"J. Saulinskas" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Ebay their seems to be numerous Motobecane and Mercier brand bikes for
sale.
> Are these any good? Why so many?
Most manufacturers don't distribute to dealers who sell by mail order. Usually the warranties are
void unless a bike is sold by a dealer. There are a few brands that do seem to allow their dealers
to sell by mail order, and these tend to be the ones you see on eBay. Which is not to say that
any/many of the "new" bikes you see on eBay are covered by a warranty, although some of the sellers
do claim to be dealers who back their products.
As someone mentioned. these Motobecane and Mercier bikes seem to be imported by a company that's
having the frames OEMed in Asia somewhere, and then bolting stock parts of good quality to them. Not
that this isn't a fairly standard way of creating bikes, or that a decent bike can't result from it.
I've seen some fairly favorable reviews of some of these new Motobecane models (and some
not-so-favorable ones as well).
As always, the acid test of road bike buying is fit and comfort, and that's tough to assess via mail
order, and tougher to correct in a transaction with an unknown seller. Buyer beware.
RichC