Are Decathlon Riverside Touring bikes actually any good? 10,000km of road-testing says it all
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- While hosting French round-the-world cyclists Diane & Simon (via WarmShowers), I noticed they'd crossed the whole of Europe on two touring bikes from @RIVERSIDEADVENTURE, an in-house bike brand made and sold by the well-known global outdoor retailer @decathlonfrance.
Known for being cheap and cheerful, and selling some of the lowest-priced new touring bikes available today, the question was obvious: are Decathlon Riverside Touring bikes - in this case, a brand new 900 and a rebuilt second-hand 520 - actually durable, reliable and comfortable enough for a multi-year world tour?
Here's their honest opinion after 10,000km of riding over 8 months on the road. They have no affiliation to Decathlon - aside from being French!
Further reading and links:
📍 Follow Diane & Simon's journey on Polarsteps: www.polarsteps.com/velhorizon...
🚲 Simon is riding a Decathlon Riverside Touring 900: tomsbiketrip.com/recommends/p...
🚲 Diane is riding a rebuilt second-hand Decathlon Riverside 520 originally made about 20 years ago. Current version of the Riverside 520: tomsbiketrip.com/recommends/p...
ℹ️ Read my full introduction to touring bike choice: tomsbiketrip.com/which-tourin...
More from me at:
• tomsbiketrip.com - my long-running cycle touring & bikepacking blog and resource library
• / tomallen - my Patreon page for those who want to help pay it forward! - Sport
I really like Decathlon products camping, running, cycling. And they have excellent customer service. You can rely on them to deliver the goods, cheaply. Have been to them all over Europe and Asia, Taiwan. Always a good experience and super helpful staff even if you don't have one of their bicycles. I don't.
I was recently in a Decathlon in Pamplona in Spain looking for Roc Straps or similar to secure luggage. The lady who helped me was so helpful as they didn't have exactly what I needed. In the end she located some heavy duty bungees which I would never have found in the humongous store and only 8€. Bargain.
Decathlon as a retailer has been available for a lot longer in France. Throughout the 90s, they released some pretty good steel frames.
Apparently so! I only learned this from Diane & Simon!
Not quite relevant, but my recently purchased Decathlon 'Second Life' RC120 Gravl bike is a little gem and a joy to ride. It cost me £399 from my local store and I watched the store mechanic (he offered) check and adjust every nut and bolt on the bike before I left with it.
Thanks for sharing! I'd forgotten about their second-hand scheme...
I think it’s telling that this couple knows how to work on bikes. If you are knowledgeable, you shew away the problems beforehand and then really, if you are not in the wilds, you can tour on just about any bike.
I half agree, but even the best mechanic can't make a badly-fitting bike comfortable for 8 hours a day. People say "you can tour on any bike", and it's true in a certain way - but would you actually want to?
@@TomsBikeTrip As per your point on comfort, I noted the leather saddles. They add weight, but they allow you (if fitted properly) to cycle all day in comfort.
Definitely food for thought. I ride a top end tourer; quite high spec. It’s very reliable and can carry huge loads. That said if I was considering a lighter tourer that’s more at home on sealed surfaces like in Europe and didn’t necessarily have a huge off road capability for circa £1300 this one looks like a great option. PS They say they only fit Marathons not Marathons pluses ( supply issues) Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure. I was looking for long-term rider feedback on these bikes for quite a while and it's good to know they do the job. Personally I'm too much of a tinkerer to buy any off-the-peg bike, but we're all different!
What about the Riverside 900 doesn't fit the bill where your high spec bike would work? It seems like it has quite a few high quality parts, and the frame is "triple butter" (Didn't even know there was more than double).
Looking at grabbing one of these once I can get it on sale. But also looking at bikes like Fuji touring, kona sutra, surly trucker,. etc.
But I am certainly more budget/bang for buck minded.
My partner has recently purchased the Riverside touring. Seems very good! And looks like it will last just fine.
Welcome to touring as a couple! :-)
The current Riverside 520 is 100% Aluminium but with 170kg system weight and some very nice details a bargain.
Such a bargain - and in the UK it's currently discounted even further: tomsbiketrip.com/recommends/product-riverside-touring-520-decathlon-uk/
Now that almost all bikes and parts are made in Asia by subcontractors, brand names don't mean what they used too. It's possible that these were made in the same factory out of the same raw material as better bike brands.
That's been the case for a long time, but it's a little more nuanced than that. I actually visited several Taiwanese bike factories in 2013 to see exactly what goes on. Bikes and frames are generally designed and prototyped by bike designers working for individual brands, and then the manufacturing is subcontracted after a detailed process of specification, including decisions about raw materials and manufacturing processes. In that way, the same factory will build bikes for many brands to a lot of different specifications (eg: Giant/Trek/Scott/Fisher etc which IIRC were all coming off the same line). It doesn't mean the quality or cost is the same across brands and bikes. In any case, much can depend on final assembly and setup at the retail end...
@@TomsBikeTrip Interesting, thanks, definitely true about the setup, if you walk through a Target(here in US) you can see bikes with the forks on backwards lol!
If you're touring around Europe, I don't think you could go wrong with Decathlon based purely on the size of their distribution network compared to any other brand.
That's true - and increasingly outside of Europe too. They now have stores in about 70 countries if I remember correctly.
triangles. not many fail.
Mine did.
@@TomsBikeTripWas it a decathlon?
other than the frames those bikes are as far from standard as you can get , the females bike is a rebuild so no standard parts from the original and the males bike does nopt come with a dynamo front hub or usb headplug as standard
Simon's bike (the Riverside Touring 900) is factory spec - you can check for yourself using the link in the description. Diane's is a custom build on a second hand frameset. This was discussed at length in the video. (You did actually watch it, didn't you?! 😜)
The men's is as spec don't know here you get the usb hub stuff from.