veganbikes

Bikes Direct bought old names to give their brand some sort of prestige overall they are cheap bikes that they claim are on sale to get you even more. On occasion they have some more decently spec'd bikes that a lot of people buy for the groupset and sell the frame or scrap it The one bike they sell that we recommend a lot is the Pound Sign: KiloTT which is a single speed/fixed gear bike and decent-ish steel frame and reasonably reliable (but it is a single speed so...)

$800 for that bike is completely ridiculous and even the idea that they would fake sale it from that price is pretty ridiculous. It is not a Wally Mart bike but it isn't huge steps up from that. Genuine Shimano doesn't mean much aside from they used the lowest quality Shimano stuff and thought it was worth promoting heavily because they need a selling point. Certainly the price is average for the quality but not a bike I would want to ride often.

For less than $800 you could get the Sirrus X 2.0 from Specialized which is streets ahead in terms of bikes, it may not be a great bike overall but is a lot better than tourney and freewheels and just generic stuff plus most people spend their time in the middle chainring so this eliminates the faff of a front derailleur and multi chainring bikes (which in the case of the BD bike would be non-replaceable without replacing the whole crank) and gives you a little more range at the back. Plus you get hydraulic disc brakes and a lifetime warranty on the frame and fork (assuming you register your bike for free within 90 days of purchase)