# Mercier Orion AL 2011 Review



## somerandomguy (Aug 9, 2010)

I bought the Mercier Orion AL from BikesDirect (imagine that!) on a Sunday, it arrived on Thursday. Box came in good shape, no holes besides the hand holds to carry the box. Everything was packed well (everything was zip tied together with foam around parts that could be scratched), but when I pulled it out of the box and took all of the packaging off, I noticed the pedals, release for the front wheel, reflectors, and stem cap were all missing. 

I emailed BikesDirect (since they give no phone number) and they replied within 2 hours that if I provided my order info and mailing address, they would mail me the parts box that was missing. While I waited for the parts box to arrive, I checked out the rest of the bike. When I went to air up the tires, the back tire inflated fine, but the front would not take any air. I took the tire off and noticed the tube was completely pinched down in around the Presta valve. So pinched, in fact, that as much as I tried, it wouldn't come out without ripping the tube. Emailed BikesDirect, didn't get a response...oh well, wasn't an expensive fix.

Bought a new tube, got the box of parts in the mail Wednesday (pretty fast, imo) and the bike was ready to ride. The first thing I noticed was something was loose in the back wheel. When I would be going slow, I could hear something rattling around the rim, so I took the wheel off, took the tire and tube off, but whatever it is was too big to fit out of the valve hole in the rim. Not a big deal, but a little annoying for sure.

The bike rides great! This is my first road bike (moving up from a Trek 820) so I don't have much to compare it to. Didn't need to make any adjustments past the brakes and getting the seat in the right position and so far I've put about 100 miles on it  I'll post a pic later.


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## johnny dollar (Jul 21, 2010)

Did you make sure to tighten everything, even the stuff that came pre-assembled? Adjust front and rear derrailleur? Were the wheels true? 

The rattling from the rear doesn't sound good.

oh yeah, need pics.


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## somerandomguy (Aug 9, 2010)

johnny dollar said:


> Did you make sure to tighten everything, even the stuff that came pre-assembled? Adjust front and rear derrailleur? Were the wheels true?
> 
> The rattling from the rear doesn't sound good.
> 
> oh yeah, need pics.


Yep, tightened everything  I haven't had to adjust the front or rear derrailleur yet, the rear shifts very nicely and the front is a little noisy, but not enough to bother me and it does shift fine.

I'm guessing the rattle is something left in the rim from the manufacturing process? Not really sure.


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## somerandomguy (Aug 9, 2010)

As promised, here it is









So far the only thing that's needed any sort of adjustment has been the brake (rear). The stock pads are pretty terrible and I'll be upgrading them ASAP.


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## johnny dollar (Jul 21, 2010)

nice.

Did the rattling get resolved?


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## somerandomguy (Aug 9, 2010)

johnny dollar said:


> nice.
> 
> Did the rattling get resolved?


No, it still rattles when going very slowly. Like I said it sounds like something stuck in the rim, I guess it won't do any harm.


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## unboringuy (Jul 27, 2010)

somerandomguy said:


> No, it still rattles when going very slowly. Like I said it sounds like something stuck in the rim, I guess it won't do any harm.


You could alway remove the tire and see if there is anything in there.


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## somerandomguy (Aug 9, 2010)

I did, but whatever it is is too large to fit through the hole in the rim for the valve.


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## SilentAssassin (Jul 29, 2010)

somerandomguy said:


> As promised, here it is
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Uhhhhhhh.....dura ace pads at performance for $10 perhaps????...

Maybe it's an aluminum piece or something. I don't really like the aksium race wheels myself. That was one of my big gripes with the Ti Heat.


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## RickJP (Aug 11, 2011)

Thanks for the posts SRG. I'm looking at this same bike, and to the Motobecane Grand Record for my first road bike. It's a toss up. 

I'm curious if you ever got a hold of what caused that rattle.


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## somerandomguy (Aug 9, 2010)

RickJP said:


> Thanks for the posts SRG. I'm looking at this same bike, and to the Motobecane Grand Record for my first road bike. It's a toss up.
> 
> I'm curious if you ever got a hold of what caused that rattle.


Nope, sure didn't, it's still there. But the only reason it's still there is because I haven't had a flat on the rear since I took it off the first time. I'm sure if I peel the tape off the next time I'm changing a tube a chunk of something will fall out.

Until then, it's serving me just fine as a beginner bike


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