What do we Know about Douglas Road Bikes?
We have received a question from Bobby James who wants more information on a Douglas Fusion road bike, why it so cheap and are the Carbon cranks any good. What he really wants to know is “how is it possible that this bike can be sold at this price?” we have had a look at the Douglas bike and give him our thoughts
Question: I’m looking at the Douglas Fusion road bike for $1,299 at Colorado Cyclist, but I can’t find anything about Douglas frames on the web. Do you know who makes Douglas frames? Is the carbon crank set on that bike better than a Dura Ace crank set? Might you also know how CC manages to offer a Dura Ace bike for $1,299?
Hi Bobby,
We in the Bike Cycling Reviews office have had a good look at the Douglas Fusion road bike and we agree it’s a very nice bike at an amazingly good price.
The Equipment
 Drive Train |
The Dura-Ace equipment is only the STI shifters and front and rear gears, the cassette is Ultegra and the chain is a CN 5600, all very good. The other equipment is mostly FSA, including the chain set which is the Carbon Mega Exo, one of the best carbon crank sets on the market, maybe not better than Dura-Ace, but very good. All the other components are very good quality except maybe the wheels, they look good, but apart from that we don’t know anything about them.
The Frame
We can only guess that they have saved money on the frame, I guess it must be made in China or Taiwan to keep it cheep. There is nothing wrong with this as many frames and bikes come from the Far East. The frame is made from Alloy main tubes and chain stays and carbon seat stays and forks. There is nothing wrong with the materials used and without seeing the work on the frame I can’t say how good it is, remember anything can be hidden under the paint job and fancy decals.
Our Conclusions
The price of this bike is phenomenal, the equipment can not be faulted either, Colorado Cyclist will not be making much money on this bike, I don’t think. Looking at the frame dimensions it should handle well, there is nothing strange in the angles or lengths of the tubes. All in all its very nice bike and we cant see a problem, except it looks like they only have two sizes left in stock, 52cm and 56cm, if any of these are your size then maybe you should get one.
Douglas Fusion
