Cycling Plus test of the Unipack

I've always suspected cycling mags give gear they test an easy ride. Now they've reviewed the Unispak I know they're mostly just a massive corporate blowjob for the industry.

having met a couple would have to agree. simply because the majority are young -ish geeky blokes that arent actually skilled riders themselves.

they are nice bicycles.

If you dont die...

Having seen the state stock fuji tracks arrive in out the box, I'd say all OTP bikes should be assembled and checked by a decent mechanic.

Particularly de-stressing and truing wheels

is it to keep advertisers happy or something?

To be honest, i bought a Unicrap/Create-a-headache.

I take it your username is a reference to the above?!

Reading the article I'd say it's fairly objective, saying it rides ok, looks cool and is cheap, but does mention that there were chain problems and that the bike has quality issues that need to be addressed: ALARM BELLS. Any sensible person reading that article would surely be able to see that it's not worth it. Buy an SE Lager or something. If someone reads that and still buys one they get what's coming to them.

I saw the latest ones at the bike show and they are a different spec to the original unipack, possibly slightly better, but still shite and the welds look like something from a high school manual arts project.

To be honest, i bought a Unicrap/Create-a-headache. At one point one of the nuts that holds the pedals stripped. It was so bad that it destroyed the bottom bracket and i had to replace basically everything.

It SOUNDED like a tractor, and at one stage, i went to trixies and someone (sorry, cant remember who) told me i should go over the bike and tighten everything i could. I thought he was joking but sure enough, nothing was tight.

But i missed one: I was riding home one night when suddenly the risers came loose and flipped. It was as i was going round a corner to a red light. So in the insueing chaos, i came off my bike and into an old lady who sweetly picked me up and told me it would be ok. The nut that holds the risers had come loose!!!

The brakes are shite, like as in utter tripe. They work as well as normal brakes do in the wet. And speaking of wet, you might as well not have brakes at all. So im not suprised if ppl take them off totally. At least youre not lured into a false sense of security!!!

The frame itself doesnt seem to bad but it does weigh about the same as a small tank.

Now it is my pub/brick lane bike. Its a lot of fun if you dont mind coming off your bike regularly.

Now, that's a proper review.

Send it in as a letter, maybe they will print it.

+1. You forgot to mention the tyres that puncture like a knife through butter and the plastic webbing they use instead of rim tape which causes pinch punctures though. Never had so many punctures as the month I rode my 'stop gap unipack'.

I'm thinking of launching a 'unipack service pack', a bit like Microsoft do for Windows. It would include a new bottom bracket, a new chain and some rim tape and be very reasonably priced :)

To be fair, we could give Reen any old piece of shit and he'd be fast on it.
...

^giggles

how about a two weeks old giant omnium or 'dem planetX carbon jobbies, ridden a day or so?

on a side note, i see from the pix, whot gave me grief has been changed on them bikes, so i guess if you have a daily mileage of about 5 you'd be happy on them, have the wheels retensioned/trued and they may last a few years.

in regards to my mod list in the other thread, i now haz nu' wheelz fo' spinnin' bro! fo'spinnin' faaast. but this was needed due to the idiotic believe that alloy nipples could do me wheels any good and would stand up to the daily 'jump over speed bumps rather than ride over them' plus ... well, a braking and swerving incident, subsequently ruining one rim. the hubs and rims wheren't that bad once fiddled with'em a little :) as for the rest of the bike right there really ...

I'm thinking of launching a 'unipack service pack', a bit like Microsoft do for Windows. It would include a new bottom bracket, a new chain and some rim tape and be very reasonably priced :)

yes that would have been a great offer (including ikea style, single use tools) to begin of last summer, now they stepped up their game and it's all build in already.

+1. You forgot to mention the tyres that puncture like a knife through butter and the plastic webbing they use instead of rim tape which causes pinch punctures though. Never had so many punctures as the month I rode my 'stop gap unipack'.

