# Motobecane Mercier AL Review



## Dunbar (Aug 8, 2010)

*Mercier Aqila AL Review*

I screwed up the title of this thread, maybe the moderators can fix it. I just wanted to post a review of my Mercer Aqila AL review now that I've had it about 2 1/2 months. I do 90+% of my miles on a carbon fiber road bike. I had a Trek 7.5FX hybrid that I sold to buy the Mercier (I just prefer the responsiveness of a road bike to a hybrid.) For me this is a pure utility bike that will have a rack, wide tires and can be left locked up outside. I wanted something with a taller head tube (for a more upright position) that would take wider tires yet had at least Tiagra level shifters. I did consider some of the cyclocross bikes BD offers but the geometry seemed too aggressive and I really prefer road bike brakes to cantilevers.

My biggest gripe with the bike is how short Bike Direct cuts (or specs) the steerer tube. The bike only had 17mm of spacers under the stem out of the box. My $2500 MSRP carbon fiber Specialized road bike has 40mm of spacers stock. It's easy to cut off excess steerer tube but you can't add it back once it's gone. This forced me to run a (ugly) riser stem and buy a setback seat post to get my desired upright position. Not a big deal given the intended use for this bike but annoying none the less. I do have longish legs for my height so this won't be an issue for everyone. Also beware that BD advertises the frame will accept 40mm tires (which it will) but the bike comes with 622x15c road rims. You should conservatively only run (up to) 32mm wide tires on 15c road rims. Other than that the bike rides great and shifts perfectly out of the box. It feels much snappier than my old hybrid and the shifting and braking performance is a night and day difference.

Here's what the bike looked like right out of the box:










Here's what it looks like in stock condition after I assembled it:










Here's what it looks like after I set the bike fit up the way I wanted it and got all of my parts installed:










Changes/Additions I made to stock -

-WTB Speed V saddle
-Avenair 40 degree riser stem
-Krex 25mm setback seat post
-Ergon PC2 pedals
-PDW Bar-ista cup holder
-Mirrycle road bike mirror
-Greenfield rear mount kick stand
-Kool Stop dual compound pads
-Topeak bike rack
-700x35 Vittoria Randonneur Hyper Tires (great tires!)


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