Strengths: Extremely cool look, you won't find another bike that looks like this one! I take the subway with my bike sometimes and I can clearly see people lurking at the bike. I got some positive comments from 4 people that I don't even know that my bike was really beautiful. And yes it is. It has double wall black rims (Whistler 10, not sure for the others, i.e. the 30 and the 50). It has 3 pairs of holes on the frame, so you can add lot of gears there. Ready to receive disc brakes too. I don't think I could have found a better bike for that price, for what I need to do. (city and some rides, perhaps some mountain tracks too, this summer) In my humble opinion, I think it's among the 3 best looking bikes I've seen in my life.
Weaknesses: Get a good lock! Change the pedals.
Bottom Line:
This bike is a beauty! It just striked me when I saw it. The store had 15 of them and 14 were gone, so I took the last one. (17.5 inches frame) The frame geometry is pretty amazing, and so is the color (dark ocean blue). The paint is anodized so it's pretty resistant. The front and back wheel are mounted on black Alexrims DM18, the front fork is a Suntour NEX4000. The handlebar is a shiny aluminum Rocky Mountain and it looks so good! Once adjusted to my weigth (front and seatpost suspension going down 25% when I get on the bike), this modest bike operates like a cadillac. I've changed the pedals for some Shimano M-520, added a rear rack, changed the saddle too. I didn't want to leave a $1000 bike locked to a fence in the downtown of Montreal. I have two kryptonite locks (EV3000 and Keeper) to secure this beauty plus a cable with an active alarm. (If someone touches the bike, it does a powerful 110 dB sound!)
