Returning to biking - Costco Diamondback hybrid, motobecane elite from bike direct, of stfu and get

[imapseudonym]

Me: 44, 5'11, 165 - haven't really biked since my 20's when I had a nasty flip on a police auction road bike (bad scar near my eye and my ear was mostly torn off). Looking to get back in to biking to at a minimum ride with my son to school and on some local bike paths and some dirt roads and trails.

Definitely will not own more than one bike, so thinking hybrid. Costco has that diamondback edgewood for about $200. Bikes direct has a motobecane with a lockout fork (it is *very* hilly here which I take it is the main possible advantage to the lockout) in the 300-400 range depending on options.

Any thoughts? Feel free to let me have it with both barrels if these are both bad ideas.

 

[doss]

I wouldn't touch the diamondback with a ten foot pole.. Take a look at some of the used bikes on the market. The motobecane is also a better choice than the costco bike by far Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[oldbobcat]

Bikes Direct is a pretty good way to go if you take the MSRPs with a grain of salt and make the investment to have the bike professionally assembled. The difference between just getting the parts attached correctly and having the bike really tuned is striking.

 

[swampy1970]

"really tuned."

That's an open ended statement.

If you grab a long piece of string and a ruler and check your frame is really in track, have a bike shop face the bottom bracket shell and headset (if applicable), the rest of it is available on the component manufacturers website in the technical section - and most of the time if you follow the instructions and torque to spec, stuff works better than it would have done from most bike shops anyway.

I'm sure there are some bike shops that do excellent work but I've yet to find one that I'd feel comfortable just dropping off my trusty steed and have them wrench on it.

 

[Viking55803]

Originally Posted by imapseudonym Definitely will not own more than one bike

Everyone said that a some point in the past and most of us had to eat our words!

$200??? That's what bikes cost in the early 1900's. Jeez, a good pair of hiking boots cost that much.

On the other hand, all that is relative and my thinking is seriously distorted by a cycling obsession, but I think a fair amount to spend on a bike might be at least a couple weeks of income.

 

[oldbobcat]

Originally Posted by swampy1970

I'm sure there are some bike shops that do excellent work but I've yet to find one that I'd feel comfortable just dropping off my trusty steed and have them wrench on it.

Sounds like the shops in your area have bad service departments.

I don't want to get into an argument over this. Imapsuedonym, if you buy a bike online and you're puzzled by the directions, have swampy1976 build it up for you. He'll do it right.

 

[alfeng]

Originally Posted by oldbobcat
: Originally Posted by swampy1970
I'm sure there are some bike shops that do excellent work but I've yet to find one that I'd feel comfortable just dropping off my trusty steed and have them wrench on it.

Sounds like the shops in your area have bad service departments.

I don't want to get into an argument over this. Imapsuedonym, if you buy a bike online and you're puzzled by the directions, have swampy1976 build it up for you. He'll do it right.


I love HYBRID frames ...

I love Hybrid frames because they allow for the use of almost ANY tire size ...

If there is a possible problem with the Diamondback Edgewood it will eventually manifest itself in the similarly inexpensive Suspension Fork which is included on many Hybrid bikes. A problem may never occur, so it isn't a big deal, per se ...

BTW. When in doubt, lock it out ...

For a lot less than $200 (<$50), the OP can have the Suspension Fork replaced with a take-off fork from a Tandem if the Suspension Fork becomes a nuisance ...

Regardless, most bikes are only a little more complicated than they were before WWII ...

AND, they are certainly less complicated than they were 40 years ago!

FWIW. The skill required to assemble a bike is hardly more complicated than being able to remove-and-replace the cap on a pickle jar ...

Almost everything one needs to know about almost anything is apparently available on YouTube ...

OR, certainly one can find basic information at www.parktool.com ...

Appropriate (i.e., Metric) tools (e.g., Allen Wrenches) + patience are the keys to successful assembly AND maintenance ...

So, I say, "Why spend more?" for tooling-around-the-neighborhood?

Regardless, I certainly agree (!?!) with swampy1970 that there may not be any reason to take the bike to a bike shop to have them look over the assembly UNLESS the OP has arthritis or is a surgeon/dentist/dental-hygenist or a hand model for whom an unlikely-but-possible-if-a-person-is-a-klutz indadvertent slip-of-the-tool might put them out of commission for a few days OR leave an unwanted scar.

 

[oldbobcat]

Originally Posted by alfeng
So, I say, "Why spend more?" for tooling-around-the-neighborhood?

Well, that's something I can agree with.

 

[Froze]

I would NOT have the bike professionally assembled either, it's not needed, Bikes Direct gives you instructions on how to do it and it's rather simple even for a first timer unless you have no mechanical skills whatsoever. A bicycle shop will charge between $75 to $125 to assemble it and all they do is attach the pedals, seat post (seat is already attached to post, put handlebars into stem clamp, and install the wheels. If you want more detailed instructions with a step by step video and a mini tool set to assemble the parts then you could order this: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/parts/vuelta_tool.htm for $25. Then AFTER you assembled the bike you can take it to the bike ship and have them do a quick tuneup (Bikes Direct supposedly does that before they ship out the bike but I doubt it's done very well)}; a quick tune up will cost between $25 to $35, so you would save somewhere between $10 to $50 which means you could buy some accessories while you're at the Bike Shop.

I do agree that if all you're going to do is take a ride around the block a few times a month you don't need anything expensive, but you didn't mention the model of the Motobecane, this would be helpful since maybe there might be a better model for the same or slightly more money but we can't compare because we don't have the model.

 

[new_rider]

Great post, froze.

I have read about various issue with the pre-assembly of bd bikes such as: hubs being too tight, no grease in the bottom bracket, wheels not properly trued, etc.

I don't have any issues with the final assembly bd requires, but I might want to leave hub and bottom bracket adjustment and wheel truing to a shop.

I'm wondering how commonplace the issues I've mentioned are with bd bikes.

To be honest, bd is pretty much out of bikes in my size/s for 2014's, so kind of a moot point until they restock or roll out '15's I suppose.