Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful bike, November 2, 2009
Bought my 8 years old son this bike recently. I have to say it is a bit pricey, especially considering the current economy, but the bike is indeed beautiful. It came in a hard cupboard box and did not suffer any damage (as so many reviews about bikes reported). The wheels are well trued and there is no scratches. Assembling it was not so hard. Basically these things needed assemble:
- put on the front wheel
- put on the handle bar
- put on the pedals on both sides.
- hook up the front and rear brakes
- put on the reflectors in the front and back.
- put on the derailleur protecting loop
- put on the seat
Amazon seems to have the best price on this one. Local bigbox stores like sportsauthority charges 30-50 dollars more.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Damaged due to poor packing. Cheap components., December 26, 2009
The Diamondback Cobra 24 arrived damaged due to how poorly it is packaged from the factory. It comes with the front wheel and the handlebars removed, and zip-tied directly to the bike frame. The only thing protecting the parts from damage is some thin card-stock-like paper that's taped to the bike frame tubes. At some point during this bike's journey from the manufacturer in China, some of the zip-ties became brittle and failed. The handlebars and front tire then spent the rest of their time banging and rubbing against the bike frame. This resulted in a broken left side grip shifter, paint chipped off and scratched on the bike frame, and paint rubbed off or scratched on the left hand brake, and front forks. The shipping box had no external damage, so this is not an issue with shipping, it's an issue with how poorly the bike is packed. Definately ruins the experience when you take it out of the box for the first time on Christmas eve, cut off all the protective paper wrappers and discover damage. On top of all that, the left grip shifter cable had been installed wrong, and the handle bars could not be installed correctly, without removing the cable from the front shift derailer, and unthreading it from the bike frame.
Once assembled, it's a nice looking bike and that paint job is metallic orange, not red (they call it "fire orange" I think. Be warned: the tubing is steel, not aluminum and so this bike is extremely heavy. The decals on the frame tube and forks are immaturish and stupid. They have nothing to do with the bike, or kids. They're like someone's acid trip from the 60's, trying to make an album cover. So much so, that I immediately peeled several of them off. Why it can't just say "Diamondback Cobra 24" is beyond me.
The Shimano components are bottom of the line, and shifting is very poor. Even after trying to fine tune the adjustments at the grip shifters and the derailers, the shifting is very "cheap" and inaccurate. Not what you want in a child's bike, where you're trying to get your child comfortable with 21 speeds and 2 grip shifters. Shifts easier if you are rotating the grip shifters toward you than away from you, chain clicks in certain gears due to poor alignment of the derailers, and the chain doesn't move to the next chain ring or cog with a nice positive thud. It's like shifting an old bike in the 1970's.....you moved the shifter and hope the chain goes with you.
Make no mistake, this is a cheap "department store" grade bike. The local bike stores warned me about buying a bike of this caliber. I didn't listen to the advice for 2 reasons. 1) Diamondback used to have a reputation for nice bikes. 2) I didn't feel like my child needed a $300 bike for the kind of occasional "kids riding" that it would get used for. We had a Raleigh Rowdy prior to this and that was a fantastic bike with an aluminum frame and great shifting Shimano components. This Diamondback Cobra 24 is a big disapointment and I'm regretting the purchase.
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