Redline 2000 Conquest

Price Paid:  $700.00 at Bike N Hike

Summary:
Just a one year followup to my review from last year. I made it a full cross season with nothing really breaking. A few things I've done to it follows:

1) egg-beater pedals. I had a horrible time getting my left foot out once my shoes and pedals got a bunch of mud in them. It really sucks coming up to a barricade at 20mph and not getting out of your pedals! So I'd say watch out for the shimano pedals unless you can keep them clean. Out of fairness, it's cool Redline included pedals at all.

2) Brakes - I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I don't like the v-brakes anymore. They don't have much clearance and that tends to ruin a ride once you knock your rear wheel out of true.

3) Wheels - The front wheel is just fine, but the rear wheel taco'd on me. I wasn't surprised because it had been going out of true on just about every ride I went on. The rim, spokes, and hub are definately beefy enough to take the abuse cross gives, but the wheels, particularly the rear wheel, was built very loose, and poorly.

Strengths:
Solid bike, I can't break it.

Weaknesses:
mentioned above

Price Paid:  $700.00

Bike Setup:
Stelle Italia Flite Trans-am saddle.
Half SPD half platform pedals.
Cheap shimano crankset with 32

Summary:
For this price range, this is a great bike. The frame gives lots of clearence for mounting large tires and is reasonably light for it's strength, it's probobly half the cost of the bike. The Ultegra bar-cons shift well and are highly durable for shimano equipment. This seems to make the sora derailers shift acceptably.

The frameset is very large for it's size and it came with a long stem. Check the size chart closely before purchasing and be prepaired to swap the stem extention.

I had problems with a spoke not keeping tension in the rear wheel, eventually had to locktight it down. Braking is fine, ensure that new brake pads are long enough to reach road rims. After 2 winters and 6,000 miles, the hubset became rough. It uses sealed bearings so would be costly to overhaul.

Strengths:
Strong, well made steel Veulta crankset. Realistic gearing for a double (39/48 with 12-28 [alpine aka step and a half]).
Frameset.

Weaknesses:
Stock saddle is far too narrow.
Rear rack eyelets are difficult to use due to integration into the dropout. Alloy nipples on wheels - corrected to brass in later models.

Price Paid:  $700.00 at Bike N Hike

Favorite Ride:
gates pass in Tucson, AZ

Bike Setup:
100% stock. Will put a flite saddle on it, but that's about it.

Summary:
I'm a total roadie. I have a mt bike, but it's really old. I finally decided to get a cross bike, to ride here in rainy oregon during the off-season, and race cross.

I'm 6'5" so I needed a big bike. I have never been able to fit on a 60cm bike before, but cross frames fit about 2-3cm larger than they really are. That's good for me!

I was happy the bike fit me. The stem was way to low, so I turned it around to angle upward. There are no markings on the stem, so you can do this without looking silly.

The bike didn't feel so great on the road. My Cannondale is much more fun, but then it doesn't have 700x30 knobby tires on it, either. I also had to get used to the bar-end shifters. But when I took it off road on some single track and gravel roads, holy crap this thing rocks!

This bike feels very stable on the trails. I actually used to mt bike all the time in college, so I know how to ride in the dirt. This bike takes the good from the mt bike and road bike, and combines it into one sweet ride.

I couldn't wait to ride it right when I got it, but I was alone with my 2 year old daughter. So I just hooked up the baby trailer and we went out on some gravel trails. Even with a baby trailer the bike feels damn fast. Not all that exciting on the pavement, but off road, , or anything unsuitable for a road bike, this bike is great.

Strengths:
pretty light, even with some components that are probably heavier than ulteger/da stuff. Frame is constructed very well, welds are super beefy, which I like to see. Overall package is not top notch, but Redline did a great job selecting components that you can race with at this price. V-brakes have lots of power.

Weaknesses:
The back rim was wobbly, but I trued it up. The wheels seem a little loose, so I'll snug all the spokes up later. Also the rims have a nasty seem in them that makes the brakes go click click click when you slow down. I hope this goes away as the rim wears a bit.

Similar Products Used:
just my road bikes and mt bike, never had a true cross bike before.

Price Paid:  $729.00 at West Hill Shop, Putney, VT

Bike Setup:
Stock components (Shimano Sora rear, Acera front, bar end shifters, 515 pedals). Specailized geometry seat.

Summary:
Very reasonably priced, stylish ride. Will upgrade components as needed. Most cc frames cost as much as this entire bike. Decent mix of cheapy no name components and entry level Shimano stuff are more than suitable to get you into cc riding. Rode the bike twenty miles straight out of shop. Don't know if I'll ever race but it certainly handles the long dirt roads out here w/out any problems. Bike is fast and handles well. Front tire/foot overlap will take some getting used to. But geometry and gearing set up work well in rural area w/ many hilly dirt roads.

Strengths:
Reasonable price. Good entry level package into cyclo-cross riding. Crisp shifting. Like bar-end shifter option over STI. Reasonably lightweight.

Weaknesses:
Decals scratch off easily, neon green color (so 1980's), cheapo rims w/ bumpy seam, no name brakes don't work well...scraped all of black paint(!) off rims.

Similar Products Used:
GT Mtn. Bike, Schwinn cruisers, old Univega road bike

Bike Setup:
See review below.

Summary:
This is just an addendum/correction to my review below. The stock cassette on my bike was actually a 12-28, not the 12-25 I mentioned. The hubs are Sun Race, not Sun Tour. The rims might be anodized rather than painted (there's some question about this); whatever the case, the braking surfaces still need to be sanded to get good braking performance. The bottom line is still that this bike is a very good value.

Strengths:
Value for price.

Weaknesses:
Nothing fatal.

Similar Products Used:
None