It has arrived!

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 the 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.

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.

I'll be posting more pictures later of the bike's arrival.

It's the Big Day!

UPS says the bike went on the truck for delivery at 4:30 am today. I'm counting the minutes!

The Order...

I placed the order for my new Motobecane Fantom Pro 29er this past Saturday and it is on its way. I've heard and read mixed things about Bikesdirect.com, where I bought the bike, but so far so good. I asked a few technical questions and some questions regarding my order and heard back from them with responsive, on point answers promptly.

Bikesdirect sent me the receipt instantly and the tracking information as soon as it was shipped via email. I read one complaint where a buyer from Bikesdirect thought he had been forced to pay through pay-pal. I initially thought the same, but upon review Paypal is just they way that they accept payment. The receipt makes it look like you paid through paypal on the buyer end, but if you choose credit card, which they make clear to you how to do, then it is no problem whatsoever. I even got cc awards points with my purchase. How great is that?!

I originally was thinking about buying the Moto Fantom 29er, but for the extra $200 for the Fantom Pro, you get a much improved Rock Shox Tora 318 solo air fork WITH REMOTE CONTROL LOCKOUT (which alone justifies the extra cost), an improved Truvativ crankset, hydrolic juicy 3 brakes, and better shifters (LX rather than Deore). Both models come with an XT rear derailleur, which I think is impressive for this price point. I also like the matte gray color that is offered with the Fantom Pro. Once I saw that color choice and the upgrades, the value of which far outpaces the additional couple of dollars, it was a no-brainer for me.

While I liked most of the bike's features, I already made moves to upgrade or modify the bike in a number of ways. I bought avid bb7 mechanical disc brakes with avid bb7 speed dial levers to replace the juicy 3 hydros and levers. I like the ease of use and consistency you get with mechanical disc brakes. Although I do a good bit of work on my own bikes, I don't want to get into having to bleed brakes and buy bleed kits etc etc. I also got a sette evo saddle to replace the wtb stock saddle. The stock saddle just looks big and bulky and heavy, although it received good reviews on mtbr.com. The Evo is light weight, made to take some punishment and is aesthetically pleasing. I typically use Fizik Ariones on all of my bikes, but I had to keep the costs down on this project (have to support the wife's Ugg habit somehow, erg!).

I also bought a pair of Shimano m520 pedals to replace the stock platform pedals. C'mon, you can't ride a bike like this with platform pedals guys. The m520's are a bit heavy, but I've been using an older model of them since I began biking and they are nothing but reliable, bomb proof and super easy to get in and out of. I'll take than any day over saving 100 grams and this is coming from a triathlete weight weenie.

I'm also going to convert this bike to a 1x9 right off the bat so I bought a BBG light weight bashguard 36t to replace the big ring and I purchased a n gear jump stop to keep the chain on the middle ring. We'll have to see how that all works.

My bike is supposed to come tomorrow with the rest of the parts in two days for the build and conversion. I plan to do the build and conversion on Friday night, assuming all the parts come in on time. It is supposed to be a beautiful week weather wise next week, so I'm hoping to have it ready to go by then.

I'll be sure to keep all of my readers in touch as I move through the process and of course add pictures.