New 2019 Motobecane Whipshot Ti from bikes direct.
Just bought the Ti Whipshot from bikes direct. I would love to post pictures. But I can't at the moment. So far I love the bike. It's so beautiful. It's like a 4 Runner of bicycles. It's got mounts, Sram Force 1 groupset. Ritchey seatpost and handlebar stuff. Such a gorgeous bike. I have no complaints. whatsoever. I would like to hear anything from the people who are interested in a bikes direct bike or a Titanium frame in general. I did two years of research before spending this kind of money on a bicycle. So if you have any questions, please ask. Cheers
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1924c79b5e.jpg |
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d6b47022c3.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e6843c4ddf.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2debb8c7d2.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...27f94f5ff3.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fb7eff90e2.jpg The cables are a little long from the factory. I have yet the desire to deal with dot fluid and snippers at the moment. Had a LBS look over my hand in the work. Needed the derailleur worked on as I can't stand doing it myself. The used lock tight on many bolts and tightened everything to spec for torque. Pushed her through a lot of rain so far in San Francisco this week. I would like to get some fenders put on for the rest of the rainy season. This is my current setup for the weather and night riding. I really like the low profile design of knog lights. Looking into SKS fenders Bluemels for the rain. |
It's not like it will cause any problems, but I'm pretty sure they did on your bike just what they did on mine: left the brake hoses at full length. (The derailleur cable and housing was fine.)
If you aren't comfortable adjusting a RD, then I do NOT recommend you try to shorten and re-bleed your brakes. It's not rocket science, but it is definitely more involved than adjusting a derailleur, and since you are dealing with toxic DOT 5.1 fluid, you don't have as much margin for error. Attached are a couple of pics of my wife's bike, after I did the following:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...01336a1b51.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1f1b8d99d0.jpg |
How are the welds?
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Originally Posted by wgscott
(Post 20685191)
How are the welds?
If you look at the third picture I posted (above), you get a pretty good shot of the welds of both the top tube and the down tube into the head tube. The work around the bottom bracket (lots of welding) looks particularly clean to me. I did a bit of reading before purchase, and many people vouched for the quality of the frame-maker, which is Ora, in Taiwan. I also couldn't find any reports of problems with Ora Ti frames. I'm not claiming it's the same quality as a custom-built frame, or a Moots or a Seven. But I've looked at Lynskeys up close, and if anything the Ora looks better. Given that the groupset on the bike retails for over $1,000, the wheelset retails for over $500, and the Ritchey finishing kit retails for a few hundred more....it's hard to complain. The Ti frame and the full carbon fork are almost included for free. Of course, as I reported above, in my case I spent more time getting this bike set up than I have on complete, groud-up builds in the past. That's because the defective/wrong brake pad spring took me hours and hours and hours to sort out. |
Originally Posted by fronesis
(Post 20685227)
the defective/wrong brake pad spring took me hours and hours and hours to sort out.
|
Originally Posted by wgscott
(Post 20685310)
That story is probably worthy of a thread of its own if you have the time...
Background – I'm a pretty decent amateur mechanic, but I'm still an amateur; I do all my own wrenching and have built half a dozen bikes from the frame up, and dealt with Shimano hydro brakes a few times, but not SRAM. 1. Setting up bike and COULD NOT for the life of me get the caliper to center on the rotor. This is always fiddly, but it seemed impossible. 2. When I finally did appear to get the caliper centered on the rotor, with no rub, all it would take to mess this up is to let the wheel bounce a few inches off the shop floor (or hit any small bump on the road). At that point the rotor would appear to hit the brake pad retaining spring. There was NO WAY to correct. I thought it might be a problem with the rotors, or for the frame and caliper specs, or... 3. The brad pads and retaining spring were brand new, of course, and they looked fine. 4. But not knowing what else to try, I bought a new set of SRAM road pads and put them in. Problem solved. It turns out the problem was the brake pad spring. The one that came with the new bike was too narrow at the top and too loose as a spring. It didn't press the pads back far enough, making it almost impossible to center the caliper on the rotor. And even when the caliper was centered, it would slide down and hit the rotor directly. The spring with the new pads looked almost the same, but it was different: it didn't narrow above the pads the way the original did, and it had FAR more spring. Put the new pads in and it was immediately obvious that I had way more room to center the caliper. On the old spring the spring would slide up and down above and below the pads. On the new spring, the pads and spring float together as one unit, and the rotor never hits the spring. With hindsight, it was easy to see that I had the wrong spring. But in the process, it was not at all obvious that that was the problem. The old spring and the new looked almost identical. |
Thanks!
