dfregozo

Hello I want to get into cycling and found an ad for a Scattante R650 for $350. Owner claims he put a lot of money into bike and won a triathlon with it. Bike just sits in garage as he changed to mountain biking but everything is still in good working condition.

Since this bike is a good 15 years old, is this still a good bike for the price or are there better bikes for this price range?

Thomas15

First question is what kind of biking do you want to do? A road bike on a rail trail may not be too good as an example. Another question does the bike fit you? Too big too small even a bike for free with not be a good ride.

Without knowing what you want to do, the upgrades on the bike it is not an easy question to answer.

We also don't know anything about you. A bicycle with a racing geometry might be very uncomfortable for someone new to biking but really uncomfortable to someone that is looking to lose weight and get in shape. I don't mean to be insulting but someone in good shape but new to riding bikes will have different needs to someone that is overweight and out of shape.

One other thing, the bike could be gold plated and autographed by Greg LeMond but if it has a bent frame or stuck seat post it will not be useful for riding.

Sorry for being negative but we need more info.

Phil_gretz

Carbon seat stays, fork and seatpost? Aluminum racing geometry? Ultegra components?

If it really fits you, you'll enjoy it a lot. If it doesn't fit, well, then you'll have wasted your time and money.

Danhedonia

I always wondered why Scattante gets zero cred - I have some Scattante shoes and my wife has one of their bikes, both fine products. Kind of the Rodney Dangerfield of brands.

blakcloud 

What else can you buy during COVID times for $350? The bike is worth it if it doesn't need new consumables such as tires tubes, cables, housing and bar tape. Yes, it is older but if it is in good condition and as others have noted, fits you properly then it isn't the worst deal in history.

bikecrate

I always thought the name is a little off putting. Probably means "quick" or something in Italian, but just doesn't sound right in english.

urbanknight

As said above, the market is really tough right now. I have seen department store pieces of junk selling for almost that much. Ultegra is mid/high end components and usually work well even if outdated by 15 years. Scattante is (was?) a house brand for Performance Bike, and their frames are just fine if perhaps a little heavier than similar name brand frames. Inspect it for rot/wear. I would expect to replace dried out tires on a bike that has been sitting, and see if the shifters need a blast of WD40, but the rest should be fine.

Also, as mentioned above, make sure it fits you. No deal is good if you can't ride it comfortably.

It's a house brand, and house brands always turn noses on elitists. I have had quite a few of their products (mostly clothes) as well as Forte products. Some were excellent, some not so much.

Google says it translates to "snappy". Better than a tandem bike I was looking at called a Viaggio ("travelling")

70sSanO

My understanding is that Scattante was made for Performance by Fuji, but I’m not sure about 2004.

It is supposed to be full Ultegra.

The issues you might have are the modifications made to the bike to set it up for triathlons/TT’s that you really don’t want for a road bike, especially a first bike. The seller may see them as upgrades, but a super aero setup may just mean more cost for you to convert back.

In other words, you probably don’t want aero wheels, bars, no set-back seat post and maybe taller gearing just starting out.

John

Maelochs

Scattante was the house brand for performance bikes, back when Performance Bikes was sort of competing with Nashbar as the go-to lo-budget online shop. I don't think it does them any disservice to say that they produced (or rather purchased and resold) generic bikes .... much as Nashbar or ay of the online retailers who offered store brands.

Good bikes, good value, not top-tier, cutting edge, but the kind of bike which would never create an unhappy customer or a court case. Solid, sturdy, dependable, reliable ... basically whatever was really trick three years back, would show up on the store-brand bikes three years later. Quality bikes, from what I read, and no one ever seems to have a bad word .... but it has that fake, cheezy sounding pseudo-Italian name and just sort of seems slimy or plasticky because of it--IMO.

If they had named it "Griffon" or "Warhawk" or something I bet they would have sold better.

veganbikes

Tante is many in Italian and scat is well let's say a style of Jazz singing. Though Scatto is click so maybe it is Many Clicks rather than Many "Jazz Singings"

70sSanO

I think Performance used Scattante because all the other names they thought of had already been used by IKEA.

On a serious note, I actually tried to figure out what those strange IKEA brand names meant in English. The closest I could come up with was “crap only Americans will buy” or something to that effect.

John

veganbikes

People love foreign sounding names. Would you rather buy Perfume or Stank Juice? Tortilla or Circled Corn/Wheat Disc? Flugevorkin or plain chair for sitting?

When you hear Lamborghini Murcielago you conjure up images that Vroom Vroom Italy Gas Mobile just doesn't. Though truth be told I would probably buy a Vroom Vroom Italy Gas Mobile so long as it was badged on the car.

Danhedonia

I have some Scattante shoes that are oddly terrific.

I, too, would like an Italy Vroom Vroom Gas Mobile.

base2 

I have a 2013 Scattante DX350. At this point the only original component is the frame. Works as good as any bike I've ever owned. Super versatile platform. I've had it configured as everything from TT with Enve 7.8's & GP5000TL to gravel with Velocity A23's & 700x38 Gravelkings, with rack & fenders.

I don't know your bike, but I wouldn't expect any problems. I would expect a well thought out, general purpose, capable, all-rounder of mid-grade quality & conventional industry standard components.