Bikes Direct Motobecane Mirage S2                           2021-03-23
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About 6 weeks ago, after having gotten back into cycling for pleasure
and health, I decided to upgrade a bit to a road bike. I'd been riding
a Raleigh Venture steel-framed 7-speed hybrid bike, and bumped up to
the limits of how fast that can be pedalled. I've bought 2 bikes from
online vendors in the past (between the UK and US), and with the
shortage due to COVID decided to do that again. I've done about 200
miles on it now, so why not write about how it is?

In the end I went for a Motobecane Mirage S2 from:

  http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/road_bikes/mirage_s2.htm

It's advertised for $599.95, but claiming it should be compared to a
$1,200 Trek.  That's definitely ridiculous, but for the money I
actually paid I'm very happy. It seems Bikes Direct is either deemed
to be awful, or pretty good for the price, depending what you read on
the web.

We live in the DFW area, and the warehouse is only about 30 miles
away, which no doubt helped it turn up quickly and without any
damage. It was packaged minimally, but well in a single thick-walled
box. Out of the box everything that needs to be straight was, which is
always good.

The bike has an aluminium frame, and carbon fork. It's not light for a
modern road bike, but is about 10lbs lighter than the Raleigh steel
hybrid I was riding so feels light to me.  The wheels and tires are
basic, but fine.  It's 700x28c and I wouldn't like to go any narrower
than that given how cracked and potholed the streets are around
here. Really, the roads in the Dallas area suburbs are terrible. Every
time we visit family back in the UK it's amazing how smooth the
streets can be.

The bike has has a 2x7 14-speed setup, with the lowest end of
Shimano's road bike derailleurs and shifters (Tourney). After properly
adjusting them by the book shifting is reliable, but pretty noisy and
a bit clunky. Around here it's pretty flat, so I can spend almost all
my time on the top chainring, which has a nice range for my less than
super powerful legs :-)

Most dissapointing are the brakes.  They are Tektro caliper brakes and
have quite a lot of flex in them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised how
inefficient they are compared to the Shimano V-Brakes on my hybrid. I
suppose I could also have gone for a more expensive bike with disc
brakes, but was a bit concerned that relatively low-end disc brakes
were more likely to be trouble than calipers.

The saddle is, surprisingly, comfy enough that I've ridden 42 miles in
a day now without being completely sore. I intend to change the stem
for a more angled one to bring the handlebars up a bit. I may have
been more comfortable on a 62cm frame, with the seat less raised
relative to the handlebars than on the 60cm frame I purchase, but it's
not bad and I think the stem will have me properly comfortable.

Now I'm at 3 for 3 on relatively cheap bikes from online
vendors. Fingers crossed I'll ride hundred of miles on this one this
year. I'm enjoying a routine of a 7 mile lunchtime stretch on the
trails every 1-2 workdays, and then about 20-40 miles on the
weekend. I wish I'd gotten back into cycling sooner, as I definitely
feel like I have more energy. Strengthening my leg muscles a bit has
also done wonders for stopping the knee pain I had periodically. Good
stuff!