# Bike's First Birthday



## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

While Indygreg is putting together his brand-new Mercier, I'm interested in hearing the thoughts and experiences of those who have had their Motobecane-Mercier for at least a year.

My Le Champion SL is a bit over a year old and recovering nicely from its birthday party. (I though it old enough to celebrate with a beer, but the bike was evidently too pure for that.) So far I have had very few problems and enjoy riding the bike more than ever. In regard to problems: (1) The light-weight racing tires that came with the bike wore out quickly on the local chip-and-seal roads. They were light and they gripped the road, but they didn't last. (2) I broke a derailleur cable last month. I consider that normal wear-and-tear. (3) I should have tightened the locking screw on the rear cassette once or twice during the year. Some time ago my chain started clicking under pressure and it took me awhile to diagnose the problem. The mid-sized sprockets in the cassette were shifting under peddling pressure. By the time I tore it down, I could see a bit of wear on the splines of the rear hub. I restacked the sprockets on different splines to solve the problem.

Since I have put at least 5,000 miles on this bike, I can't complain about having faced a few minor maintenance problems. I still consider the Motobecane Le Champion SL an absolute marvel! It's a bike that is light enough for a racing pro, with superb components. Mine still looks like new and is a joy to ride.


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## bikesdirect (Sep 9, 2006)

*and many happy birthdays to come*



stickfigure said:


> While Indygreg is putting together his brand-new Mercier, I'm interested in hearing the thoughts and experiences of those who have had their Motobecane-Mercier for at least a year.
> 
> My Le Champion SL is a bit over a year old and recovering nicely from its birthday party. (I though it old enough to celebrate with a beer, but the bike was evidently too pure for that.) So far I have had very few problems and enjoy riding the bike more than ever. In regard to problems: (1) The light-weight racing tires that came with the bike wore out quickly on the local chip-and-seal roads. They were light and they gripped the road, but they didn't last. (2) I broke a derailleur cable last month. I consider that normal wear-and-tear. (3) I should have tightened the locking screw on the rear cassette once or twice during the year. Some time ago my chain started clicking under pressure and it took me awhile to diagnose the problem. The mid-sized sprockets in the cassette were shifting under peddling pressure. By the time I tore it down, I could see a bit of wear on the splines of the rear hub. I restacked the sprockets on different splines to solve the problem.
> 
> Since I have put at least 5,000 miles on this bike, I can't complain about having faced a few minor maintenance problems. I still consider the Motobecane Le Champion SL an absolute marvel! It's a bike that is light enough for a racing pro, with superb components. Mine still looks like new and is a joy to ride.



stickfigure

my son makes the funniest little stick figure cartoons on his imac
and there are a lot of cool ones on the web

if you like - I get him to give me the links

I am happy your bike is great after its first birthday
is there any little gift I can send it?
what would it like?

you can PM me if you choice

mike


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

*b-day present*

What a nice thought! But my bike is still too young to be able to play with presents. Maybe next year.

But I do think she may eventually need a baby brother or baby sister. I've got my eye on the Motobecane Fly, so keep making (and selling) solid, light-weight mountain bikes. A 21-pount mountain bike seems like it would be a good companion for my SL.


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## Bertrand (Feb 1, 2005)

*Mine is also one year old*

I bought a LeChamp SL a year ago. I also consider it a marvel (for the most part). I have 5,000 km on it, and it has proven to be durable, fun, and fast. It still looks new, and still engenders a certain amount of envy from my friends (especially considering the price). I changed the seat, the cluster, and the tires only lasted about 2000 km, but they were lots of fun to ride on, and made me a fan of Vittoria tires. 

My only gripe is the wheels. The AC 350s were lots of fun to ride on, but I had no illusions that they would last forever. They required truing and tweaking twice in 8 months. At 12 months (3000 km) the front hub was shot. I thought about sending the hub to AC for repairs, but to be honest, I just didn't feel like I wanted to deal with the wheels anymore. Sold them to a kid locally for $200, and bought a set of DT Swiss wheels and rims off the RBR classifieds. Great wheels. The red and black matches the bike too. 

Now if only there was free shipping to Canada....I'd be tempted to order one those track bikes.


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

I got almost exactly the same mileage from my original tires! About 1,000 miles.

