Customer Reviews

Lamborghini Rapido Road Bike (56cm Frame, Red/White)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first thing I noticed was how light the bike is, I didnt expect it to be so light but it was a nice suprise. This is a good beginners road bike because of the low price, if you go into a retail bike store you wont get out of there for less than 5 or 6 hundred dollars for a beginners road bike. Rapido says it all this is a fast bike, and after doing some research on the bike I found many courriers use this bike in their daily tasks around the city.

I bought this bike because I had planned on commuting back and forth to school. I was pretty impressed with it out of the box as it looked great and seemed well put together.

The pros: it handles well and feels light when you are riding it. Feels very sturdy. I have gotten so many comments from people when I ride this bike, no one has seen a lamborghini bike at this point and it always gets peoples' attention. There is a cool gear protector that keeps your pants from getting caught in the sprockets. Nice touch. It comes 99% assembled which rules.

The cons: shifting sucks. I immediately noticed that the gears would slip which sucks when standing up as I would be jarred into a different gear. This is especially a problem when in lowest gear as the chain slips right off the sprocket and gets wedged between the sprocket and the frame. Then I would have to stop and pull off the road and yank it out with my bare hands and place it back onto the chain. But what is worse, and the reason why I am writing this review, it because I took a minor spill on pavement today and the front fork snapped completely in half. I was not going fast and just slipped on a turn and the front went down. I think this is pretty poor considering that I have taken spills on all kinds of bikes, even Huffys, and the bike has always held up. One fall on this bike and the repair is going to cost almost as much as the bike, so I am putting it in the basement and getting a Trek.

My advice is stay away from this bike if you are a regular commuter. If you want a road bike to get started in the sport this is probably good for you but don't rely on it as your main mode of transportation.

This road bike is reasonably priced. It took me about 45 minutes to put the bike together. The bike weights about 29lb. For a road bike, it is not light.

I have compared this bike to some other bikes within the same price range. The Schwinn prelude and GMC denali road bike. Both bikes mount the shifter on the handle bar. I was not very comfortable with this setting initially. But I do not want to spend another $150 to get something like Shimano sora. Actually, in my opinion, the GMC denali is almost idententical to Rapido except paint, shifter, rear derailleur. After all, both bikes have 21 speed. But GMC is $100 less.

The front tire was flat when I pumped air into it. It turned out the tube has a hole. After I patched the hole, another hole showed up. I had to contact the Kent international. Their support line was easy to access. I had several phone calls with them. The new tires came in fast. However, the replacement tire was 700CX40. My bike has 700CX28. That is a disappointment. Kent claims the replacement tires will work. They may be right. But I want narrow tires.

After riding the bike for more than 100 miles, I would appreciate a lighter frame, alumium handle bar and different tires. So far, I have achieved 14 mile/hour avg speed, 33.4 m/h top speed. The chain fell off twice. It seems that the chain has to stay in 3rd, or 4th cog in order to shift to the largest chainring. Otherwise, the chain will be stuck between the chainring and plastic cover. For exercise purpose, I have learned to live with it. I will be extra careful when I purchase next bike.

Finally, I noticed something about the freewheel. Yes, it has the 7 speed mountain bike screw on freewheel Shimano MF TZ21. Almost all the current mountain bikes have the casssette instead of the freewheel. It is not very easy to get the replacement part. My plan was to replace the 14-28 freewheel to 11-28 to speed up. I could not find any because Shimano stopped the 11-28 freewheel production more than a decade ago. Now only 13-28 is available. With less than 10% speed improvement, I will save the money for my next bike.

Main issue on 50cm frame: can't turn front tire or it hits the pedals. Not the toe of your shoe, as in many road bikes, the actual pedal. This isn't a problem when riding at full speed or coasting through turns, but it's a huge problem when you're at an intersection and need to pedal around a turn. 2 things will happen: 1) either the tire won't turn as much as you thought it would because it'll hit the inside of the pedal outside the turn; or 2) your pedal will cycle around and hit the tire yourself, suddenly braking you, mess up your steering, and causing you to almost fall.

To fix this you'd need to get smaller tires. Small road bike tires are 26", these are around 28" edge to edge. It'd be barely enough to clear the pedal, but all the overhang of your foot would still hit the tire while turning. Incredibly poor design and totally unacceptable (and dangerous). Unless you buy smaller tires and change out the pedal stems for much shorter ones (which means you won't go very fast and will have to pedal harder since you get less leverage on the pedals), it's un-rideable.

Second problem: on 50cm bike the front brake won't reach the rim. The calipers only hit the rubber. Their solution was to mount the brake on the inside of the fork, but the problem with the side pull brake is when you'd turn the wheel to the left, it'd stop because the brake side pull would hit the frame (if not the pedal). When mounted correctly on the front of the fork, like the picture shows, it won't reach the rim. Neither brake would reach the rim on smaller tires. So, you'll have to splurge and buy different brakes either way on this bike.

Third problem, the handlebar mounts onto the fork using an expansion bolt. You're only supposed to tighten to 20lbs of torque, but doing that little means the handles can still move independently of the tire (they aren't actually bolted together, a little nut expands inside the fork tube, but doesn't expand enough so you get "play" in the handlebar and tire). To take care of this, you have to tighten w/more torque. Problem is, they use a small allen key nut, and you won't be able to untighten it since it'll just strip. Make sure you get the right height before tightening, it'll be on there permanently unless you drill it out.

I'd agree that the shifting needs to be adjusted, and you'll need to adjust brake alignment also (mine were rubbing and way out of alignment).

