Got one!
Okay, it was donated to the local bike coop saturday and is for sale locally. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa). The owner tried to return it but was tired of the wallyworldassociatebs so he donated instead and bought a more suitable bike for his needs from the coop. Still in the box so I assembled it sunday am.
damage? YES:
Left fork blade bent in about 15mm. Small scuff on the end of the left forkblade.
Right brake lever adjuster bent over from bashing in to the top tube.
Paint chips, all over.
Out of true wheels.
Right crank arm extractor threads mashed down on one side.
Top head set seal trapped in bearings. Holes in the plastic ring from getting smashed by the ball bearings.
Rear der slightly bent (could see cardboard rubbing on it which is odd because it had plastic shipping covers on the axle and the der was in 1st gear)
lousy assembly? YES.
BB bearings far too tight.
Front hub bearings far too tight.
Headset far too tight.
Brakes not set up at all.
All bearings were lightly greased, no other grease on anything. dry cables, threads, seat post, etc.
Seat post rather loose in frame (sure beats the Mongoose Massif I got that had a huge welding blob in the seat tube that had to be reamed out)
Lumpy decal application.
ride quality? NO!
Even heavier than my beast. Same tires & tubes & rims. Cast iron crank arms. Swaged on sprocket (still too big). Over geared. Linear pull brakes are fair, but still not great like they are on a high end mtb. funky rear kickstand. has a locking lever so you have to use that to put it up, not the kickstand leg itself. Would take a little getting used to.
Bottom line?
GEARS! Sure beats pushing a Beast up the hills but it could use a smaller sprocket in the front. High gear is so high, it's useless. Brakes are fair. Openface & flipable threadless stem ( 1 1/8), easy to replace or turn over for more bar height. Same horrid tires as on the Beast. For the money, it's a far better deal than the Beast. Trying to add gears and brakes to a Beast just does not make any sen$e compared to this.
NEON F$%^&ING GREEN! More green in real life that my pocket digital camera could capture. The frame is painted black & green with the vinyl decals applied over the paint transition lines. It would be pretty easy to peal all the vinyl off and clean off the glue. But when you are riding you don't see any of the green. Whew.
Rick
bunch of photos at flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133549157@N06/sets/72157656734220721
videos of issues:
