Monty the Montana Aldi bike has probably found a permanent home.
He has lived up, rather than down to his reputation. He is cheap. His front derailleur is less than ideal. His front forks are not adjustable and do not have a suspesion lock. His tail is hard. He even has a ridiculous sticker telling you to keep off the off road. His wheelbase is shorter than I would like, and he only comes in one size, which is smaller than I should probably be riding. However he is capable of being ridden around the fire trails above where I live in comparative comfort. And he pops down to the shops with my 100kgs on board without complaint. His brakes are about a thousand times better at bringing me to a stop than the old side pull brakes on my 1985 model Gemini ten speed racing bike.
I also went round and retightened all the bolts using a proper allen key set rather than the folding multitool I had used initially.
While nothing was really loose, quite a few of the bolts were able to be tighened quite a bit more.
As an independant test I asked one of the Aldi shop assistants if any of these bikes had come back and he told me that none of this lot had come back but some of their other models were a little less robust. He also told me he rode his Aldi bike (albeit an earlier model) to work every day and had no problems with it.
Personally I think Monty fills a niche which should probably be filled with proper utility style bikes like the steel framed British made Raleigh with a special Sturmney archer 3 speed internal gear PLUS coaster brake hub that my Dutch mother bought me in the late 1970s. (Sadly stolen in about 1988. I must confess though at the time I wished I had got the Speedwell Dragster with 3 speed stick shift and banana seat that my brother had got for his birthday. Talk about awesome
).
In Monty's defence he cost $99 and he works. He is an adequate moutain bike
style comfort bike, but I doubt if he is adequate as a mountain bike. I might be having words to the fair trading people about this as "fit for purpose" in a mountain bike implies off road I would have thought. A quick walk arond Wmart, Big K and toyasaurus found every single one of their bikes had a similar sticker about not suitable for off road and stunting to Monty's. In an interesting loophole however you can use your Wmart, Big K or toyasaurus bike for competition.
In the time I have had him his chain has popped off a couple of times as I was trying to change gears as I was pushing too hard on the pedals going up hill. His tyres are ridiculously knobbly- As soon as his 60day satisfaction guarantee wears out I will either get two new tyres. What $60 each?? I will quote Anthony Hopkins (no Clarice not the fava beans) "Get me a knife boy I am going to cut the tread off these tyres to make them go faster."
The other thing I think I might add is half toe clips. I had them on my old ten speed and they keep your foot in the right spot and let you pull up as well as push down without the embarrasment of having your foot locked into place or having to change into ridiculous shoes just to hop on your bike.
The funny thumping noise I had been hearing has been traced to the region in my chest occupied by my heart.
Other minor mishaps have related to embarrasingly finding myself slowly sliding backwards as I pedalled up one particularly steep section of track, being attacked by an apparently feral standard poodle (he may have had an owner but he was off his lead), finding that derailleurs do not work very well and drag on the chain when they are full of grass and startling a small mob of kangaroos.
The grass clogged derailleurs probably had something to do with the chain jumping off that I mentioned earlier- it has not happened since I cleaned them.
I hate standing up on the pedals and shifting my weight from side to side to find the momentum I am generating not being fully translated into go forward but part of it going into up and down in the front suspension. My brother in law tells me his $2000 mountain bike has a button that lets you lock the suspension for going up hill. I guess that is what you pay $1900 more for.
kukamunga wrote:I was contemplating getting some of those Aldi winter gloves the other day. They look and feel a lot better than some of the BBB offerings
Being in Canberra I think the Aldi winter cycling gloves must have sold out ultra quick because I never even saw any here. If you live in a warm area tell your Aldi to send them up to the poor souls in the mountains who need them.
I am really annoyed with the front derailleur- I am having a hell of a time adjusting it to perfection - it is just ever so slightly temperamental, either going too far resulting in jumping off or not going down far enough into bottom gear - I think it needs a gentle attack with the knockometer to make the gate between the inner and outer guides just that little bit narrower.
In an added confession I have NO lycra in my cupboard at all.