Although I am relatively new to the serious cycling world, I feel that my experiences in the past couple of weeks qualify me to write some things to consider before buying from bikesdirect.com. If I paraphrase something that you or a member of this forum has previously written without direct quoting I apologize, but I will say that for the sake of being thorough I will partly compile and repeat information other members have already provided.
Here are the topics I will address:
1. Who exactly is BikesDirect.com?
a. can I trust them?
b. their website is kind of hard to understand, where is a phone number?
c. do they have any actual stores?
2. What is the deal with the brand names they sell?
3. Customer Service?
a. my personal experiences...
4. Well, should I buy from them?
1. BikesDirect.com is a legitimate online retailer of bicycles. They have been in business for a long time and I presume will remain in business for a long time because they provide a service: selling new road bikes at a affordable prices relative to other well known brand names at local bikes shops. They also sell bikes through ebay.
a. Yes, you can trust them. You will pay exactly what they advertise for a bicycle and they will send you exactly what you bought within a few days.
b. They are not trying to scam you, they know that if you don't get what you payed for, they will not get their money or their good ebay feedback. This is a simple and successful business model.
c. To anybody with any knowledge of web design style, BikesDirect.com is a frightening place to be making a large purchase from. I joke but I might be right when I say that they can save you money on bikes by not hiring a professional web designer. Nevertheless, their site is functional (i.e. when you click on something it takes you there and you can securely buy a bike through the site). The font size is constantly changing, they overuse caps lock, and the titles of their ebay auctions don't list the name of the bike. You often feel as if a cheesy used car salesman is yelling distracting numbers and names in your face. (SALE!!!!) This can make a discerning shopper feel as if the website is trying to hit you with some serious fine print caveats, but they really do advertise everything you need to know on the website.
d. They don't list a phone number on the website, only a fax number and email addresses. However, I called one of their stores in a Jacksonville mall and asked for a real phone number and they gave me this one: (904)252-8881 (it works I talked to a real person who answered my question...but I'll discuses this later).
It is annoying that they don't want to talk with anybody unless they absolutely have to, but I guess they think that whatever time they save by doing this is worth the number of potential customers they lose.
e. BikesDirect.com is the same business as Cycle Spectrum and you can view all their actual stores here: cyclespectrum.comlocations.htmlOpen ↗
As is with a LBS if you take a bike bought from BD in to a CS location you can get free tuneups (or so I've been told). This might answer questions about the physicality of their business and raise new ones like, "how can they offer lower prices by not requiring an "[font=Arial]expensive, high rent, store front location.'" [/font]But I'll try to answer that later.
2. The brand names they sell are products of clever marketing. The case with most of the brands is that the names are or resemble brands that were manufactured years ago in Europe and gained repute in their own era but died out in more modern times. In most cases another company bought the name/rights or added USA/America to the name. For example Motobécane and Mercier were both popular French brands in the 70's but closed/went bankrupt. My favorite ploy is that of the Windsor name. On their ebay auctions for Windsor bikes they will say that they can send you a picture of Eddy Merckx setting the hour record on a Windsor bike (BD sells a Windsor bike called "the hour"😉. The Bike Eddy rode was specially designed by Ernesto Colnago, but Eddy's Mexican hosts put Windsor decals on the bike (I guess Eddy thought he would comply to show thanks for their hospitality). The Mexican company Windsor used this publicity to their advantage but eventually died out as a company. So not only is Windsor America not the company that made Eddy's bike, they're not even the first "Windsor" to propagate this fallacy.
In sum, all of the bike frames are made by Kinesis Industry Co. Ltd. (en.wikipedia.orgKinesis Industry Co. Ltd.Open ↗) and from everything I've seen, heard, read, and tried, you can trust the frames. I would put a generic bike made by Kinesis up against at least a Trek with similar components.
3. You might be thinking: If I can pay such an affordable price, then I don't care about owning a name brand if it's reliable and the components are all name brand, and I don't mind assembling the bike (putting on the headset, front brake, front wheel, pedals, minor tuning), but what if I have some problems and I need efficient customer service?
Well, this is where BD takes some serious risks with their online business model. They know that you're probably going to be a satisfied customer if the bike arrives within a week and you can assemble and ride the bike with no problems. If you bought the bike on ebay you probably will give good feedback, and if not on ebay, you won't return the bike or dispute the credit card bill.
To their credit, they try very hard so you don't have any issues after you receive the bike. They package the bike very well: all the metal parts are wrapped or protected and the front wheel is firmly attached to the right side of the frame (with the bike facing forward). The cardboard box on the right and left sides of the bike says very clearly "FRAGILE Do Not Lay On This Side." Unfortunately if your local UPS workers are less than careful, it isn't hard for the front wheel to get seriously out of true. BD tells you what to do if the package is damaged on the FAQ site bikesdirect.comfrequent.htmOpen ↗...
My bike arrived 2 weeks ago, Friday May 11. I was sick with anticipation to start riding the 2008 Windsor Dover I had bought Monday on ebay. Blinded by excitement, I opened the box up without inspecting it and began assembling the bike as quickly and carefully as possible. While upside down, for the final cornerstone step I put the front wheel on and gave it the inaugural spin. My stomach dropped 3 feet when I realized that the wheel was seriously bent. I then realized that the cardboard box was pretty beat up on the side where the wheel was stored. I immediately emailed Mike at [email hidden] to report the damages and I also called UPS to report the damage. This was all within 1 hour of receiving the bike. It is now two weeks later and through serious miscommunication and/or lack of communication, I have no front wheel. I can't get the bent one trued because UPS took it away for inspection (they said they would only need to do an on-site inspection). Mike from BD told me--after UPS already took my wheel-- that he was going to send me a new one and UPS didn't need to do anything. I got back from a weeklong vacation and the wheel had not yet arrived. I called mike and finally got an answer on his phone, at which time I learned that he thought it was a rear wheel (his excuse was that he was severely sick that week, and when I called him he was actually in the Florida Keys, on business or vacation I know not). He said he would get the office to send a front wheel immediately in addition to the rear wheel. Through all of the miscues I should have an extra set of wheels right now, but instead I have not been able to ride this beautiful bike sitting in front of me for 2 weeks. Finally today I called the number I provided earlier in this post and they said the front wheel (only the front) was on its way and I was able to get a tracking number. The guy who I spoke with was actually quite helpful and I feel a little bad for being stern and putting the pressure on him in searching for answers about the location of my wheels. Either way, when I finally get my wheel I'm going to insist that they compensate me for their mistakes.
I hope that this information was not too unfocused and that my personal experience has helped anybody searching for more information about this company.
If I had to make a few statements in summary these are they:
If you buy a $400 bike from BD you are getting an assembled bike that would probably cost $400+ if you bought all the components and frame yourself. All comparable name brand bikes WILL cost more (probably even after a couple tune-ups, which you can get free if you're lucky enough to live near a Cycle Spectrum). It is unfortunate that their service proved so horrible with my situation, but I still have leverage in the situation, and once I'm out riding, I'm sure I'll be happy I didn't spend $700 on an entry level Trek.
If you had the time and patience to read all of this, thanks for reading, and I hope this helps potential buyers better understand BD's business. If you have any more questions, surprisingly I have more info, so PM me.
Joel