I personally like the big flat plastic pedals in case my feet slip off, but others who like toe clips would be dissapointed.
Bike Setup:
Mountain Bike, Female, Front Wheel Suspension
Bottom Line:
My first bike, so I may not know much-- but it feels right. Smooth and tough. When I first bought my bike, I went in and around the Chattahoochee woods and it held up really well-- the shocks worked better than I'd thought and the wheels went over all sorts of bumps and ditches and littered cans easily. I only worry about taking my bike to school in downtown Atlanta-- it's too "pretty"-- light blue and silver-- not to catch thieveing attentions.
Bottom Line: I don't know what "hardcore" cyclists look for, but I can spend hours and hours riding mine by moonlight, more than perfectly content.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Dave
a Weekend Warrior
from San Jose Date Reviewed: April 6, 1999
Duration Product Used:
less than 1 month
Strengths:
Cheap.
Weaknesses:
One we tried was not safe.
Similar Products Used:
Giant Rincon SE
Bottom Line:
We bought one of these at REI as an etry-level bike for my wife. I noticed that the handlebars could rotate when the front wheel was secured, so I had them tighten the stem and when I got home I noticed that it still rotated. I tried tightening it as much as I dared and it still turnedwith minimal effort. Brought bike back and they verified that it was not funtioning correctly. Apparently older versions use a smooth stem but this one had a newer, ridged stem (designed to fix this problem???) but it was completely unsafe. They didn't have another stem of the right type in stock (5 days to get one) so we returned the bike without ever doing any riding on it - fortunately! Bought a Giant Rincon SE for about the same price later that day and it has worked fine for her so far. Maybe our Piedra was an exception that slipped past QC but I'd think twice and triple-check everything if we were going to consider another Novara bike. (I'll stick to my Cannondale)
$ 340.00
Overall Rating:
