Henry Lubong's Journal

My quest for a new mountain bike is over. It took me almost a month looking for a new bike. Every night I go online checking out the forums, posting questions and looking for good deals. I can already memorize every single mountain bike post on Craigslist, lol. I’ve also visited a couple of LBS (local bike shop) and tested a couple of bikes too. With about twenty bikes on my comparison list, I got it narrowed down to two just last night. It was a tough decision. My purchase was mostly influenced by people on the forums.

So I ordered a Motobecane Fantom Elite from bikesdirect.com, which is the online retailer for Motobecane USA. Don’t mistaken Motobecane USA with the dissolved French bicycle manufacturer Motobecane. They have no affiliations at all or whatsoever. MB’s frame are either made by Kinesis Industry or Alu-Mate Material Industry, both based in Taiwan. Kinesis makes frames for other major bicycle brand such as DiamondBack, Felt, GT, Schwinn, Jamis, K2, Raleigh, Trek and Kona.

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the Fantom Elite’s frame. It looks old school compared to the frames from other brands. But for the components that I’m getting with this bike, it’s too hard to pass it up. I probably would have spent over $2K if I had gone with a Specialized bike. So with the money I saved, I can always get a nicer frame later on. Looking at a geometry of the frame, it’s on the conservative side. It’s meant to be an AM (all mountain) bike but more on the XC side. I was originally looking at the Fantom Comp but for $200 more, I could get a better fork, better derraileurs and shifters, and better hydraulic brakes. The fork alone is almost a $200 upgrade.

I’m excited about this bike. I can’t wait any longer. I need to go back riding soon and hopefully, I’ll be able to take it to my local trails too.