i have been in and out of the bike industry for the better part of the the past decade and been riding a few years longer than that. i have worked at shops, building, ordering, and selling bikes. i worked at a manufacturer for a short period of time. i know that cheap bikes are cheap and you get what you pay for. i know there is no 'magical' bike that cost half as much as the other but has the same components. working at a shop, about half of the internet bikes i have dealt with are garbage, but its mostly user error and stuff your regular-joe-sunday-rider cant fix himself

that said... ive been looking to consolidate my bike collection and replace my single speed cross/city bike and my rigid 26er mtb with a single speed 29er. it would mainly see year-round commuting with a little dirt when the weather is nice. i was looking at a monocog, but i cant justify the price for a new one and its hard to find one used in my size locally.

then i found this: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/dawes/deadeye.htm

before i even build it up, i would swap out some parts from my parts bin.
xt cranks/bb, older hayes hydraulics (from the days of the champagne colored brakes), wtb saddle, thompson post, salsa flip off and some better pedals that i have yet to decide on.

i figure for $319 shipped and the parts i have ready to go onto it, and probably a new wheelset, bars/stem and headset in a year, its not a bad deal. actually seems like a pretty damn good deal to me. as an added bonus, no frame decals other than a head badge so i wont be advertising to the world that i ride a cheap ass internet bike.

my main concern after i swap out the parts listed above are the wheels. i wont be thrashing too hard on either the street or the dirt, so the wheels probably wont ever be an issue for me, but i am fully prepared to buy/build a new set sometime in the future if something does happen. i think i have some lx or xt hubs in the garage waiting to be dusted off and laced up.

so, any personal experience with this bike from anyone? anything im missing? are there any other bikes in this price range besides the others that bikesdirect sells?

thanks!

is iro still sellin the red model19 for 140~?

buy an IRO model 19
QUICK!

THERE'S ONE 20" LEFT!

IMPULSE BUY!!!!!!!!!!!1

I've got the Motobecane version of that. When it came out of the box, nothing was greased at all and I tore it down and rebuilt it. The wheel are utter garbage and the freewheel fell apart and when I took it to several shops to get a tool to remove it none of the mecanics I talked to had ever seen the interface that the freewheel had. The wheelset is in a dump now. Also, The track ends on the thing were unevenly machined and I had to file like 1/8" of metal out of each of them to get the axles in.
Here's what it looked like the day we built it up:

And here's what it looks like today:

I guess what i'm saying is that with many upgrades, it can be made to work, but be prepared to dump money into the components.
(I didn't buy mine new, BTW, my cousin bought it without consulting me, rode it through last winter and then I traded him an old Schwinn for the frame/fork/fenders)

Wow.
I guess my big post is now moot.

i dont fuck around.

now i need some wheels.

Build salsa delgados.
That's what I did.

im gonna see if i can track down those hubs i have in the garage... budget to get the rest of the bike together is ~$200

i have:
xt cranks/bb
box-o-pedals
couple 25.4mm bars
couple 31.8 stems
older hayes hydraulics
27.0 and 27.2 seatposts
couple of seats that i love.

as of now i need:
hubs, hoops and spokes or a cheap wheelset
tires, tubes, velox
headset
3.18 bars to go with stems i have or 25.4 stem to go with bars i have
disc adapters, tab to post.
seatpost or shim, depending on size.
seatpost clamp, depending on size.
fenders.

looking at ebay i can get a decent wheelset for $200. or i can build something of similar quality for a similar price...

http://irocycle.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=166

hubs you might want to see if iro can add this to ur order.

http://irocycle.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=198
buy this?

bikesdirect is murder

completely forgot about a 25.4 -> 31.8 shim. good idea to get it rolling

those hubs are 120mm, bike is 135mm. i also want QR and need disc

i thought about buying that partial build but there's zero specs on what the parts are that actually come with it. i would mainly get it for the wheels and not knowing what they are sucks. plus that's a little too much for an impulse buy for me right now

for january they were doing 53 off complete bikes, so i had them throw that on the partial build (everything minus brakes and pedals). so it was 350-53+70 shipping.

the wheels are okay, velocity blunts build to iro disc hubs. rear hub is a single speed cassette hub, looks like http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?ID=62541-Rocky+Mountain+Joytech+S...

overall the quality of parts seems about the same as bikesdirect with nicer rims (and they're pretty well trued up too). nothing i'd replace right away except for maybe the stem (just to get fit right). I don't know what the weight is like since my frame of reference is mostly road bikes. heavier than my friend's mongoose, so i reckon around high 20s? don't have a scale here. rims and tires on this fucker are hefty

great bike so far though

thanks for the input on the wheels.

still gonna stick with just the frame and doing the rest on my own. i would save a couple bucks if i got the partial, but i think i will be happier overall if i do it this way

still disc-less

Now you're just a bad person because you bought a bike from IRO.

get some

i think i might just be a bad person anyways. whatevs. at least now i'll have a red bike. i like red bikes.

Since we're on the subject of bikes directs bikes ... I want a rigid SS 29er as well. Is the SE Stout slightly better than the motobecane or is it also a huge waste of money?

My ultimate goal is to buy a used monocog. I'm keeping my eyes peeled (not that I have money to actually buy one for a few months).

XT/Rhynolite wheels? Probably one of best deals going for price:quality, and, with a good build, would probably roll away from most potholes, especially since its wide profile would allow for fat-ass tires. Plus, by using a cassette hub, you'll have an option if you decide you want to move the wheels to a geared bike later, and XT hubs are the shit. Shimano bearings and freehubs are pretty great.

josh, theres a 19" monocog on ebay right now

http://cgi.ebay.com/USED-Redline-Monocog-29er-19-Mountain-Bike-SS-Single...

thought about it, but its a touch too smal

Its lame but tc, i have wanted a red bike ever since that cartoon came out with the cyclist who says "My one is red".

qft, my favorite most trouble free, nicest to take apart, well sealed hubs.

i'm not reading any of the above, but I have 3 BD bikes and they've all been great buys for the money.

i wanna see

3? Motorbacon and what else?

Kilo TT

wife's Dawes Lightning

Ah, I see.

i wussed out and got the partial build. i cant build wheels and get everything else i need for the extra $200 it cost for the partial build. it should be here in a week. not a huge fan of the wheels that come with it, but i can always build a second pair later. touring tires on one, dirt tires on the other.

my roommates BD motosomething fixed threw the chain after cheapo chainring got bent. he is now riding some sugino somethings and dura ace ring. that alone is enough not trust those bikes as completes.

dude had a republic before that which i cant believe held up as well as it did with how hard/drunk he rides.

another guy i know just bought a tt pro, which i hope has better components than the normal TT ... im helping build it in about an hour. this will be the first time i'll have worked on a straight up bikesdirect complete. wonder if the wheels will be true... heh.

im very happy with my motomess and kilo :shrug:

Hahaha.

Oops, here it is FACE

http://53x11.com/blog/2008/11/05/We-Are-the-Cyclists.159

i remember that now. forgot about the red one though.

i'm curious about the these new SOMA 26ers.

never rode a soma, but i hear they are well built.

also, local.

Ian you got yourself an MTB?

no sir, hence my interest in the SOMA.

Oh man oh man get yourself one. Trails trails trails.

Would spend my pennies on a 9er.