I'll take a look at ours, which are now in a box. On my kid's mountain bike (Canyon), we wound up replacing the entire brakesets (with XT). |
Originally Posted by fronesis
(Post 20685452)
It was a thread in the "wrenching" section of that other message board. But the summary of it goes like this:
Background – I'm a pretty decent amateur mechanic, but I'm still an amateur; I do all my own wrenching and have built half a dozen bikes from the frame up, and dealt with Shimano hydro brakes a few times, but not SRAM. 1. Setting up bike and COULD NOT for the life of me get the caliper to center on the rotor. This is always fiddly, but it seemed impossible. 2. When I finally did appear to get the caliper centered on the rotor, with no rub, all it would take to mess this up is to let the wheel bounce a few inches off the shop floor (or hit any small bump on the road). At that point the rotor would appear to hit the brake pad retaining spring. There was NO WAY to correct. I thought it might be a problem with the rotors, or for the frame and caliper specs, or... 3. The brad pads and retaining spring were brand new, of course, and they looked fine. 4. But not knowing what else to try, I bought a new set of SRAM road pads and put them in. Problem solved. It turns out the problem was the brake pad spring. The one that came with the new bike was too narrow at the top and too loose as a spring. It didn't press the pads back far enough, making it almost impossible to center the caliper on the rotor. And even when the caliper was centered, it would slide down and hit the rotor directly. The spring with the new pads looked almost the same, but it was different: it didn't narrow above the pads the way the original did, and it had FAR more spring. Put the new pads in and it was immediately obvious that I had way more room to center the caliper. On the old spring the spring would slide up and down above and below the pads. On the new spring, the pads and spring float together as one unit, and the rotor never hits the spring. With hindsight, it was easy to see that I had the wrong spring. But in the process, it was not at all obvious that that was the problem. The old spring and the new looked almost identical. I waited 2 years for this spec and I got it for a steal. Bike direct knocked this one out of the park. I understand not everyone will be able to afford even $1948, but knowing that the components of this bicycle and it's mark on the industry, there is no doubt in my mind that anyone spending the 2399.99 on the bike after the black Friday special, is still getting an amazing deal. |
I agree completely. I ran into the brake pad spring issue on the bike I bought for my wife. But after I finally got it all set up and she put 100 miles on it, I went ahead and bought a second one for me. It’s an amazing deal. And I basically chalk the brake pad spring thing to bad luck. It would have been a $40 fix if I had known about it beforehand. For me the total price of the bike was slightly higher as I spent: $40 for new pads, $72 for new rotors, and $25 for a new chain. That still brings my grand total to under $2100! I have no regrets. |
You got a nice deal. Now all you need to do is remove that fugly decal on the down tube and you'll be in good shape.:thumb:
|
Originally Posted by fronesis
(Post 20685170)
It's not like it will cause any problems, but I'm pretty sure they did on your bike just what they did on mine: left the brake hoses at full length. (The derailleur cable and housing was fine.)
If you aren't comfortable adjusting a RD, then I do NOT recommend you try to shorten and re-bleed your brakes. It's not rocket science, but it is definitely more involved than adjusting a derailleur, and since you are dealing with toxic DOT 5.1 fluid, you don't have as much margin for error. Attached are a couple of pics of my wife's bike, after I did the following:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...01336a1b51.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1f1b8d99d0.jpg Here's in interesting link on tire width and a beautiful insight in the importance of tire width. I agree with you that the frame could maybe fit a 40 or up to a 42 possibly. I did measure the tire that comes with the bike, the challenge tires. They measure in at 35mm width actually. So pushing a 44 might actually be doable but you wouldn't know until you tried. That's what my LBS said to me as well. 9mm isn't that much depending on how the tire is dispersed on the rim. https://janheine.wordpress.com/2013/...limeters-make/ |
Originally Posted by Wattsup
(Post 20686955)
You got a nice deal. Now all you need to do is remove that fugly decal on the down tube and you'll be in good shape.:thumb:
|
Thinking about buying one, maybe two of these. I want to mount full fenders to them. Is there a pre-formed fork hole at the top center? looks like there are threaded holes in the fork dropouts for fender brace install.
The rear seat stays, seat stay bridge, and rear dropouts look fully formed for fenders. Thanks in advance. |
I have a Motobecane Omni Strada Pro 2017-2018 similar to the Whipshot but is aluminum it has been a good bike. Maybe in the future I will get a titanium bike I bet the ride is smooth being on steel. |
Will it fit 650x48?
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Originally Posted by Elvo
(Post 20719636)
Will it fit 650x48?
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can't post youtube video because I have less than ten posts. however, just add https
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7NcPYjZ_gk fenders fitted, decal removed. ordering two. one for me, one for GF. Will be nice day tour bikes. |
Originally Posted by Anger67
(Post 20719685)
that's a stretch. it's 700c x 42 max. Granted 650b is smaller diameter, but where you going to hide that extra 6mm width?
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Originally Posted by Anger67
(Post 20719513)
Thinking about buying one, maybe two of these. I want to mount full fenders to them. Is there a pre-formed fork hole at the top center? looks like there are threaded holes in the fork dropouts for fender brace install.
The rear seat stays, seat stay bridge, and rear dropouts look fully formed for fenders. Thanks in advance. Seat stay hole hole points down at fender so fender needs to be drilled (rather than using a bracket for a brake bridge). Fender install is very clean and straightforward— https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8237cbbca.jpeg |
Originally Posted by fronesis
(Post 20719903)
Hole for fender is on the rear of the fork. I needed a slightly longer hanger for the front fender. Seat stay hole hole points down at fender so fender needs to be drilled (rather than using a bracket for a brake bridge). Fender install is very clean and straightforward— Appreciate it brother. I ordered one for my GF in size 55cm shortly after I found the youtube video. Sadly the 58cm is sold out for me. It's probably for the best, I don't need it. Looking forward to putting a flat carbon bar (1" rise) with xt brakes and shifter to convert it into a cafe bicycle for her. Going to try to use stylish dark wood fenders with 650b carbon wheels, but will wait till the bike comes in so I can fit the wheels and see how much fender clearance I have to work with. |
Originally Posted by Elvo
(Post 20719891)
Generally the ones that can fit 700x45 can also fit 650x48 but it depends on the chain stay and fork width.
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Originally Posted by fronesis
(Post 20719903)
Hole for fender is on the rear of the fork. I needed a slightly longer hanger for the front fender. Seat stay hole hole points down at fender so fender needs to be drilled (rather than using a bracket for a brake bridge). Fender install is very clean and straightforward— https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8237cbbca.jpeg |
Originally Posted by danthemanohhyea
(Post 20723293)
What fenders are these? They look much better than the ones I have mounted on my Century Pro TI.
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Thanks.
I've got a set of roadracer mk3 fenders and they're just not sturdy enough for my riding. Seems almost like you'd want the "city" fenders though, no? Being able to go up to a 35 for winter riding would be ideal. |
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