Originally Posted by
WaffleHouse
Thank you for your insight, Yuri.
Re-reading my previous post, I realize I may need to clarify: FWIW - 90% of my riding will be on flat, straight, crushed limestone - nothing technical. Maintenance on the trail is fair to poor, hence the desire for wider tires to soften the ride. I was reserving the Fuji for fair-weather riding. This would be an all-weather beater. Being on the taller side, my primary concern is if the bike will be big enough for me. I've never purchased a big box store bike before. My intent was to re-grease the hubs, re-torque all the bolts, and get a new freewheel with a larger bailout gear.
To your point about the wheels and mx: from your experience, where would you see the most troublesome and recurring mx issues most likely to occur?
Given I have no specific experience with any of the stuff on this bike; I would expect the shimano stuff to be very serviceable, and reliable in reasonable use.
Things which would bug me - stem shifters, no only inconvenient, but also gets in the way of anything else mounted there, like bar bags, electronics, etc.
52/42 chainrings w/12/28 cassette - on a bike for non-race environment - just very limiting, but then I do have hills, climbing, steep pitches, etc.
Mostly, I would expect very little attention put to the components when they were put on, expect no 'chasing' of important threaded areas, like the BB. Expect wheels with poorly tensioned construction. Cheap Square taper cranks are notorious for having poor alignment with the best possible adjustment...
Will it get down the road? most likely. It's a question of what level of 'acceptance' you might have... and how much you're willing to deal with to keep it running within expectations.
Ride On
Yuri