Not Safe
Written: Dec 14 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap
Cons: Not assembled properly, cheap
The Bottom Line: THis bike was not assembled properly
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| FlanderFlop's Full Review: Mongoose Aluminum Mountain Bike XR-100 |
I spend a good deal of time on bikes, so some people may consider me a bit of a bike snob, but I don’t hold it against people if they purchase a cheap bicycle from Wal-Mart, especially if it is for their kids who will out grow it quickly, or if they don’t plan on riding it more than twice a year anyway. But I’d like to share a quick story about this particular bike.
One of my neighbors recently purchased an XR-100 about $130 as a Christmas gift for their son. As they rolled it home they noticed that the brakes were rubbing on the rim. Knowing that I spend a lot of my time working on bikes they asked if I could fix the problem. It was a few hours before I finally worked out all the bugs in the bike, and had they brought it to me in the shop, it was a job that would have cost them at least another $30. I have seen a lot of similar bikes come into the shop with problems which I attributed to the fact that they were simply cheap bikes, and not well cared for. Turns out they come that way.
Here is the deal. The mechanics that assemble bikes for department stores are paid on a per bike basis. Which means that they throw the bikes together as quickly as possible and are not concerned with how it rides. So here is the list of problems I found on this particular bike that still had the cardboard disc in the wheel, and all the stickers and tags attached. In other words, it had never been ridden.
The initial problem with the brakes rubbing was a combination of two problems. First, both sets of brakes were mis-aligned and tensioned incorrectly. A little time with an Allen wrench and a screwdriver fixed this problem. The second problem was that both wheels were so out of true that I was not even sure I could get them straight. (An “out of true” wheel will wobble back and forth because the rim is not round, a wheel is said to be “true” if the rim is both round and without a side to side wobble.) In this case the wheels were so out of true that they would wobble back and forth from hitting the left brake pad to hitting the right break pad. After some time with a spoke wrench I got that problem all straightened out.
On to the derailleurs. Both of these were out of adjustment so I put them back in. The one neat thing about this bike is that it has a rapid-rise rear derailleur, a neat feature that was used on the high end XTR line a few years back until they realized that nobody liked it.
Another minor problem was that the seatpost was sitting directly on the rear shock. This in effect locks the suspension out. This can be solved by either raising the seat if you are tall, or hacksawing off the bottom of the seat post if you are shorter.
The scariest part of this bike was that the stem was loose. Making it possible to turn the handlebars without turning the wheel. This is an easy fix, but if you don’t know how to do it, or don’t notice before you need to turn, it could be dangerous.
What would have happened had I not fixed it before they rode it? Here is the run down. Forget the steering thing, I’ll let you use your imagination on that. First off it would have been annoying because it didn’t shift correctly, but the extra wear on the chain caused by that is minimal although sometimes clunky shifting can lead to broken chains. The major problem would have been that the rubbing on the break pads would have worn the pads quickly. In addition they would have worn in a odd fashion because they were not hitting the rims properly. Eventually this would have decreased the breaking power even further than it already was, and required new break pads sooner that would be expected.
Let me add quickly that with all bikes, there is a break in period where the cables stretch. So after about a month or two of riding, the shifting and breaking will need to be tightened up. Bike shops will usually do this for free if you purchased the bike from them, or charge $15-$30 if you purchased it somewhere else. Remember that when you buy a bike you also get a bike shop, and Bill’s Bikes will give you a lot better support than K-mart.
I also did some mental math and compared two things.
$130 XR-100 bike
$30 tune up to make it safe
$20 1 month tune up
total cost $180
You get a really heavy bike with low quality components that might stand up to a year of hard riding, before it becomes a money pit. Full suspension, but not intended for off road use.
$180 last years model ridged bike on sale built properly
free one month tune up
total cost: $200
You get a solid bike that will take some abuse. Low end parts, but not as low as the Mongoose. Will hold up to a few years of hard riding before it becomes a money pit. Will handle some mild off-road riding.
So in short, if you do decide to get this bike, please take it to someone who understands bikes before you ride it. All of the parts are there, and they work reasonably well, you just need to make sure they are assembled properly. I however would recommend that you support you local bike shop and get something that is built properly to start with, and will last longer. Remember that if you support them, they will support you.
Recommended:
No
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