I'm sorry your wheels didn't hold up. I had to true mine a little just at the beginning, but since then they have been bombproof. If your front hub was starting to go, it sure sounds like a manufacturing defect. Rear hubs receive a lot more stress than front hubs; front hubs seem to last forever.


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## indygreg (Nov 5, 2006)

hey guys - post pics of your children ERRRR bikes since we are celebrating their B-day


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

*Photo*

Not sure I can do this - but here's an effort to post a photo of my "bike wall." Both my Le Champion SL (top) and my wife's Mercier Serpens 30 have celebrated their birthdays.


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

Do your wife's poor forerams a favor and level that saddle! Yikes!!


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

What can I do? It's the way she likes it. I've tried, believe me!

That said, she hasn't complained about her forarms or her wrists hurting. The saddle has a bit of give in the center, so it rides a bit more level than it looks.


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

If it has enough give to dish in the center, then it sounds broken down. Is she riding more than 10-15 miles like that?

My guess is that she doesn't like her saddle level because she doesn't feel comfortable on the drop to the bars. I would think a level saddle but get the bars up would be the solution for any perceived crotch discomfort. It looks like most of the setup is designed to reduce her reach (saddle most of the way foreward on rails and nosed down, etc.).


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## covenant (May 21, 2002)

Looks like the bike is too small judging from how much seat post is showing and how high the stem/handlebar is. But I don't know much...and maybe the angle of the photo is only making it seem so...


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

Honestly, that was my assessment as well, which I think is one of the significant issues with buying online. Of course, I'll probably now get bombed for suggesting as much. 


With a purchase from a local vendor, generally they stand behind their fitting, which means adding spacers, swapping bars, changing stems etc. is no cost, and a discount on other things (saddles, etc.). ...


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

ooo-wee. You guys need to get your act together. jtolleson thinks the bike is too big. covenant is sure it is too small. But both are sure that the big problem is that the bike was bought online. Do I sense a consistent message - even if an incoherent one?


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

Stick, I never said I thought the bike was too big. I thought adjustments were made to shrink the saddle-to-bar reach, which I think is a function of a raised saddle. Didn't mean to offend, and there's no "together" about it. YMMV. I didn't want to originally say, but I thought the bike was the wrong size. I said "I agree." Disagree or not, but opinions are opinions... Please don't give us the oppressed "oh, you guys are the LBS conspiracy" line. It's really old and tired.

I think buying online can rock (I've bought two bikes only) but has its drawbacks, too. My hope is that you are more interested in advice from folks than getting defensive, but the call is up to you. Tell me to pi$$ off, and as far as I'm concerned, it is your call.


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## stickfigure (Oct 30, 2005)

Well, jtolleson, if I had asked for your advice (and covenant's), I would be a little happier about getting it. But think about the situation here. You've never seen my wife. You don't know her age, her height, her weight, her riding style, or her background in road riding. You haven't even seen the saddle. You didn't pay any attention when I told you that her forearms and wrists didn't hurt and that she has got the saddle the way she likes it. Instead you imply that I bought her the wrong size bike and that I didn't know what I was doing when I set it up for her. Sure, you are entitled to your opinion, but a polite person does not intrude offensive opinions - especially when no advice has been requested. It would be different if I had started the thread by saying, "My wife is complaining about pain in her forearms. What do you think the problem could be?"

Now as to substance. The frame has appropriate standover clearance for her height. The height of the saddle is set so that she can get full leg extension on her downstroke. As you probably know, there are clear biomechanical advantages to full leg extension in the pedal stroke as long as it does not induce rocking on the saddle.

It's true that the bike is set up to give her a somewhat more erect posture than I think is ideal, but she is coming to road riding after more than a decade of churning out miles on a mountain bike. The setup here approximates that of her mountain bike (though it is slightly more aggressive and aerodynamic). Over time she may get lower and go faster - at which point I'll be able to flip the stem and slide the saddle back a fraction of an inch on the rails.

