Thursday, August 21, 2008

Motobecane Fantom 29 Six Month Review

Evaluation

Frame: After getting a longer seat post and adjustable stem, the 17" frame fits me well. The black finish is holding up well- no scratches. The chainstay nicks were the only area that needed some attention.

Brakes: Excellent stopping power. Very easy to adjust for brake wear.

Shifting: Very smooth.

Drivetrain: The 22/32/44T crankset and 11-32T cassette provides a range of 20 to 116 gear inches. I usually ride in the middle chainring which provides 29 to 84 gear inches.

Tires: MotoRaptor 29x2.1 perform well in the trails that I ride. They provide excellent traction. The 29er wheels do well for climbing and rolling over obstacles.

Fork: The Dart 3 performs well. I rarely use the lockout, but it is a nice feature to have. I can ride downhill fairly fast and the fork absorbs the terrain well.

Maintenance: Overall very low. I have had 2 flats due to manufacturing tube defects. Not really Motobecane's fault, just cheap tubes. I will use tires with slime in the future.

Overall Ride: The Fantom 29 has proven to be an excellent addition to my fitness regime, providing an excellent off road riding workout.

Repairs

March 15, 2008 Loose Bottle cage holder
March 22, 2008 31.8 miles Flat Tire
March 23, 2008 Chainstay nicks
August 02, 2008 Bent Derailleur Hanger
August 11, 2008 203.6 miles Flat Tire

Maintenance
Normal chain lube after every 2 to 3 rides
Adjusted brakes to compensate for wear a couple of times


Riding Statistics
Number of Rides: 21 Mileage : 217.4
Average mileage: 10.4 miles per ride
Longest Ride: 28.4 miles Thun Trail
Number or Rides: Marsh Creek State Park: 7 average:10.8 miles
Number of Rides Springton Manor Farms: 12 average: 7.7 miles
Number of Rides Thun Trail: 2 average : 23.7 miles

2 comments:

Bradley said...

Alright. I rec'd my fantom 29 yesterday and assembled and have put maybe 3 miles on the bike. It's been a while (maybe 15-20 years) since I've ridden and I don't remember bikes being so smooth. I bought the bike for fitness reasons and will most likely do more trail riding that I planned. Question, I can't get my front gears/sprocket to shift smoothly. I must push the lever more (after the click) to get it to go to both of the larger sprockets. In my younger days, I was a bike mechanic for 5-6 years. I've made all the adjustments I can remember (i.e. slack out of cable, fine tuning adjustments) to no fix. Can anyone help with this?
Thanks
Brad

Mike said...

Bradley

Get the service instructions SI-740I for the front derailleur at http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Deore/FrontDriveSystem/SI-F740I-En_v1_m56577569830612824.pdf

They also should have come with your bike.

Follow the adjustment procedure exactly and you should be OK.

Mike