Customer Reviews

Victory Vision Men's Road Bike

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll get the good out first. This is a great bike for the money; I looked all over in stores for a comparable bike and couldn't find one for under $250. Once assembled, the bike rides fine, the gears shift pretty smoothly and the brakes are decent. The seat leaves something to be desired (it's VERY narrow) but the handlebars are great (there's a good layer of comfort foam). The frame is sturdy and well-painted (any decals are covered with a layer of clear enamel) with the only stickers being of the generic variety, like the standard "warning: always wear a helmet" one. It took me a little while to adjust everything to where I wanted it, but once there everything was hunky-dory.

The assembly, however, is a bear if you've never assembled a bike before (which I haven't). I consider myself decently handy, and if you give me a good set of directions I can usually figure things out no problem. The instruction manual in this case, however, isn't for this specific model of bike; it's a generic that reads like one of those choose-your-own-adventure books that were popular back in the day. My first clue was the warning that "pictures may not match your particular model." As I went on, I encountered a lot of "if your bike comes with this kind of...", which became very frustrating very quickly, especially when I got to the brakes - maybe it's just me, but none of those pictures look like what I was working on.

Since there are no pictures of this bike model in the manual, I had to do a lot of guessing. For example, I found out AFTER I had completed and ridden the bike that the gear shift goes under, and not on, the handlebar, and that was only from looking at the Amazon picture.

I spent roughly one hour and fifteen minutes putting the bike together, and I would say forty-five minutes of that was spent on the front brake. At first, it was set so wide that when you pulled the brake on the handlebar the pads wouldn't even touch the rim. I adjusted it one, but then they stuck in the "closed" position. It took a lot of patience and a lot of work with my adjustable wrench, but I finally got it to a working state. With that exception, everything else pretty much went smoothly.

In short, if you've assembled bikes before or consider yourself pretty handy, this is a great value. If you are the slightest bit intimidated by anything I wrote though, just spend the extra money and get a pre-assembled bike, because this won't be worth your time, and if you mess ANYTHING up, you don't want it to be your brakes.

UPDATE 7/21/2010: Ten days ago I took this bike out for a 66.2 mile ride (the ACS Bike-a-thon in Philadelphia), and have also been riding it pretty consistently since my review, and have some new thoughts.

The handlebars tend to not stay straight, especially if you drop (even gently) the bike on its side. The first 20 miles of my ride were on somewhat bumpy roads, and by the end of it my handlebars were about five to ten degrees off center. The allen wrench included with the bike needs to be inserted in such a way that the handle is actually in the bolt (otherwise it won't reach), leaving you very little leverage to turn it. This problem can probably be solved with a different allen wrench.

Also, the gears need to be adjusted regularly, because after about 10 miles they start to make noise as you pedal. Also, make sure you tighten the bolts around the seat and the post that holds it up, as a bumpy ride will stress them.

On the plus side, the stock tires held up excellently on a ride that saw about one out of every 20 riders get a flat on the less-than-stellar roads. The grips are as comfortable as my first impression, but tend to get a bit slippery with sweat (wearing gloves will negate this effect; I found out when I rested my forearm on them).

Still, for under $200, if you don't mind a trying assembly experience and buying a new seat, this is a good bike.

I bought this bike wanting to try out cycling, possibly getting more serious in the future. I can't speak to others problems but here are a few things I found:

-The bike itself is solid, but not overly heavy.
-Assembly is a real pain, especially the front brake and attaching the shifters to the handlebar stem. These two things probably took up 75% of my assembly time.
-Adjusting the gearing is equally maddening, as there doesn't seem to be a happy medium.
-Replace the stock seat, your "bits" will thank you.

That being said...the bike is great to ride. The handlebars are comfortable, and riding position is adequate (although that may just be a matter of proper adjustment). I am 6'1", and fit comfortably, although I wouldn't recommend the bike to anyone taller. I would recommend this as a great entry level road bike (especially for the price!), and a good buy for anyone not sure about whether they will want to start biking a lot. No reason to drop minimum $500 on a new road bike, when this will last a few summers for the casual biker.

***EDIT (10.03.2010)***

Ridden this bike most of the summer, on a weekly basis. A few more problems than I would have liked, but overall it has performed well. The handlebars seem to loosen themselves pretty easily, and you will need to buy a rather long allen wrench to fix the problem (inside the front stem). Brakes are moderately awful, but I am still able to stop after applying some pretty serious pressure (adjusting the brakes on this bike is an exercise in futility). Overall, I'm still pretty happy, but will upgrade next summer or as money allows.

It is in the same price range as that of the Denali Road Bike. I have owned both the bikes now and would say that this one is better. I have owned this bike for a month and have no problems yet. I drive 5 to 10 miles every day. The bike is definitely not great if you're seriously into biking, but for normal day to day use, I would take this any day for the price. One of the gears doesn't work very well and that is the reason why I have given it 4 stars instead of 5.

