In article <
[email protected]>,
Artur Yelchishchev <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Recently I've got a French-made mountain bicycle Micmo.
>
> As I understand, Micmo isn't widely-known brand, but it seems to be a
> part of Gitane group:
> http://www.classicrendezvous.com/France/Gitane/history.htm
>
> The bike is very similar to this one:
> http://www.micmocycles.co.uk/specification.php?modelcode=1314
Uh-oh.
> What do you people think about this brand? I'm especially interested
> in one's personal experience with it - any recommendations, warnings
> about weak parts, advise for replacing or tuning something, etc.
It's probably not reasonable to make generalizations about this brand,
which is being used as a marketing label for the low end of a big bike
company's bicycles.
The bike you linked to is very typical of a low-end Taiwanese or
Chinese-built bike. Lots of good bikes are built in Taiwan or even
China, but nothing in Micmo's mountain bike lineup would qualify.
The basic sins:
-very low end components such as Microshift shifters, steel (probably
stamped steel) V-brakes, and on the "Ionix Z1" you have indicated, a
high-tensile steel frame. That's basically the heaviest, most
indifferent bicycle frame material available. And the particular frame
design looks very heavy indeed.
-The suspension design is simplistic, and features completely generic
components. This drives you into a hell where the rear suspension
especially will be very inefficient at transmitting power, but useless
for serious off-road action.
I could go on in this vein. The only part of this bike that isn't
completely dreadful are the wheels, which are at least specified with
alloy rims, meaning the brakes will work properly in the wet.
I went and looked at their hybrid and hardtail bikes to see if there was
anything worth looking at. No. The most rideable bike in the lineup is
probably one of their "high-end" hardtail MTBs, and it still features an
extremely low-end fork and numerous other marginal parts. The hybrids
are rideable, but not nice bicycles, again cheaping out in all the usual
places.
What is likely to fail on this bike under regular use is the drivetrain,
the wheels, the pedals, and the rear suspension pivot. The saddle looks
okay.
Don't bother replacing parts on this bike in an attempt to upgrade it.
Depending on the kind of riding you want to do, you will be better off
with a lightly used hybrid or hardtail MTB, or if you are seriously
contemplating mountain bike trail riding, you'll have to dig a little
deeper and either buy a well-used hardtail and work from there (in my
case, I bought a 1997 Kona Kilauea with blown fork seals. Steel frame,
short travel, but tough and well-equipped. Replacing the seals made it
into a tough little mountain bike), or spend some money on a serious
full-suspension bicycle.
Here's a link to Norco's pretty good full-suspension "entry level"
all-mountain bike, the Fluid 3:
http://norco.com/bikes/2004bikes/fluid3.htm
Here's a hardtail mountain bike that's pretty serviceable:
http://norco.com/bikes/2004bikes/bigfoot.htm
Here's a dead-simple, fairly cheap flat-bar hybrid that would still be
pretty light and very rideable on the road or bike path. This has a lot
of cheap components on it, but the spec is reasonable and the components
won't slow the bike down.
I'm just using Norco as an example; they also make some fairly dreadful
bikes that are the match of anything in the Micmo line. But the ones I
have highlighted are decent bicycles that would give you good service
and be worth upgrading.
--
Ryan Cousineau,
[email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.
