Cycle Force Rigid Mountain Bike, 26 inch Wheels, 18 inch Frame, Men's Bike, Black, Blue, Red, White

I had better luck with Cycle Force products in the past. The quality has gone down. However, the Cycle Force product support is still good. The people at Cycle Force are very helpful if you have any problems. The frame of the bicycle is very sturdy, but all the parts that come with it are cheap. You can make this work, but if you are not good with tools, you will probably end up paying a bike shop to replace and fix the parts that break. Not to mention putting it together, in the first place.Obviously, if you are shopping cheap bikes, you are making a trade-off between what you want and what you can get. This bike might work for you, if you are willing to put a little bit of work into it. Replacement parts are available, if things do break, and so is product support from Cycle Force.The frame of this bike is a bit smaller than the old Cycle Force Polaris mountain bike frames, but basically the same style. The older Cycle Force Polaris mountain bike frames are a bit better and also a bit larger, but I don't like their new full suspension frames. You can't put a proper rear rack on a full suspension bike, but these Cycle Force frames will support a very sturdy rear rack so you can put a proper basket on it to carry your stuff. I think this bike would be perfect for a teenager but might run a bit small for most adults. I'm 5'8" and this is the smallest frame size that I could ride comfortably. I really prefer a bigger frame.

I've only had this bike for one day, so obviously that has to be factored when considering long-term reliability when reading this review. I bought this bike specifically for an electric bike conversion with a front hub motor. I'm using the Clean Republic Hill Topper electric bike kit which consists of a 250 watt motor. You simple swap out the stock front wheel with the Hill Topper wheel, cable tie some cables and the trigger button, strap the battery pack to the frame, and you are all set. I just put this all together tonight and then took the bike for a short 15 minute ride around the neighborhood. So far, this bike has performed as expected. I specially chose this bike because it was dirt cheap but it had the all important rigid steel front fork which is recommended with front wheel electric bike kits due to the forces that the motor puts on the fork. Suspension forks made out of aluminum or other non-steel materials can crack and fail catastrophically. Anyway, I'm really impressed how well this cheap bike rides. The gear shifting works reasonably well, although it's best described as "imprecise." But, that's to be expected with a bike in this price range, although you do get a feel for it pretty quick. The brakes work reasonably well, although I have the same problem another reviewer had with the rear brake violently vibrating. I'm hopeful this will resolve itself with some brake pad wear, but if not, I'm sure I'll figure out a solution, whether it's a new set of brake pads, adjustment to the existing caliper style brakes, or ultimately higher quality caliper brake components. The point is, the brakes work, it's just the rear brakes make an annoying moan and pulsing sound under moderate to hard braking. Not the end of the world, and something that can ultimately be fixed. Just something to keep in mind if you are considering this bike. Again, I can't speak for the long-term reliability, but overall this bike is performing as good or better than anticipated for the price.09/29/2015 UPDATE:I've had this bike for a couple weeks now. I stand by my initial review, this bike rides surprisingly well for the price. As for problems, the only moderate problem I've had so far is the same problem other reviewers have had, this bike has really cheap side pull brakes. It's especially a problem on the rear brake because the entire caliper gets pull forward and apparently bangs against the rear fork/frame. That's annoying, but not necessarily a showstopper. What is a showstopper is that this amount of flex in the caliper means the brake pad can potentially come in contact with the tire. The only way to solve that problem is to lower the brake pad, but then you will have uneven wear (shelving) on the brake pad. So, instead of continuing to mess with these cheap brakes, I bought these slightly less cheap brakes that look to be much thicker metal and hopefully will not flex. Tektro C326 Caliper Brake Pair http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041X5XR2 The only other minor issue with this bike is that the handlebar grips are painful. They are just too hard and thin. I recommend upgrading them to something better. So, it might turn out that you need $40-50 in upgrades to make this bike perform as expected, which overall still makes it a pretty inexpensive bike with solid steel front fork to use for an electric bike conversion.

At first glance seemed like a great deal. But so many problems. Nothing lines up... oh and the front tire LITERALLY hits the foot pedal when turning.

Ordered and received today. front wheel doesn't fit the frame. Will have to take it to a shop to fix it.

Total piece of crap. After 6 months several parts are breaking to the point they are kit worth fixing

both rims came bent have to buy new rims

26" inch wheels not frame, bikes with 26" frame or larger doesn't show wheel size, miss leading, son has a small bike

For the price it's a good bike, but the front brake broke before I even used it and the front tire wobbles slightly.

Both rims bent significantly out of the box. I returned this item because of the attrocious build quality.Stay away from this brand

nice bike

Wheels are bent