Costco/Northrock bikes.. (1 Viewer)

[Zack1978]

Hi everyone,
I just got the May 2011 edition of "Costco Connection", the Costco member magazine. In the magazine is an artice about the Costco/Northrock bicycles. The author of the artice mentions that a stigma exists about buying a bike from a box-store, however the Costco bike should break that stigma. He compared buying a box store bike to offering Mario Andretti a K-car.......
So as the articles reads, the review points out that the bikes are high quality, with basically a low price. The have cruisers, road, and MTB bikes.
I would like to purchase a road bike in the near future, and they mention that they offer the Northrock SCR1 road bike (link : Road Bike - SCR1 - Northrock Bicycles ® - Built to be better ™) the price is $599.00. According to the website they offer the bike in 17" and 19", I am 6'3 and weigh 180..Might the 19" fit me?
Is this bike a terrible idea? Should I just stick with my local bike shop? What do you think of this nike?


Thanks,
Zack

 

[Mr. Toad]

I don't see anything special there.

 

[semlin]

dunno about the road bike but that mountain bike is all entry level mediocre components. classic department store gruppo.

 

[cubiclecaptive]

My first thought is go local bike shop where possible. The reps there are best able to describe the ins/outs of the components and will work to size a bike to your frame in your price range. That being said, the $ comes in to play as with everything. You have $1000 to sink into a LC then your are not going to get the same base as someone with $5K to drop.

Ask yourself what you want from the bike (ride with your kids, fitness, racing) and go from there. No one at Costco is going to provide the level of expertise that a bike shop will. The box stores will not be selling (or servicing) the same models next season so where do you go for parts (and are those parts available)?

I'm not an elitist, but just like Cruiser parts, you get what you pay for. If your tranny jumps out of gear because you went to Joe Lowballer for a rebuild, your perception of LCs could sour. Same with bicycling.

If you are not looking to race, want a dependable road bike with serviceable parts and don't want to break the bank you might look at the Fuji Roubaix 3.0. It's a couple hundred dollars more than the Northrock, but if bought at a shop will probably come with a year's worth of free tune ups (brakes, chain, wheel truing) and is a better grade of aluminum and components.

In addition, the bike shop will not advise that their aluminum bikes have a clear coat that rust proofs the frame...since aluminum does not rust.

My 0.02

 

[tag3]

When you walk through costco/kmart, put the front wheel between your knees and grab the bars, turn bars and see what happens. My 11yo. daughter loves to do this and leave the bars turned.

 

[2mbb]

When you walk through costco/kmart, put the front wheel between your knees and grab the bars, turn bars and see what happens. My 11yo. daughter loves to do this and leave the bars turned.

These bikes come from the factory disassembled and the store/shop assembles them. Who do you want assembling your bike? A mechanic or a stock boy? My point is, if you do buy from costco, go through every bolt and make sure it is properly tightened.

I agree in general with the rest of the comments. The bike is nothing special and has entry level components, where they have provided that information. You could probably get a similar bike at a bike shop for about the same money, especially if you get something on sale from last year's stock. The only issues I've had with bike shops is that you are surrounded by yet more expensive bikes and it's difficult not to be convinced to "spend a little more"...

 

[Mace]

Costco used to sell Cannondales..

Honestly, every time I have hit up a legitimate "bike store" their prices have been twice what I could but a similar bike at at Costco for.

I know that they pay the people that assemble their products better (sort of) but honestly, when it comes down to a couple of sea notes difference in price. I can do my own tuning..

AND, the bike shop guys were assholes...

 

[phsycle]

Please avoid these like the plague. Plenty of good used bike on CL and eBay.

 

[Jetboy]

In the same price range I'd go with this bike (if I were not looking at a used bike): Road Bikes - DawesLightning 2300 I bought my 29er MTB from them about a year ago. So far it has been a great bike. I will likely buy my next road bike from them. It will come packaged like the dealers get, so you need to be able to put the handle bars on and tune about everything. The quality for the price is hard to beat.

 

[Land Speeder]

I see nothing wrong with the bike actually. it's entry level. Now, for $700? Why not get a Respected name brand entry level bike? If you don't care about that, then you're good with this bike. 6061 is the cats nuts, fault the marketing department with that "rust" comment.

 

[Zack1978]

Well my local Costco has none of these bikes in stock, and they were not sure about ordering them. They only had a few of the Northrock touring bikes. So I guess I will stop at my local bike shop.


Zack

 

[hoch]

Typically, at 6' 3", you should be on a 21" frame (given that you have somewhat of normal body proportions)---ON A MOUNTAIN BIKE. For a road bike, it's even more critical that you get the frame size right. But you'd be at least a 59cm, but probably a 62cm frame (that's about 24 inches). Please go to your local shop and get properly fitted. Good luck.

 

[mcewan13]

+1 on using Bikesdirect.com if you're trying to get the most bike for your dollar. You get a better kit and basically a free frame for the price of the build kit and wheels.

 

[semlin]

does the xc6 come with free spam?

 

[Mrfreeze]

It might help if someone actually had this bike...like me. I bought it about 6 months ago and I am very happy with it. I have had many bikes over the years and this is the best one I have had. Although, I must state that this is the first road bike I have had in many years.

Anyways, unlike what some people have stated the components are quite good. When I reasearched them online the price of the components was over 1000 bucks, if you bought them separately. The bike is very light but feels strong too.

Another great thing about it is that, according to several Costco employees that I spoke with, you can return it anytime if you don't like it. I jokingly told the guy that I was gonna ride it all summer and return it next year and he said that is not a problem, I don't think your local bike shop would do that. Now your local bike shop will be able to give you a lot more advice and better selections, obviously. So, you have to factor that in.

All that being said, I am sure you can find better bikes out there but if this bike fits you well you would be hard pressed to find a better value.

 

[semlin]

seems like a lot of people want to go to the trouble to register on mud just to post and tell us how great this bike is.

 

[Boone]

One thing to consider also is that a lot of bike shops sell their rental bikes at the end of the season. I'm getting ready to pick up a new bike from my shop that retails for about 1500 for about 800 bucks. A little more than what you have but the bike is really high quality and has been taken care of.

It's at least worth looking into.