Ok, to be honest, I have not yet ridden the bike, the 4 stars are for my impressions so far. I know that there are a lot more bike brands out there than there are bike makers, and most use the same components anyway. I wasn't expecting a top of the line bike here, just something to ride to store and take some mid-distance rides on the bike trails. I was actually impressed when I unpacked it, everything looks great. Good paint job, the logos aren't just stickers on top like a lot of inexpensive, (and some fairly expensive), bikes. The components are all very good quality, Shimano shifters, very good derailleurs, good brakes, excellent tape job on the handlebars. The frame is solid, good welds, beefy and still light enough to carry easily with one hand. I finished assembling it, and making all the adjustments. I'm not an expert here, but I am pretty handy in general, plus I have owned, assembled, refurbished and maintained bikes before. The assembly was a breeze, everything fit like it should, no problems at all. Getting the brakes, etc. adjusted correctly, well, I wouldn't want to do it without any experience, and the manual included wouldn't be much help to a newbie. I aired up one tire, then started the second, got to 40 pounds, and it blew. I took it off the rim to patch the tube and saw that the rim strip didn't cover all the spoke holes. Well, this isn't cool, and I'd be worried about the quality of the bike in general, but I called the number for product support, and had a very nice conversation, they laughed when I told them the problem, apparently it was a new one for them. Before I got around to asking what they'd do to fix the problem, they asked for my address so they can ship two new tubes and two sets of rim strips. I know anyone can make a bad product, and there will always be some lemons, but to me the difference is the support. I feel confident riding this bike knowing that the company offers such fantastic support.

I've been riding this bike for about 2 weeks now. So far I'm having a trouble relying on the bikes Tires... they're very weak and I'm almost able to see the inner tire wires. I've already had 3-4 flats due to thorns or other unknown things. But I'm having a lot of fun riding this bike, I've already gone as far as to buy me a pair of cycling shorts and gloves. I hope to keep riding it for as long as i can. But the only thing is I have to upgrade more than a few parts. The rims are beginning to chip and the breaks HAD to be replaced because they weren't very good. But all and all I'm pretty satisfied with the Bike.

Nice bike overall, after some minor repairs of course. It came with cheap breaks that aren't the safest to ride on the road. I recommend you take this to a bike shop before riding. setup was a little difficult but again investing some money take this to the shop will be very helpful.

Well for $170, you get what you pay for. This is my first road bike, and well, it works, kind of. It doesn't perform smoothly at all. I have a GIANT brand mountain bike and that thing is over 7yrs old but is a true champ! I've had problems with this from the start. Missing parts when I got it delivered. That's a joke there already. Sent it to local bike shop to build it and the technician told me he has never seen a more poorly constructed bike ever. I mean we're talking bent rear wheel axle, gear disks bent, etc. This all amounts to a rickity ride on the road. Mine won't shift cleanly from 4-3 at moderate-high speed likely because of those darn gear disks being bent. Haven't put many miles on it yet, so don't know how anything else holds up; probably not well. But, I bought the cheapest road bike on the internet and I got the cheapest road bike. If I get more into biking, I'll surely look for a better brand - Trek - but as for now, I get a taste of how things feel (like a trial bike though). Having experienced this, I'd recommend investing a couple hundred more and getting quality, but my wallet isn't stuffed, so if you're looking for cheap, expect a cheap russian roulette game on the quality of this bike with payoffs of barely ride-able to just functional.

I bought this bike one year ago. I fixed it twenty times. The tires are very easy to broken. I changed my tires almost ten times, and vey time the bike store charged almost twenty bucks. Now the fix costs are much more than the price I bought it.

I like the bike and it's a great starter bike for road races or triathalons. It was a little difficult to read the instructions and ended up putting it together incorrectly. I had to take it to a bike shop to make sure it was not get me killed. Still not a bad bike.

I wanted to give this 4 stars, really I did, but it just doesn't come up to it. So, good things first:
The bike came quickly, so kudos to the shop for that!
This bike fits me perfectly. I am 5'6", with a 31" inseam. Any larger of a bike, and this wouldn't work. This was in my price range. I am competing in a tri, and needed a bike to get started, but didn't have $850.00 to lay down on a bike. So the sell price, plus a $40.00 tuneup and done. It's a good looking bike, nice color (blue and silver.)
Bad news: The assembly is a complete pain. I am a total newbie at this, and it was so confusing for me. The company also forgot the bolt to attach the seat, so I had to get that at the bike shop. I tried looking online for tips, videos, anything! I ended up putting it together generally, and took it to the bike shop for all the fine tuning. Very, very frustrating experience, but the bike shop made everything work the way it should. The brakes suck. Even the shop said they had a hard time getting them tuned the way they should be, and they still suck. I'm a bit scared to get a good speed going, because they can't really handle a sudden stop if I needed it. So plan on replacing not just the brake pads, but the braking system within a few months, or as you can afford it. The seat is horrible - really narrow, nowhere close to letting your sit bones on it, and hard as a rock. Invest $20 bucks in a better seat, and your bum will thank you.
Overall impression: A decent bike that will get you started. If you need one right away, and are tired of looking on Craigslist or classifieds, go for it. But plan on spending about $50-75 more than the price you buy it for on here, for all the extra tuning, and/or parts.