Wavshrdr,
Yan (as well as Whoever is responsible for shipping their bikes) is making sure the bikes are shipped "ride-ready", but something is happening between shipping and receiving. Unless you are an experienced bike mechanic, I would suggest taking any bike that spent some time in ground transportation for an inspection.
I had 3 Downtubes shipped to my address and all three, once inspected at the LBS, had (at least) some minor bending of the derailleur. It may be a coincidence or not, but the box that was delivered by UPS was the only one that 1)did not have holes and were not massively abused and 2) had the derailleur in riding conditions (the other two bikes came from 2 different locations but both delivered by DHL and received some transporting damage). The last one (a silver VIII - just front suspension) came with the plastic spoke guard you mention broke as well, and one entire pedal crank outside the box.
About 5 weeks ago, my roomate insisted that his Downtube was perfect and that he needed no Bike mechanic to do what he could do himself. He did some minor adustment on gear and did about 200 miles on it. After my girlfriend traded her halfway to a Downtube identical to his bike and had it tuned at the LBS, it was like 2 completely different bikes. Brakes, gears, overall feeling, it is amazing what some days inside ground shipping can do. The Derailleur was in riding condition but once examined using that little "compass" tool, also showed some degrees off.
As I said on my review, if you add the average US$30.00 for the "pre-flight" check-up + gear adustment at your LBS, it makes the Downtube one of the best value folders in the U.S.
Only if Yan could use the Star Trek method of transportation...bike disappears there, bike appears here!
