When I first got into riding I had a very tight budget and bought a bike from bikes direct. I read a lot of negative stuff about them but most of it was from people that had no direct experience with the company or their products. At the time I was young and had 2 kids in day care so spending a bunch of money on a bike just wasn’t an option. I felt a little insecure about riding an off brand bike when I was in group rides with guys riding $5k+ bikes but the truth was it actually a great bike for the price and nobody I was riding with gave a shit about what brand of bike I was riding. I was grateful to have a decent bike that got me into the sport and helped me meet some great people.