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Submitted by
Juan
a Cross Country Rider
from Miami, Fl USA
Date Reviewed: February 3, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$425.00 | | Purchased At: | Hialeah Schwinn | | Strengths: | Suspension(front and rear), and rear derailler | | Weaknesses: | stem and seat | | Similar Products Used: | Jamis Dakar Sport. | | Bike Setup: | only upgraded the seat to a more comfy one | | Bottom Line: | This bike is exceedingly good. I had purchased the bike initially as a riding bicycle for my girlfriend who wanted to start riding with me. But after two rides she said she still prefers jogging to riding a bicycle, so her loss. I decided to ride the bicycle one day and I was quite astonished. This bicycle, though only considered an entry level bike has some pretty good performance advantages; the suspension was the first thing I noticed was how good the suspension is. My primary bike to that point was my Jamis Dakar sport. It has the same travel front and rear as the Schwinn. When I got the Jamis first thing I had to do was upgrade both the springs for the shock and the springs on the fork. At 200 lbs. that was understandable. The springs that came from the factory with the Schwinn were not only excellent. They were spot on. I had to play a little with the preload in the front forks, but other than that they were perfect. This bike's rides significantly better than the Jamis also. The bicycle feels better planted on the ground than the Jamis ever did. It also has some advantages for climbing. My seating position on the Jamis from factory was a bit too forward. I had to get a slightly higher bar to feel better situated on it. The Schwinn was perfect from the get go. It also seems to have better rubber mounted on it than the stock Jamis. Case in point that when I moved my tires to the Jamis for a test the Jamis did roll much better. the front derailleur, which on the Jamis I have never been able to get it to truly go into the large flywheel gear while in the trail (unless I stopped, flipped the bike over and physically held the chain in the right position while hand pedaling the bike. even after two replacement front derailleur from the factory, 4 cable changes and one controller change, still wont jump into the big gear) the rear derailleur, save for when switching to smallest/largest combination. Stayed in every single gear and never ever complained. The rear suspension design on this bike, which was designed for Schwinn by the GT folks, seemingly almost as an afterthought, if very very good, I have found that whether in or out of the saddle, if the bike does have any kind of bobbing going on down there, it is totally unnoticeable, something which even after all the changes on the Jamis I can still feel every single time I get up and pedal.
Those are all the good points of the bikes, now I will mention some of the bad points; I believe most of these simply due to the fact that this is the lowest end of this bicycle line. The cranks, though standing still this bicycle has the crank arms half an inch higher than the Jamis, there is enough movement in the bottom bracket/crank arm combo that some roots on the floor may be scraped with the pedals if they happen to be at 6/12 5/2 or 4/11 areas. I initially thought it was again my weight/lack of suspension power that caused that but after riding with a couple of my friends who are featherweights (150-165 lbs) they experienced the exact same thing when riding over quite a few roots, which leads me to believe either that combination or under suspended fork, which is likely considering the model fork this is. Number two, this bike, though the riding position is perfect for me because it is quite more laid back in riding position than some of the Johnny racer types like it, more people may find it to be too far back, almost cruiser like in its body position. This is also not too easy to remedy as the head tube on the bike is quite long. This adds a lot to this up right riding position. Though for beginners it will feel more comfortable than the Superbike racer feel of the more pricy bicycles. The only other complaint I have about the bike would be with the stem, it is way too quick to flex under most out of the saddle use where more of your body weight is resting on it. Also the fact that the stem goes up about another inch does not help with the laid back ride feeling of the bike. Also, as stated before, the only gear that has significant issues is the small/large gear combo. Whenever this combination is engaged, the bicycle protests this openly by continually wanting to jump into the large front cog over and over and over again. Though I live in Miami, and we have no hills that would truly require that. When I start riding a new bicycle I like to test all the gears on it, and that is one that definitely will not work at all on this bicycle. One good note is that the chain never hits the swing arm of the bicycle. Overall, the bike will be great for beginners and even some more experienced, though in retrospect, if i had been purchasing this for me, i would have instead purchased the rocket 1. which has the much better componentry.
| Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
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