BikesDirectReviews 566

I've been shopping for a new road bike for the better part of six months. Every time I go into a bike shop, they tell me to look online, figure out what I want, and they'll order it for me.

So at a friend's recommendation, I go to bikesdirect.com Lots to choose from, but not sure about the name brands on the frames. I do a bit of research, and find the bike I want. I go to order it, and they're sold out!

They tell me to check back in a month, and I do. This time they have it in stock in my size. I ordered it, and it arrived on Thursday of this week.

The bike was well packed, and in perfect condition, practically ready to ride. You do have to assemble it, but if you have ever assembled a bike from a factory shipment you won't have any problems. The wheels were trued perfectly, the bike went together easily. It may have taken me more time to unpack it than to assemble it. I took it to my local bike shop to have them do the once over on the drive train and make some minor adjustments. The guys in the bike shop were in utter shock when they saw the quality of the bike I had just purchased and how much I paid for it.

I rode it 20 miles on it's maiden voyage today, and I was thrilled with it. It is everything advertised on their site and then some.

Don't be fooled by bike shops who hot-mouth this business; the days of overpaying for a crappy bike are over thanks to bikesdirect.com

I bought the century comp with sram apex set. Only took 3 business days to get here, free shipping and no tax btw. Came brand new from the factory. Packaged very well.

All you have to put together is:
The cable through the cable housing on top tube, attach front brake and adjust pads front and back, attach bars to stem, tighten head bolt for tension, tighten stem bolts, attach front wheel, slide seat post into seat stay, attach pedals and adjusted my reach on my sram apex shifters. Took 30minutes to build. Total build plus fit took about 45minutes - 1hr. Then pumped the tires and took it for a spin.

Noticed there was a slight scratch on my chainstay, took a pic, emailed them and they responded within the hour and refunded me $40 immediately i didnt even have to ask for the refund, they offered and of course i accepted. Communication is amazing and customer service was tops.

Bought a MOTOBECANE single speed bike "TRACK BIKE" this thing is HORRIBLE. All the componets are very CHEAP, the frame is nothing but a piece garbage. Poor customer service. YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THE PRODUCT TO BE DELIVERED TO YOUR PLACE. I did not like the bike and now I want to returned, so guest what. I will have to paid $50.00 more to delivered the bike back to them. Overral I WASTED $100 on delivery charges for a product that is GARBAGE. If you are going to spend $330 dollars on a bike that is garbage, you are better off buying a SCHWINN single speed bike and start from there, get it as a project bike, and you will be more happy and your money worth. DON BUT FROM THIS COMPANY, you will have nightmares. I hope I can get 100% refund of what I paid for that crap.

Just bought a Gravity2 29er. The shipping took 4 business days -- site indicated 3-7 days. The bike was 90% assembled as the site indicated. It took me 1 hour to fully assemble with nothing but an allen wrench (oh yeah -- the pedals required a open end wrench), including adjusting the brakes, inflating the tires and adjusting the seats and bar. The shifters took a small adjustment on front and rear derailers. This was so easy. I had originally planned to take to a bike shop, but no need to spend the extra $70-$100. The bike is perfect for the money considering the components. Great experience.

If you know what you want and are handy with tools, great place to shop. Most people expect a ride ready bike and hence issues arise. YOU are the "middle man". You need to go over the bike carefully like your local bike shop would. That is why these bikes are such great bargains and lbs are so expensive! I've purchased three bikes from bikesdirect over the course of three years- two motobecane and a windsor. Could not be any happier.

Did a lot of research when buying bike for wife. Fuji made a 44cm unlike many current manufacturers who seem to be eliminating different bike models from their lineups during tough economic times. I am no cyclist but read a lot of proper fitting, sizing, had her on my bike to see shoulder width, basic stuff from what I read on internet sites. I checked her inseam, measure arm reach, basically at 4'11 she needed 44cm frame or a bike with 650 tires. I didn't want a 650cm tire for her even though it would have worked, I just thought she could be comfortable on 700s. Plus most bikes with 650 for females are very expensive (over $900) my budget was $500 and bikesdirect totally came through. Perfect fit. She actually said that never in her adult life has she felt so comfortable on road bike. Local bike shop did build and they were impressed with bikesdirect product and price. Bike was packaged well, arrived quickly, customer service was easy to contact through email and phone. I would definetly buy again. Wish they sold kids bikes.

When my wife and I were looking for a couple of bikes we happened on the bikes direct site and studied what they had. After some time we decided on two Motobacane bikes, a women's Elite FS and a men's Jubilee Deluxe. Both bikes are first class, ride well and are first rate in every way. They arrived in perfect condition, were easy to assemble and after we fine tuned them for riding we took them out for a test spin. The men's Jubilee Deluxe is a very nimble bike well suited for any type of riding on or off the paved road. It shifts well and coasts very well on all types of terrain. Bottom line, it's a very easy bike to ride and should last for years in the future. The woman's Elite FS is a very nice bike, easy to ride and works well for the road. I've had several bikes in the past and this is the finest bike for the money you can get. I highly recommend these bikes and the folks behind the scenes making sure your order goes smoothly and gets to you on time. Well done bikesdirect!

At first I was skeptical about purchasing a bike online without seeing it in person. I did my homework by checking reviews and comparing prices. I discovered that the people who have given bikes direct poor reviews are most likely those who are (A) People who haven't actually purchased anything from them because they are "Brand Name" shoppers, or (B) People who have purchased a bike and didn't realize they would have to put a small amount of effort into putting it together, or (C) The kind of individual who you can't satisfy no matter what. Well, after gathering my facts and carefully weighing my decision I decided to buy a "Gravity FSX 1.0."
Now I can give you a complete review based on my personal experience.
I decided to buy the bike although I found many mixed reviews about Bikes Direct. I mostly ride on paved trails and occasionally on dirt trails, so I didn't need a competition spec bike. I wanted a better bike than what could be found at Wal-Mart, Target, etc., but I didn't want to drop $600 either. I found an entry level mountain bike on Bikes Direct that was comparable to a bike I saw at Sports Authority. The bike on Bikes Direct $329, no tax, and included shipping. The bike at Sports Authority was $550, plus 6% sales tax.
The thing that tipped the scales when making my final decision was the reviews I saw here on Site Jabber. Bikes Direct had a higher rating than many popular retail stores. Bikes Direct also offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so I figured the only thing I had to lose was the postage if I decided to send it back. I called their credit card hotline and placed my order. The next evening I had my receipt emailed to me along with a UPS tracking number and 4 days later I had my bike. I am thrilled with my purchase and the Bikes Direct website accurately described the bike I ordered including the photos. The only thing I had to do was minor assembly, adjust the brakes, and shifters. Initially I was scared about ordering, anxious once I ordered, and thrilled once I received the bike. The whole process was easy and smooth. I wrote this review for people who are worried like I was about ordering from Bikes Direct. I do not work for them in any way and unfortunately I wasn't paid to write this.

I hit a curb on my Gary Fisher Triton bending the frame. Couldn't afford an expensive replacement so I bought a Motobecane Messenger from Bikes Direct for just under half the price of the Triton. The bike shipped the day I ordered it and arrived ups ground five days later. The bike was well packed and arrived in perfect condition. I have assembled bikes in the past so putting it together wasn't a problem, but for someone with no experience might be challenging. The bike feels a little lighter than my Triton did and is fast, good paint too. I will have to see how this bike lasts but looks like a very good deal for the money. My experience with Bikes Direct was very good.

I read over the specs, the reviews, the warnings, decided to take a chance. After all, where else can you get a 29er full suspension mountain bike with decent components for $700 (DAWES ROUNDHOUSE).

It came in a box with essentially no instructions, as promised. OK, if you can't put a derailleur on a bicycle yourself you should plan to take the box to a bike shop and pay them to do it for you. I'm pretty handy with an allen wrench and have owned a number of bikes over the years. No problems doing the final assembly (seat, handlebars, peddles, wheels, and derailleur all come separate from the frame, brake and shift cables already attached). I'm still going to take it to a bike shop and have it tuned, for one thing I can't true the wheels myself and for another the bike always rides soooo smoothly after a tune up). I'm going to put a couple hundred miles on it first and let the cables stretch.

