[tgiann3]

I wanted to leave my review of my new Windsor Wellington 3.0 Roadbike. I think there are alot of different level buyers wondering about Bikes Direct quality. I worked in a bike shop and built a few bikes for them about 20 yrs ago so I felt up to the task.

The bike arrived packed in a box just like the bikes we would receive in the shop. This bike was more assembled than what we would receive. The frame looked nice, no scratches. It took me longer to remove the wrapping than it did to assemble the bike. But thats where things started to change a bit. Immediately I noticed that the rear derailleur would go all the way into the spokes. I didn’t think too much of it at the time because I hadn’t tuned the bike yet. As I started to tune the bike I noticed the rear derailleur cable had a significant kink in it and there would be no way I would get smooth function with that kind of kink. I ordered some nice Jagwire cables as an upgrade. No big deal.

The peddles were total junk (Very stiff and crunchy to pedal) but I wasn’t surprised. I ordered a pair of shimano clipless pedals. Not a big deal.

I tried to true up the wheels just using the brakes as a guide but they were pretty far off of true. So I ordered a truing stand. $80-ish on top of the $200 that I spend for a nice set of Bike Hand Tools and a $50 stand to assemble the bike. So the cost is starting to add up.

I kept looking at the rear derailleur and something didn’t look right. To make a very long story short, after looking at the bike 5 different ways and emailing Larry several times (who told me it was a bent hanger) I realized that the frame was welded incorrectly at the factory.  I ordered derailleur hanger alignment tool, a frame and fork alignment gauge as well as other frame alignment gauges and straighteners. Cost was about $350-ish. We are now well into the territory of I should have just bought a bike at a shop.

I was able to bend the frame into alignment to compensate for the incorrect geometry. I bent the hanger to make up the rest of the difference. And, guess what…suddenly the derailleur didn’t go into the spokes anymore.

One other issue…the front wheel bearings sound crunchy. I’m probably going to build a new set of wheels by hand so I can pick out what I want and I get a chance to refresh my building skills.

 

So what I’m saying is this. Now that it’s all done… yes I like the bike. I was disappointed that the frame wasn’t correctly built.  I spent at least as much as I would have spent at a shop for a name brand bike that was already tuned for me. However, I would not have all the tools that I now have.

So, if you plan on doing alot of work on your own in the future or if you already have tools then go for it. If you are entry level and don’t want all that headache, I strongly suggest a bike shop. Would I buy from them again? Maybe. It really depends on what I want the bike for.

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