As to the belief that it is best to buy from a local bike shop, all I can say is that I tried. My wife and I have known the owner (I'll call him Dave) and the head mechanic (Jerry) for more than a decade. We have patronized his store and watched with pleasure as his business has grown from a tiny nook on a back street to a prominent Main Street business with an outlet in the mall. We are on a first-name basis and would call each other friends, but it isn't always easy to buy things from Dave. He and Jerry are so busy that they never have time to put prices on their merchandise. They typically have one built-up bike of each model they stock and the rest of their inventory is in boxes upstairs. So buying a pair shoes, or a jacket, or a bike is a bit like haggling in an Indian market: "Hey, Jerry, what do these yellow road shoes cost?" . . . "Man, they list for like $129.95, but I can let you have them for 69 bucks." They'll give you a good price, but you never know what it's going to be - and it may change by the time you get to the counter and they check their actual cost on the computer. They are such nice guys, though, that nobody really minds. The best thing to do is just pick out what you want and then trust them to give you a good deal.

Anyway, when I wanted to buy my wife a road bike for her birthday last summer, we did what anyone would do: we scoured the most recent buying guide in Bicycling magazine and we cruised through a few big-city bike shops. The bike that most appealed to her was the Fuji Provence (reviewed in Bicycling, April 2005, p. 72), but we were Dave's loyal customers and decided to buy one of the brands he carries (Trek and Specialized). The Trek 1000 was the closest she could come to what she really wanted. Naturally Dave didn't have one in stock, but he promised to order one and have it built-up and ready for her in two weeks.

Fast forward two weeks. I've had to go to Wisconsin to care for my ailing mother so my wife goes down to pick up her birthday present. . . . "Oh, that Trek 1000. . . Yeah, I think it's around somewhere." Dave goes upstairs and drags down a big cardboard box. He sets to work building up the bike, but it goes slowly since he has to keep waiting on other customers. Meanwhile my wife is cooling her heels. She thought she was getting a silver and blue bike; this thing is all black. She hates it, but she feels badly because she thinks Dave specially ordered it for her and she's afraid he'll now get stuck with something that he can't sell. In the end she declines to pay for it and leaves the store with a guilty conscience. I get on the phone long-distance with Dave and finally figure out that he had mistakenly built-up a Trek 1000C. I'm not convinced he ever ordered a Trek 1000, but we decide to give him another chance. By this time my wife has decided that she likes the Trek 1000WSD a little better so we ask Dave to order it. A day or so later we get a call from Dave saying that he has scoured the country and there are no Trek 1000WSDs to be had. 

Now compare the shopping experience with BikesDirect.com. We find pictures and specs of the Mercier Serpens30. It looks a lot like the Fuji Provence except that it has significantly better components and it costs a little less. We place an order. No fuss. No hassle. Less than a week later the bike arrives at our door. Exactly as advertised.

We still like the local bike store, but we also like BikesDirect.com.


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

You know what? Never mind. Your defensiveness about this boggles the mind.


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## indygreg (Nov 5, 2006)

jtollenson - you opened can of worms about the perils of internet shopping in a thread that was not covering that debate. Accept that you gave someone something to be defensive about.

The 'you know what, never mind' statement is such a cop out. He took the time to 'defend' what you stated. Was he supposed to not respond to it? He makes decent points . . . then you have the 'never mind' post.


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

indygreg said:


> jtollenson - _*you opened can of worms about the perils of internet shopping in a thread that was not covering that debate. Accept that you gave someone something to be defensive about*_.
> 
> The 'you know what, never mind' statement is such a cop out. He took the time to 'defend' what you stated. Was he supposed to not respond to it? He makes decent points . . . then you have the 'never mind' post.


'
Why? Why can't folks just make an observation? That's all it was. People are responsible for their own reactions.

Yes, I said "never mind" because I'm not spoiling for an exchange of diatribes. You may call it a "cop out," I call it keeping the peace.


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## covenant (May 21, 2002)

stickfigure said:


> ooo-wee. You guys need to get your act together. jtolleson thinks the bike is too big. covenant is sure it is too small. But both are sure that the big problem is that the bike was bought online. Do I sense a consistent message - even if an incoherent one?


Wow, 

The paranoia is strong in this one...

All I'm saying is:

If the frame was a size larger you would have less seatpost showing (with the same leg extension btw ) and you could have the same handlebar height without having to resort to 2 inches of spacers, and a 45 degree stem. Judging by the seat height, she's well over standover height...well over.

What's the old guideline, A fistful of seatpost showing? And does that fork have a carbon steerer? Because if it does your mighty close to the stack height limit manufacterers recommend for those. What is it, 40mm or something like that? They're all different.

and...

My last two bikes were bought online. So I have no qualms about advising others to do the same.


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