Monday, February 16, 2009

One Year Blogging!



Well today is one year anniversary of this blog!
The reason I started this blog was to document my evaluation of the Motobecane Fantom 29. When I was looking to buy a mountain bike to vary my fitness regime, I saw that the Fantom 29 seemed like a good deal. However, there were not a lot of reviews. Most of the reviews were from people that did not have the Fantom 29, but rather complained about its quality or support since it was not purchased at a local bike shop.
Some blog statistics:
Number of Followers: (6) Patrick, Mike, Sam, Graceson, Bradley and 29erRider
Number of posts: 95
Number of Comments: 93 (some were me returning comments). I like comments please keep them coming.
Number of visits: 1615 (Since December 14 based on Sitemeter.com)
Countries of visitors: United States, Phillipines, Finland, France, Spain, Portugal, Austrialia, Venuezula, Dubai UAE, Germany, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, Italy, Belguim, United Kingdom, Poland.
The Motobecane Fantom 29 performed extremely well and required little maintenance. Therefore most of my blog posts were more about my rides rather than the bike itself.
I have one year of posts that documented every ride I took on the Fantom 29. This should give the reader an idea of how the bike performs and what you can do with it. I will now change up the blog and only post when : 1.) I have a periodic review every 6 months, 2.) There is significant maintenance or 3.) When I ride in a new location that I have not reported on.So there should be fewer posts but I hope more informative.
Thanks for reading. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

6 comments:

Mike said...

Happy bday to your blog Mike. We should get together and ride sometime... I'll even make sure my buddy brings his Motobecane too!

Signed,
The other Mike

Mike said...

Mike
I would be glad to ride with you. I am usually at Marsh Creek or Springton Manor Farm 7:45 to 8:45 am Sundays for my fitness ride before church. We could make other arrangements for a Saturday at French Creek, Thun Trail, Warwick Park etc. If you road bike, I do that too.

Go to mtbr and you can PM me. My user name is mpg.

Mike

29erRider said...

Mike - Congrats on the one year anniversary. I originally enjoyed your blog because I had also just bought a Fantom and made many of the same changes you did. I have been doing my workouts indoors since the weather here turned cold. I'd like to ride around my neighborhood, but I worry about the salt corroding components on the bike. Thanks for all your observations and scenery photos. Mark

Unknown said...

I've a question you may be able to help with, if you don't mind. I'm interested in the Fantom 29er as a touring bike, but I've not been able to determine whether it is equipped with eyelets for mounting a rack. I would appreciate your reply.

Thanks.
Wade

Mike said...

Wade

I answered a similiar request in a previous post so I will repeat it here.

No, the Fantom 29 does not have rear rack braze-ons.

Also the Fantom 29 might not be suited to muti-day road trips because of the geometry (more upright as mountain bikes are) and few hand positions (you need multiple hand positions like on a road bike to reduce fatigue).

You may want to consider one of the Motobecane cyclocross bikes. They are 29ers, have braze-ons for rear racks or fenders and have the right handle bars for muti-positions. The also have wider tires so you can use them on the dirt trails. There is no suspension however.

The Motobecane Outlaw looks interesting with disk btakes at $895. The Fantom CX is only $550.

Mikr

Wayne said...

I am from singapore and I like reading what you have been through. Great 1 yr review of your bike, I don't mind importing motobecane fantom 29er after seeing that it's a great piece of machine for a very good price. I will probably change the stem, and swap in a Sette Air suspension seatpost. Keep up the good blogging.