Bikes Direct ships bikes directly to consumers, cutting out the middle-man allowing them to cut substantial amounts of money off the price. In the video below, I share my experience of how the bike arrived at my door, and as I took it out of the box and went about assembling it. As you'll see, it was mostly a good experience, with a few minor issues.
The first challenge I had was that the box that the bike shipped in arrived at my door already damaged. The guy who delivered it, also propped it up at a weird angle, despite the box being clearly marked with a "This Side Up" label on pretty much every surface. This isn't Bikes Directs fault of course, as it was the shipper is responsible for getting it to our doors safely and securely. Still, it was a bit disconcerting to find the box damaged upon arrival.
Thankfully nothing inside the box was actually damaged, and when I took everything out the bike seemed to be just fine. But, after unpacking everything, I discovered another issue. It didn't ship with assembly instructions, despite the box actually listing the tools needed and stating that instructions would be included inside. Fortunately, this wasn't the first time I put a bike together, so I went about putting everything into place.
Assembly was fairly quick and easy for the most part, although inexperienced customers may find it more challenging without any instructions. Still, before long I had the semblance of a working bike. A fat tire model from Motobecane no less!
The bike is excellent in every way, with terrific components, disc brakes, large knobby tires, and a lightweight, yet durable frame. There was one small problem however. One of the pedals simply refuses to seat into its slot no matter what I do. The other pedal slid right into position and tightened up nicely, just as I expected. But the other one, simply won't tighten down, so I'm left with a bike with only one pedal at the moment. Replacing the pedal should be an easy affair, but it was disappointing to not be able to zip right off on my new bike after getting it together.
So what are my thoughts on bikesdirect.com at this experience? Mostly good. The bike itself is fantastic and the site does indeed offer great pricing for customers. But, the lack assembly instructions in the box could be problematic for some, although I suspect that most customers will receive them just fine. The broken pedal is a bit more of a challenge, but hopefully customer service will sort that out for me quickly enough. Other than that, the bike is ready to ride and looks like it'll be a lot of fun. What more could you ask for?