Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
Dude, your earlier rant missed the mark. Just accept it and move on. The bike is clearly above big box offerings as the largest bike shop brand in the US offers an identical bike at a higher cost. They are entry level bikes- they wont be super high quality at the price since they are...entry level.
The initial question was if its a good deal or not. You answered by ranting once again about how Motobecane is the name of a brand from decades ago and how a $300 more expensive bike is nicer.
We get it- Motobecane was once a French brand made bikes and a company bought the US name. The Silca name is US owned now, Diamondback is owned by some private equity company, Cannondale is owned by a Dutch holdings company, Raleigh USA is owned by a different Dutch holdings company , Nishiki is owned by the same holdings company as Raleigh USA, etc etc etc.
Every time Silca is mentioned, do you rant about how Silca is no longer the Italian brand it once was and is now just a brand located in the US and doing all sorts of different things from the historic Silca?
I have said it was above big box stores just not that much. It is whatever.
Some companies still have the same heritage or at least have been together the entire time doing similar things, what the name Motobecane is at this point was just bought as a name not as a company. Granted yes Silca is in a similar boat but they are generally making decent quality stuff along the same vein and still offering rebuild parts for the old stuff. Josh Poertner was a Silca fan-boy for a while from various interviews I read back in the day when they came out. It wasn't just hey we need to make fake sale bikes but we need a name it was hey I really love this brand a lot and want to continue it.
Nishiki has long gone down the toilet aren't they basically a house brand for tricky Dick's sporting goods? Diamondback has their foot in both worlds but I think they are owned by Alta in the US same as Raleigh USA which is no longer the Raleigh of Nottingham and Alta may not be as ideal. PON owns Dorel which owns Cannondale so that is a little messy but in the end they still make a lot of the same stuff it seems like and no more crackandfail at least not as bad...