Motobecane mountain bikes?..

[andrewmoquin]

I have been on bikesdirect.com and seen these motobecanes for good prices and I was wondering if it is legitimate? I was looking at the 700ht and it is $500 and it says that it is comparable to a $1000 trek...which is like the Trek 6500. I looked at the components for the motobecane and they seem good seeing as Trek uses all of them. So what is the catch?...is the frame not good or not light...or are they junk. Should I spend $500 on the motobecane or $500 on a Trek 4500 or 4300? Thank you.
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[cgarabedian]

Their frames are just fine, no need to worry and the site is not a scam. Producing a frame is rather cheap. In many cases aluminum frames bought in bulk cost less than $50. High Modulus Carbon Frames can be anywhere from 250 - 400. Bikesdirect has simply transfered that saving on, they get the components are very low prices and simply make small margins. But small margin multiplied by many bikes adds up.

The frames are typically the same as fuji. Their Fantom Cross Pro, is the same exact frame/bike that Fuji carries. Unless your looking for specific characteristics in a frame, there is absolutely nothing wrong with those bikes.

 

[liftman]

I bought the 700ht for my wife for mothers day. It definitely saved us some money and she loves the bike. It is the equal of the $850-$1100 bikes at the local shop. And I did not pay sales tax and so I saved another 80-90 bucks. I will look at Motobecane again the next time we are buying a bike.

 

[skippy254]

I've actually considered buying one of their higher end model road bikes w/ Dura Ace and swapping out the components to a different frame. Their frames are okay but nothing to write home about.

 

[phessler]

I've actually considered buying one of their higher end model road bikes w/ Dura Ace and swapping out the components to a different frame. Their frames are okay but nothing to write home about.

Do you think that would be cheaper than just buying the Dura Ace components?

 

[kevinrross]

I have bought two bikes from bikesdirect (both Motobecanes) and have been very, very happy. The prices are better than most local shops and the service has been excellent.