I got home today to a large bike box sitting on my front porch. Of course I rushed outside as soon as I got in the house and pulled it in. There it was, the Motobecane box. Here are my initial impressions:
1. Packaging: As I've heard from some other people, the packaging was partly torn. To be fair though, it was only the handle area on t
he box and nothing inside was damaged. It was by the wheel and there were no marks on the rim or anything. Likely the UPS guy did it when handling the box so I won't hold that against Bikesdirect.
The amount of packaging and protection on the inside was formidable. I have pictures of all of the padding and tight packaging of all of the parts. The small parts were packaged together in a box, the saddle, seatpost, and handlebar were packaged separately and all protected by cardboard. All in all I'm impressed.
1. Packaging: As I've heard from some other people, the packaging was partly torn. To be fair though, it was only the handle area on t
he box and nothing inside was damaged. It was by the wheel and there were no marks on the rim or anything. Likely the UPS guy did it when handling the box so I won't hold that against Bikesdirect.The amount of packaging and protection on the inside was formidable. I have pictures of all of the padding and tight packaging of all of the parts. The small parts were packaged together in a box, the saddle, seatpost, and handlebar were packaged separately and all protected by cardboard. All in all I'm impressed.
2. The condition of the bike: The bike was brand new as expected. The only issue I had was that the front derailleur cable was pretty frayed. That's something I would've done when I first 
started working on my bikes. They certainly should not have left it on the bike. It should have been replaced. Fortunately, it doesn't matter much as I'm coing to convert the bike to a 1x9 so I didn't need the cable anyway. The frame is a beautiful color (matte gray) with subtle blue lettering. It is very understated, not flashy like many of the "generic" brand bikes. I really like that. The flat rear stays are a really nice touch. Everything was in great condition on the bike, no scratches chips dents or dings or otherwise, as to be expected.
started working on my bikes. They certainly should not have left it on the bike. It should have been replaced. Fortunately, it doesn't matter much as I'm coing to convert the bike to a 1x9 so I didn't need the cable anyway. The frame is a beautiful color (matte gray) with subtle blue lettering. It is very understated, not flashy like many of the "generic" brand bikes. I really like that. The flat rear stays are a really nice touch. Everything was in great condition on the bike, no scratches chips dents or dings or otherwise, as to be expected.
3. Bike Build Progress: I didn't want to totally dive in tonight, but I did start stripping all of the parts off the frame that I didn't want. Pretty much all that was left on the bike when I was done was the rear derailleur and shifting cable for the rear derailleur. I removed the front der, chain, saddle, brakes, brake cables and housing. I removed the reflectors from the wheels and all of the little packaging parts.
The bike is ready for the build to start tomorrow night. Some of the new parts came in today and the rest should be here by tomorrow night. I ordered m520 pedals to replace the platforms that came with the bike and a BBG light weight bashguard to replace the large chainring as part of the 1x9 conversion. Those parts are already here. Tomorrow I should get the brakes and the saddle. So far I'm very pleased with the product.
The bike is ready for the build to start tomorrow night. Some of the new parts came in today and the rest should be here by tomorrow night. I ordered m520 pedals to replace the platforms that came with the bike and a BBG light weight bashguard to replace the large chainring as part of the 1x9 conversion. Those parts are already here. Tomorrow I should get the brakes and the saddle. So far I'm very pleased with the product.
I'll be posting more pictures later of the bike's arrival.
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