Great bike for the under $300 price range
I'm an avid mountain biker and I bought this bike as a gift for my girlfriend (yes, it’s a means bike, but the small size 16'' frame fits her well). Before this bike she rode a $99 Schwann mountain bike (full rigid) from Wal-Mart. She enjoyed riding the easy trails with me, but we wanted to get her a better bike so she could build her skills and have more confidence when riding on harder terrain.
My perspective on the bike: I have built about a dozen bikes, so it only took me about 20 minutes to build and tune this bike. It went together very easily. The derailleur’s come pre-installed with the cables hooked up, and they shift straight out of the box, but shifting is very clunky and slow. After a few minutes of adjusting I had them working and shifting much better. The brake pads were pre-installed too, but they were poorly aligned and needed to be adjusted as well. Basically, don't trust anything on the bike that is already put together. Double check and adjust everything yourself, and the bike will work and ride well.
Overall, I'm pleased with the quality of the bike for the price. The frame is very solid and light, as are the double wall aluminum wheels.
My only real complaint is that the front fork is a joke, but I expected that at this price point. The fork is very 'sticky' and does not operate smoothly when compressing or rebounding. Hopefully it will smooth out once it gets more miles on it. This is why I subtracted one star and rated it a 4. However, at this price you really can't expect to get a decent suspension fork since a bottom end hydraulic fork will cost you ~$200, which is almost as much as this whole bike costs. If I was to ride this bike with my riding buddies on hard trails, the fork would really hold me back.
Her perspective: Everything about the bike is awesome. It's a HUGE step up from the $99 Wal-Mart Schwinn in every way. Its light weight, and pedals easily. The front suspension fork makes riding over bumpy trails much more comfortable, and less scary, than the rigid fork on the old bike.
The bike is very confidence inspiring and easy to ride and has my girlfriend trying out new trails that she wouldn't have attempted before... so it’s totally worth it. I did a LOT of research before buying this bike, and I think that it’s the best quality mountain bike that you can get for under $300. Don't expect to blast down the hard trails or win any races on it, but it’s a quality bike and worth every penny of the CHEAP price tag.
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here