One thing I saw in a few of the unfavorable reviews had to do with service. Regrettably there was shipping damage. UPS must use gorillas or something to handle their packages, the derailleur hanger was bent and the back brake caliper broken. I read and followed the on line instructions (imagine that, a male actually reading instructions, my only excuse is I was a bit scared by some of the bad experiences people had who did not follow bikesdirect on line instructions)

Anyway, I took pictures of the damaged parts and emailed them, along with the order information, model and serial number. Within 24 hours new parts were on their way to me.

Yeah I was disappointed because it took a couple extra days to get my new bike up and rolling but I saved at least half of what a comparable bike would have cost from a bike store

Btw, I agree with several other reviewers comments. When you buy anything over the internet, use a credit card or at least paypal. That way, if you do have a problem you can call and rescind payment until the problem is fixed. That gives you a lot of leverage. I didn't need it with bikesdirect.com but it has come in handy a few times with other cyberspace vendors

Anyway, thank you bikesdirect, I got a lot of bike for what I had to pay.

I checked all the above reviews before purchasing from Bikes Direct, so I thought it only fair that I share my experience. I just received the bike today and so far all is great.

I ordered the Motobecane Le Champion Ti with Ultegra. Very good price. Several hard core cycling friends confirmed it was a great deal. A few hours after ordering, I received a UPS shipping notification and confirmation email. The UPS notice provided a shipping estimate of 2 days, so I got pretty excited. However, I didn't read the Bikes Direct email closely enough and 2 days is when it would start shipping from the factory to me. My mistake, but just a heads up in case you do the same. That said, I ordered it on Wednesday and it arrived the following Tuesday. Well packed. All components exactly as spec'ed, so no issues there. No damage en route and easily assembled. Frame size is perfect. Assembly took about 20 mins.

Woud definitely order again and may buy a bike for my wife from Bikes Direct. A very good experience.

I bought an Immortal Spirt. Ordered it late Sunday night and received the bike on Friday mid-morning. Assembly was a snap. The wheels were prefectly true. Everything was in good adjustment. A few tweaks of the rear deraileur as the cables stretched. A few short tune-up rides on Friday to adjust the fit. Over a 100 miles the first week including two 30 milers. What a beautiful bike! The ride is smooth and fast. I will ride it hard over the next 30 days and make another report. So far so good.

I spent several months researching possible bikes before purchasing. I rode a couple of Canondales, a Trek, a couple of Specialize, a few others, all well over $3000. The Immortal Spirt is at least as good as anything else I tried. Like most folks I was hesitent to buy a bike I could not ride first. The price for what you get with the Immortal Spirit was just too much to pass up. GREAT DECISION! This bike easily compares with $4000+ cycles at my LBS.

I recently ordered a Motobecane Immortal Spirit after reading dozens of reviews about Bikesdirect.com. Like a lot of people, I was hesitant to buy a bike on line but I went ahead and took a chance. The bike arrived in four working days in perfect order. Even though I have some experience in bike mechanics, I took it to my LBS and had it assembled for $60.00.

Took the bike out last night for a 15 mile ride. My only complaint is that the seat is too hard and I am going to have to replace it. Otherwise, the DA components worked perfectly and the ride was great. I would not hesitate to buy another bike from them again.

My order is not complete yet. I placed an order 2 business days ago, they've taken the money out of my bank account, but have yet to even confirm that they've received my order... or told me if the item is in stock in my size, etc.

I hope that once they actually process my order everything else will procede as wonderful as the other reviews, but so far their only response to my emails asking is "We will process your order on the next business day after it is placed and you will receive an email then with your tracking information then." :( Now it's been 2 days and still no tracking information... crossing my fingers that someday they'll actually think about shipping out the bike parts...

I ordered a mountain bike with outstanding specs at a price I could hardly believe ($329 vs. $879 in local store). I was a little cautious buying online but decided to give it a shot and save some money in the process. The bike arrived with all parts matching up to the parts advertised on the website with one exception. The breaks have been upgraded with higher quality rotors – certainly can't complain here. One negative of buying online is the shipping and the potential for damage. The bike arrived with a scratch on the front fork. I contacted bikesdirect.com and within two hours the issue was resolved to my satisfaction. The customer service was very organized, friendly, and courteous. They proposed a solution I was happy to accept. I love the new bike and since I also ride a road bike, I will be buying one soon from bikesdirect.com.