Motobecane Fantom 29 Two Year Review

Well I have been riding the Fantom 29 for 2 years now. Since the 18 month review I have had no problems at all. The bike continues to perform well.

I have noticed that I have not been riding the Fantom 29 as much as last year. It has been due to the rain we have been getting here. I usually mountain bike ride on Sunday mornings and road bike ride most other days. It seems there has been a lot of rain on Sunday mornings or late Saturday night to make the trails too muddy. Also this winter we have had record snow. I like riding the Fantom 29 in the snow, but we have had 3 greater than 20 inch snow storms this winter and that is too much snow to plow through. Once it melts it also keeps a muddy mess for a long time. I am going to have to step it up!

Below is a summary of the 2 years. I am way overdue on the 50 ride maintenance. The bike has been performing well. My most pressing need is probably to degrease the chain. I will try to perform the maintenance before spring.

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

October 05 2008 285 miles Flat Rear Tire

June 27, 2009 494.5 miles Flat Front Tire

Maintenance

Normal chain lube after every 2 to 3 rides

Adjusted brakes to compensate for wear a couple of times

25 ride PM on September 06, 2008

Riding Statistics

Number of Rides: 59 (I did 38 year 1 and only 21 year 2)

Mileage : 609.4 (405.3 miles in year 1, only 204.1 miles in year 2)

Average mileage: 10.3 miles per ride

Longest Ride: 35.2 miles Blue Marsh Lake

Two years Blogging !!

Today is the two 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: (19, I did have 20 at one point but someone dropped out) John Adamo, Blog do Rubinho, Nickie Goomba, SS MtnBiker, Dakota2K1, Vince, frank sieckmann, Shawn, Graceson, Sam, 29erRider, bicyclist124, Daniel Parker, mike cazz, Chip, Igor, Mike, Bradley, Patrick also owns Fantom29.

Thanks for following!

Number of posts: 105 (95 the first year alone because I wrote about every ride)
Number of Comments: 145 (93 the first year) I like comments please keep them coming.
Number of visits: 22,096 (Since February 16, 2008 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, Israel, Hungary, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan

The Motobecane Fantom 29 performed extremely well and has required little maintenance. In the first year 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.

Since the first year I have changed 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.

Thanks for reading. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

600 Miles!

Today I rode 12.7 miles at Marsh Creek State Park. The Fantom 29 performed flawlessly.

I was able to hit 600 miles on the Fantom 29.

It was extremely cold, about 28 degrees F and windy.

I was able to check out the Eagles Santa on the way to the park.

There were some ice patches particularly on the hills. Caution required.

I saw 7 hunters with shotgun and one bow hunter.

Snowy Springton Manor Farm

Today I rode 7.4 miles at Springton Manor Farm. It snowed yesterday about 1 or 2 inches so I waited until the afternoon to ride. Although short in miles, it was a good workout in the snow. The Fantom 29 performed flawlessly.

I first went on the trail through Burgess Park off RT 282.

Then I made my way to Springton Manor Farm. I actually saw 3 hikers on the trails and two huge deer.

Riding through the snow made for a good workout.

Good thing there is no hunting on Sundays.

I am wondering if I can ride through here. Maybe if there were a 4th sign I could be sure.

On the way back home I ran into Santa who was driving around the township wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure

Each year since 2000, I have participated in a mission trip to build houses. I started with Habitat for Humanity but I have been involved in building houses with The Fuller Center for Housing the past two years. In 2008 I went to El Salvador and in 2009 to Lanett, Alabama. Milliard Fuller founded Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller center for Housing.

The Fuller Center has conducted a fundraising bike event the last two years and it is always something I wanted to do. I just saw some information about the 2010 Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure.

So how does the Fantom 29 fit into a 2500 mile bike adventure? Well, I was thinking about participating for a few days because I would never be able to take off from work for the full 50 day bike ride. If you look at segment 2 on the itinerary, the ride will be using the C&O Canal Bike Trail. This may be a perfect opportunity to put some long distance miles on the Fantom 29.

Stay tuned!

Marsh Creek Ride

Today I rode 9.4 miles at Marsh Creek State Park. My miles are way down this year on the Fantom 29 as it seems it has been raining a lot around here. I usually ride the Fantom 29 on Sunday mornings and there has been a lot of rain then.

Today, however, was a beautiful day. The temperature was in the low 40s and hit 66 this afternoon. Nice and sunny too.




There were only a few wet spots like this on the trails. This is on the old railroad tracks.












Most of the trails were dry like this.













The Fantom 29 taking a rest by Brandywine Creek.

Some nice bright red berries. Hard to see with my cheap camera.

Some good hills on the Green trail.

I also saw another mountain biker on this trail. He was cutting a fallen tree. It was about 8 inches in diameter so it was quite a cut with a hand saw.

I also saw a trail runner and his dog.

The hedgerow applies are back!

Motobecane Fantom 29 vs. Motobecane Fantom 29 Pro SL

I was asked to see how the Fantom 29 would compare to the Fantom Pro SL. So here it is....

Of course the Pro SL is nicer with higher end components but is it a better value?

The major differences between the two bikes are the fork, brakes, crankset and shifters.

The 29 has Avid BB-5 Brakes vs the Pro with Avid Juicy 7 Hydraulic Brakes. The Juicy Brakes are about $180 more.

The 29 has RockShox Dart 3 Fork at $125 vs RockShox 29er Reba SL WITH Mission Control damping and PopLoc Adjust, 100mm travel, Adjustable Rebound at $500 for the Pro SL.

The Fantom 29 has TruVativ 5D 22/32/44T Crankset at $70 vs TruVativ FireX 22/32/44T at $140 for the Pro SL.

The Fantom 29 has Shimano Deore Mega-9 shifters vs the Shimano XT on the Pro SL for about $100 more.

I also received some comments from i2ambler with additional value:

The rear derailleur on the Fantom Pro SL is an XTR not an XT. This is a difference of about $100. The Fantom 29 uses FX28 rims, where the Fantom29 Pro SL uses Trail29 LaserDisc. The FX28 rims are $30 each (60 for the pair) where the Laserdiscs are $50 each - $100 for the pair.

The 29 has a SpeedV seat at $30 where the Pro SL has the Rocket v at $50. The Tires are Kenda Smallblock 8 instead of Motoraptor tires a difference of about $60.

Conclusion:The Pro has $945 more in parts. It costs $995.95 on bikesdirect. Its Relative Value Factor is 1.55 and therefore is the best value of the bikes I evaluated so far. I did not want to spend a lot of money. So I am still satisfied with my Fantom 29 purchase.

As an on going recap here is a list of the bikes I reviewed. They are ranked by a Relative Value Factor (RVF) . The RVF is the price of the Fantom 29 + or - the value of the major parts difference (Delta) divided by the price of the bike.

Bike Price Delta RVF
Motobecane Fantom Pro SL: 996, 945, 1.55
Motobecane Fantom Pro: 796, 455, 1.32
Motobecane Fantom 29: 596, 0, 1.0
Windsor Cliff 29 Comp: 549, -73, 0.951
IBEX Section 29: 1034, 378, 0.942
Raleigh XXIX+G: 1100, 368, 0.876
Diamondback Overdrive : 600, -122, 0.790
Marin Alpine Trail 29er 667, -122, 0.711
Specialized Rockhopper Disc 29er: 760 ,-144 ,0.595
Cannondale 29er 4 Caffeine: 1059, -125, 0.445