Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this bike after reading every single review, both positive and negative. I even took the step of ordering the bike from Amazon's Warehouse Deals. I paid a very reasonable price. I am a 52 year old woman who does not really have a lot of mechanical experience, but it was a beautiful day when the bike arrived. I got my iced tea and sat on my porch with the box and spent a leisurely afternoon figuring it out. With only a little help from my husband and son (mostly to just confirm I did something correctly) I was able to assemble the bike. I'm glad I did, too, because now, adjustments make more sense to me...I know the parts and understand how they work and fit together. That said, if you are just hoping for a quick experience putting it together, you may want to get help or pay a bike shop. I rate the bike 5 stars because I love the style and I think it was a GREAT value. It seems to be working well. But for the sake of those who read reviews, here are some notes that might help you. --The color: I read a lot of reviews that complained that they were hoping for a more BLUE bike. This should be called "Ice Blue" or something like that, not Slate, because the bike is really a silvery blue not a darker color like I would think Slate would be. --Packaging: I ordered from Amazon Warehouse Deals, which said the item would be repackaged, so I expected that. The large box it came in was not TOO badly roughed up from shipping, but when I opened it, the inner box that was holding all the bike parts was fairly frightening. Torn spots, dents in the cardboard, etc. From reading a lot of reviews about dents, I wonder if shipping is just really hard on this. Mine came basically double boxed. I wonder if someone returned it because of the condition of the original box! The original box did not appear to ever have been opened and resealed? Anyway, I probably got lucky, but my guess is this is a shipping issue and perhaps unavoidable when you have parts, like fenders, that are easily bent out of shape. --Assembly: Yeah, there were a few head scratching moments where I had to look at the diagram, re-read and THINK, but I figured them out. I saw a YouTube video of a guy who was pretty mechanical and putting this bike together for one of his parents and he had pretty much the same issues I had! I used (after googling!) Vicks VapoRub for grease for the handlebar stem and it is working great. Did have to laugh at the whiff of menthol I got just before my second ride on it, when I adjusted the handlebars. Vaseline would work too if you don't have a tube of grease that they call for. I confirmed with a mechanical friend that this will be no problem, we're not dealing with high temperatures or huge amounts of friction. I had to really work to get fenders lined up to the holes for the bolts that hold them on, then I had to bend them into shape a little to keep them from rubbing. This is no big deal to me, but if it is to you, you're forewarned. If you can't find the stem for the seat, look inside the hole in the frame, lots of people think they don't have one then find it there! Brakes might take a while to get them adjusted properly. If any of this really doesn't sound like something you want to mess with then definitely find a handier friend or take it to a bike shop for assembly. I didn't mind the tweaking. --Riding: THIS IS DIFFERENT THAN A TWO WHEEL BIKE! You have to really remember this or you may think something is wrong when it is not. If you learned to ride a two wheel bike, you instinctively *lean* to keep balance. Leaning on this bike is not necessary and may even make your sensation of being off balance WORSE. You *might* even want to lean OUT of a turn (the opposite direction) a tiny bit! I did feel a bit wonky on this trike at first, but I just took a deep breath and tried to remember that this was different. Much better as time goes on! Also, the road where I live is slightly graded to allow rain to runoff so if I'm riding on the road, I realize that it is going to feel off balance. I only take the road for a short while, then I am on the rails-to-trails near our home. That too is ever-so-slightly graded for runoff, but I can work with it better there. If the trail is clear, I just take my spot up the middle and my fellow bikers let me know they are coming with a friendly call or ring of their bell and I move over. :) --Mount/Dismount: At first, I kept whacking the back of my legs with the back wheels. Just needed to get in the habit of remembering that unlike a 2 wheel bike, I have to watch for them. --Seat: I'm a middle aged woman with an ample middle aged figure. The seat is just *okay* for me but since I got such a nice price on the bike, I don't feel badly about seeking out a wider, more comfortable seat. Until switching the seat, I only had gone about 3 miles at a time to avoid a sore posterior. If you want a flawless, seamless experience to get up and running, look elsewhere or get professional help to assemble and fine tune. If you're willing to deal with a few little issues, you'll have a great trike at a great price.