Summary:
From what I could tell, the frame seems nice and the bike looks attractive. The other defects, however, just couldn't save this bike from being sent back. I think this is pretty much almost the same bike as the GMC Denali Amazon sells, with differences in some of the shifters and handlebars, so take a look at those reviews too. A reviewer there also complained on the defect of the tire hitting the pedals, and sent his back too.

For those wanting to venture the 50cm size, it's a stand-over height of about 30.25". I'm a 5'6" male and I could just stand over it on the balls of my feet, so I'd not recommend anybody under 5'8" get the 50cm size unless you're very long legged.

I love this bike! though when I first recieved it out of the box, the alignment was a bit off with the back wheel and the breaks needed some adjustment. Had to take it in for a mild tune up but after that it's better than new. I get so many compliments on my snazy new ride, and although heavy for a road bike, i still can keep up with my Canondale riding friends!

I just got this bike last week and so far it's been really great. This is the first bike i've ever bought and put together on my own. I was a bit nervous about that but it was really easy. All i needed was a few sized allen keys (which you can get an any bike shop or even dicks or sports authority for about 5 bucks) a screw driver and a wrench for adjusting. It took me about 30 - 40 minutes and I was really taking my time making sure i did it right.

Once you put it together you definitely want to adjust the breaks and make sure they are set to what you would want. Mine came with the back breaks rubbing the wheel and the front brakes wouldn't even hit the tire when you pressed them. It took about 10 minutes to figure out how to adjust them and do it. The book walks you through how to do it so if you can read, then you can adjust them. After that I took it for my first ride.

Gear shifting was OK. It clicked in a little rough and the first ride i couldn't get the front gears into 3rd gear, Only 2nd and 1st would work. After i got back i adjusted the gears which are also really simple and I was able to get all the gears to work while riding. They still are a little rough going in and out but are working now.

Make sure you put the bike together correctly and if you have any problems at all feel free to call the manufacturer. They are really helpful about making sure you are happy with it. I talked with a guy named Nelson or Eric and he was great, call 1-866-462-4535. I read a review about the tires hitting the pedal and it was only because the bike was put together wrong and the tire must have been put on backwards. I didn't have any serious problem with it once it was put together correcly, so just take your time with it. It will make for a much more enjoyable riding experience.

As for the size of the bike, I'm 5'6" with a short inseam (about 28") and it fits me pretty perfect. I can just fit over the top tube with my feet flat on the ground and while riding i'm able to get into a really comfortable riding position. I think any smaller would be too crunched together and any bigger i wouldn't be able to stand. If you're not sure about hte size there are tons of websites that you can check you size on but also talk to the manufacturer before hand they can help you with that too.

I actually bought the bike because I have my first triathlon coming this June, and I didn't want to spend 600-700 on a really nice (still used) road bike from my local bike shop, but i wanted to try out the sport. It's really a great bike that works for beginners and you can't beat the price. Nobody wants to spend up to a $1000 on a bike and find out 6 months later they hate the sport. I'm not really sure how it will hold up for an actual race, but once i finish I'll post again to let you guys know.

All in all it's a great bike for a great price for beginners and I would recommend it to anyone, but be patient out of the box because it may need some adjusting.

Assembly took a bit longer than expected. Both brake calipers had been installed backwards. Several short rides were needed to get everything adjusted properly. After all that, I LOVE THIS BIKE! It shifts smoothly, up and down hills. It's comfortable. It feels much sturdier than the late 70's racing bike it replaced. I think the trick to this bike is either you need to be mechanically inclined, or have it assembled professionally.

Oh yeah, and replace the tubes immediately. Both blew within the first week.

First opening it out of the box the bike was very good looking easy assembly but definately needed a tune up...I took it too a local dealer that ive worked with for years and a person in the store commented and asked "if the lamborghini was one of those 300 mile an hour bikes??" and i said "of course if you can find someone to pedal it that fast" everyone that came in the store that day commented on how well it looked and wanted to know how much i had paid when i told them, their expressions were priceless....very good as far as riding goes i recieved the bike on a friday rode it 40 miles on saturday and sunday and experienced no problems very easy shifting and very comfortable would recommend this bike to any novice cycler, just make SURE TO HAVE IT TUNED UP at a local dealer and it should be a good investment

This road bike is a best-buy based on price/relative quality. The bike is shipped 95% assembled. The remaining 5% is easy as long as you have a set a metric allen wrenches. My sole complaint with regard to assembly is that the reflector brackets do not fit the bike. The ride is good although I have experienced some slippage/clicking in one particular gear but I beleive I can correct that with some adjustments. Overall a good product so far.

***UPDATE***
My Odometer now reads 200 miles and this bike is still going strong! I have gotten many compliments on the commuter train, one being "That bike must be like 2 grand!" I have had no problems with the bike yet, and am still very happy with my purchase :)



This is a great road bike for the money. I got it a few weeks ago and love it! The shifting is smooth, the bike is light for its class, its VERY fast(I have reached up to 26.2 MPH so far and I just started biking), and is a smooth and comfortable ride. My 3000 dollar bike riding friends are jealous of the seat and how comfy the ride is. That is saying something! This bike has fat tires for road bikes, less flats, and more grip. I reccomened getting some Slime or Flat ATTACK! So if you do get a flat it gets sealed right away.

The only cons I can see is that you need to get its derailleur tuned up, but that is a common thing with pre-built bikes. It took me 15 minutes to have it shifting perfectly.

Conclusion: Great Road bike, fast, reliable, and I highly recommend it!