskey down and had it gone through, it cost $30 which was worth the piece of mind. By the way full assembly of a bike out of the box which will include full adjustments usually cost around $75 to $100, so if you not mechanically inclined in the least bit then just take the box in and have someone do it for you.

Hello how are you. The motobecane and wellington bikes from bikes direct the aluminum frames i see online the cheaper but and the more expensive bikes all frames is the same just is change the groupset?

thank you for your answer. I not have buy bike yet from bikes direct but i think that. Do you know if the motobecane road bike and the wellington winsdor all models is had the same frame just is change the groupset? Which bike is better the motobecane mirage or the wellington winsdor. I see both review on youtube. I like bikes with horizontal top tube. I see on youtube the motobecane mirage slx is looks have horizontal top tube but when i look at the bikes direct site the motobecane looks like have slope toptube i look wrong?

I'm not an expert on those two models but at those price points I don't think there is much difference between the two except one has a carbon fork and the other a steel fork so the Windsor with the CF fork should be the lighter of the two.

However if you can save up another $200 over the Wellington this bike is the best deal they currently have in that price range, see: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/dawes/lt2300_xii.htm That bike has the much improved Shimano 105 rear derailleur which is a full 2 steps over the Sora and a much better Tiagra front derailleur which is 2 steps higher than the 2200, along with a much better Tiagra intregrated shifters. In the long run the durability of the 105 and the Tiagra combination will be worth a lot more than the additional $200 you spent, plus you end up with a lighter bike.

Thank you very much for your answer. is very helpfull. What you think wich crank size is better. 53/39 52/42 52/36 or 50/34. And which size cassete. I try have bike good to ride on flats and hilly trail