# New Motobecane Messenger (will post pics soon)



## ravenmore (Aug 12, 2004)

Hey all - I needed a commuter bike and figured a single speed/fixie would fit the bill. I looked around and really dug the Messenger - silly reason really - I loved the orange paint! The frame looks really good on the bike. The cranks are pretty decent too. The rest of the parts are pretty non-descript. I've got a set of bullhorn handlebars coming as well as some cane creek time trial brakes. When I get them put together tomorrow I'll post some pics. 

I'll probably uprade the wheels and headset - any recommendations? A little new to fixed gear stuff. I think I'd like a flip flop hub of some kind..... Am also going to try and get orange tires. 

Thanks,
Mike


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## whit417 (Jul 5, 2005)

I wouldn't bother with a flip flop if I were you. Not too long ago I built a fixed gear bike with a flip flop. After several rides on the fixed side I tried out the single speed side and didn't like it. Once you get used to riding the fixed side the SS side felt awkward. I changed back after just a few minutes. I plan on taking off my ss cog and going fixed/fixed.


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## ravenmore (Aug 12, 2004)

Lot of hill here - going up is fun enough with only 1 gear. Coming down on a fixie would be entertaining I imagine.  I'll try flipping mine and riding it for a while and see how it goes. The wheels and tires do feel "cheap" though so they're going to go probably. The frame seems quite nice though.

Here's a pic of the bike from the ebay photo:










I have mine built up and rode it 20'ish miles yesterday. Completely different world from my aluminum bike - to be expected of course. Still getting it dialed in - hmmm, might have to do orange bar tape too, and I'm already thinking about a set of orange vredestein tri comps too. Orange overkill.


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## whit417 (Jul 5, 2005)

The orange looks cool. I painted mine orange myself but scratched too easy so I had it done at an auto body shop and they painted a different color. You should try to find some orange bar tape in addition to the orange tires.


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## whit417 (Jul 5, 2005)

This place has several different orange tapes.

http://www.cbike.com/bartape.htm


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## djg (Nov 27, 2001)

Nice color. I'd go ahead and try the wheels a bit to see what you think. You might like them fine, and if you don't, you might get a better sense of what you'd like to look for as an alternative. There are some e-bay vendors like Ben's that routinely have inexpensive wheelsets posted with flip/flop rears. Also, Harris Cyclery has a variety of things packaged as pre-builts, in addition to custom offerings. The Harris site (and the related Sheldon Brown site) has lots of info too. Once you get into having wheels built to your own spec, you can ask (and pay for) all sorts of things.

I guess I'd leave the headset alone unless it's obviously defective.


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## ravenmore (Aug 12, 2004)

*Riding at lunch*

I went home for lunch and took a couple pics on the way.

Obligatory pedaling shot. I'm going to get some look pedals for it and some of the toe clip inserts for walking shoes. That way I can use either my cycling shoes with cleats or just my regular shoes for going to/from work.










and a shot of the bike:










The bike will start looking different tomorrow though. Thats when I'm getting the new handlebars and brakes.


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## CycleBatten (Sep 28, 2004)

I saw this online a few weeks ago and was curious just as to the general quality of the bike. You said the frame and cranks are good, but the rest are nothing special? What brand wheels Alex or total no-names or what? I assumed it was just a normal, inexpensive aluminum frame, which is a fine deal for the price. 

Think you can chime in in a couple weeks when you've had more miles on it?


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Very cool looking bike...The black and orange paint scheme looks great.


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## asterisk (Oct 21, 2003)

CycleBatten said:


> I saw this online a few weeks ago and was curious just as to the general quality of the bike.


Not to bash on them but the previous years (I haven't seen an '05 yet) have been complete crap. You will need to reassemble most of the bike or various things will break, I've seen a couple of exploded hubs, one cracked frame, and a stripped bb. A friend of mine replaced most of the drivetrain and the frame itself has been decent. This all happened to bikes that were used by either messengers or urban riders mind you, perhaps in careful hands they may last longer.

This is all conjecture as they may have improved the part spec slightly. I would still go with an IRO or langster/pista/etc... you'll get solid beginner parts and piece of mind. That orange is a beautiful color though... looks more appealing than the Spicer orange.


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## ravenmore (Aug 12, 2004)

Thanks guys - this is the 3rd Moto I've purchased and the frames on the other 2 were suprisingly nice(the frame on my Le Champ borders on spectacular actually). 

Let me explain why I got this bike. I wanted something cheap to commute on that I could leave on the bike rack and not worry about, but still get me back and forth reliably. My tendancy in just about all things though is to try and improve/upgrade things. Its going to happen - its just something I do. I can't leave well enough alone. So, eventually I imagine I'll upgrade a lot of things here to suit my taste.

This frame on the Messenger looks good, but thats about all I know. It's 4130 chro-mo, I have no idea how good of a grade of steel that is. I've been living in the aluminium/carbon fiber universe for too long. I imagine its nothing too spectacular. But initial impression is that the frame and cranks are pretty decent. The rest of it....

The wheels are something called Jalco DXP2000's.... They're underwelming to look at - look like they began life, and will probably end it, as boat anchors. Cheap boat anchors at that. But, once I true them at least, they look like they'll be fine for a while at least. The free wheel is noisy too. However I have a feeling that somewhere down the line they'll be going away. 

The bottom bracket on my other Moto was junk and had to be replaced. I haven't looked at this one but I'll use it until I destroy it, then get something more durable.

The brakes are no-name. They look like they might be tektro's. They're dual pivot though and work just fine. I've got no qualms with them.

The headset feels a little rough. It might smooth out with use. I think a chris king "mango" colored head set would be pretty sweet on it though. 

One other idea I've been kicking around for a build up of this bike: Get a Brooks racing green saddle with the copper rivets and rails(has to be copper - mirrors the orange paint), then get a green chris king head set, the white industries crank with the green wheel(wonder if they make it with black arms though), and maybe (if I find them) get some green hubs. Oh yeah, and some metalic green alloy water bottle cages to boot. It'd definitely be "different".  

Darn, If I do all that I'll have to get a cheap bike somewhere that I feel comfortable leaving on the bike rack at work. Hmmmm......


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## ravenmore (Aug 12, 2004)

Hey all - I finally got the syntace aero bars installed last night. When I was at Bicycle Sport Shop getting the brake cables, I saw the orange bottle cage and saddle bag. I couldn't resist.  I really like the bottle cage - the saddle bag looks a little cheesey. I have some new wheels with IRO hubs and Velocity Deep V rims w/black spokes coming from Ben's Bikes. I also have some orange Vredenstein tires on the way. Should look interesting when its all together. 

I have to admit, I think the bikes starting to look pretty sharp now.


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## ravenmore (Aug 12, 2004)

asterisk said:


> Not to bash on them but the previous years (I haven't seen an '05 yet) have been complete crap. You will need to reassemble most of the bike or various things will break, I've seen a couple of exploded hubs, one cracked frame, and a stripped bb. A friend of mine replaced most of the drivetrain and the frame itself has been decent. This all happened to bikes that were used by either messengers or urban riders mind you, perhaps in careful hands they may last longer.
> 
> This is all conjecture as they may have improved the part spec slightly. I would still go with an IRO or langster/pista/etc... you'll get solid beginner parts and piece of mind. That orange is a beautiful color though... looks more appealing than the Spicer orange.


I got around to really playing with the bike on Satuday - one thing I noticed that I really want to pass along is that the masterlink on the chain is a 2 piece design. This is bad. I replaced mine with a 3 piece. I've got a bit over a hundred miles on mine and no worries so far.


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