Bike reviews

Cadillac Electric Blue CTS Road Bike

Another Keeper

Packing - small mark on bottom of rear derailleur adjacent to one hole in the box (packing protectors had migrated to the bottom of the box). There were no other dings or scratches on the frame. Assembly - straightforward with some notes: (1) In addition to the N.V.O stem system being different from normal threadless stem setups on other bikes, the CTS system requires two shim plates for the handlebar clamp (large stem clamp size - small handlebar diameter). It is a little awkward to hold & tighten everything. (2) The STI shifters have an intermediate shift (trimmer) on the front derailleur. This feature, normally found on higher end components, allows the front cage to move without shifting, eliminating chain rub (noise). Slightly different tweaking procedures apply (read the Shimano info). (3) When I tightened the attaching bolt on the brake pads, I ended up with toe-out. Unless I missed something, the caliper arms needed to be bent some to achieve the 1/64 in. toe-in on the pads. I've done this a lot on older bikes when they squeal, but I didn't expect a bunch of initial toe-out on the Tektro calipers. There's a tool for that, but I just removed the pads and "carefully" used a big adjustable wrench. (4) The first 3 test rides revealed a slightly noisy freewheel. It only happened in one gear, and I could easily eliminate the "clickity clock" by back pedaling momentarily or shifting, but I had a new duplicate freewheel. Replacement was easy, and the new one was quiet. (5) Finally, the wheels needed truing a couple of times, and I still had trouble eliminating all tire wiggle and blips. I ended up removing the tires & tubes, replacing the rubber rim strips with rim tape, putting tire talc in both tires, swapping tires (front tire on rear rim & vice versa), & lubing the beads with some liquid dish washing detergent /water to seat properly when inflated. On the last test ride I finally got rid of nearly all thumping. Appearance - This bike is beautiful blue! The welds are typical of a bike in this price range, but the graphics, paint & finish are quite good. The bar tape is "interesting". I'll stick with it for a while, but I have some blue & white marble tape somewhere. Fit - I'm half an inch shy of 6 ft. and 180 lbs. with a 31 in. stand over height. The 55cm CTS fits me perfectly. I thought it might be too small, but not so. Ride - smooth for an all aluminum bike with no carbon fiber. As I ride it with seat bag, tool kit, computer, cage/empty bottle and Wellgo double sided pedals (I installed those nice CTS pedals on a Schwinn hybrid), the CTS is not a feather weight at 24.4 lbs., but it's easy to pedal & cruise along at 12 - 14 mph, and all day for that matter. I had thoughts of maybe getting a different seat for it, but the included seat looks and feels just right. The STI group worked surprisingly well, and the only time I thought about having only 14 gears was when I had the CTS at 24 mph on a very slight downhill. I could have used one more higher gear. I can't comment on needing lower gears as there aren't any real hills where I ride (fortunately for this old fart). The brakes were more than adequate. Conclusion - I'm a happy camper. Slightly better brake pad attaching & wheels/tires with cassette would have eliminated almost all issues, but considering the price, it's still a pretty good deal on a nice looking and functional bicycle.

Keyword : road+bike