Oh, i didnt even attribute my punctures to that fact. But now in hindsight, youre right. I used to get a lot of pinch punctures and i thought it was just the road! Thanks for making the UniCrap even worse in my eyes;-)

I ended up replacing the rim lining and the tubes are rubbish too!

Sadly, cause of this experience, i dont like riding bikes that even Look like a create in case ppl assume it is! Ruins a lot of bikes for me.

jeebus christ, punctures ruined it?!

im confused now, shit as they come but good if you sort the wheels out ?????

...and the rest.

im confused now, shit as they come but good if you sort the wheels out ?????

The general advice is to avoid - reports from forum members complain about poor quality of components and build. You can put something together yourself for about the same money or a little more.

On the other hand, if you're only cycling 5 miles once a month on a Sunday afternoon, it'd probably be just fine.

So buy cheap bike, spend extra cash just to make it rideable? Sounds silly. Even though I have just done exactly the same thing. I am hoping the fuji is slightly better quality though.

Having said that, it sounds like a challenge. I'd almost want to ride one and see how long it lasts before it dies.

As long as it's safe I don't have a problem. It's probably closer to what bikes should cost anyway.

Don't you get the same conundrum with most things though. E.g. i bought a Genesis Flyer in the summer but was umming and ahhring over the Willier Pista, it came down to the fact that pista was £300 more expensive. The sales pitch was pretty much "you could buy the Flyer, but you would have to spend at least £300 if not more to get it to the same spec as the Pista" This may be true, but if my budget only stretches to a Flyer, then that's all it stretches too.

I know what you mean. For me velox rim tape + conti tubes + maxxis refuse = heaven.

Oh, i didnt even attribute my punctures to that fact. But now in hindsight, youre right. I used to get a lot of pinch punctures and i thought it was just the road! Thanks for making the UniCrap even worse in my eyes;-)

I ended up replacing the rim lining and the tubes are rubbish too!

Sadly, cause of this experience, i dont like riding bikes that even Look like a create in case ppl assume it is! Ruins a lot of bikes for me.

jeebus christ, punctures ruined it?!

right reason i asked was im on a super tight budget and so is my mate, i really want the mongoose but i cant justify the extra 150 and itd be a cheap way of having a bike to just ride round on and then swop the rims over to an old racer frame to make a polo bike
my mates in the same position aswell, just to get some ok wheels, tyres tubes, cog, chain is almost the price of a whole bike
we were thinking get a pair of creates with some extra cash off for buying 2, then strip them from the off n sort them, hes bmw head spanner n shit hot on mtbs
worth it or still a waste of time
has anyone got one of the new ones n not had any problems or are they just the same unipacks with more spokes??

the general notion is that if the Unipack is put together properly (greasing it up properly, tighten bolts etc.) it should be ridable.

nearly all the Unipack we seen are usually sold from market by people who only put legos together in their life.

hes bmw head spanner n shit hot on mtbs

haha cool, i wish i was bmw head spanner.

Your plans sound ok, people have stripped unipak bikes, and sold the frames on ebay for a lot of money relative to the price of the complete bike - so you could even get some back that way.

im tempted cos he can sort them n tru the rims up and i can just swop the wheels between bikes
n just use this as a general get fit/ piss about/ beater bike, and then by my 30th ill be a bit fitter n hopefully a lot lighter n get her to buy me something better :D

even 200 or less for one of them is stetching my budget atm :-(

To be honest, you can get a beater for less than half that.

A popular method is to find an old road bike that's nothing special (like a basic Peugeot for example) in your size, replace the back wheel with a new one (something like £75-90) or second hand off the forum (£20-50) and you should be ready to ride, especially since your mate can 'sort' out the beater properly, or even add a spacer on the original hubs to make it into a singlespeed, even cheaper at like £10-15.

the cheaper the better, look at car boot sales, ask relative/mate if they have any old road bike etc. maybe you might even find one for free.

an example of a bike that's pretty much completely original converted into a singlespeed;

it probably only cost him £30 to get that bike.

The reason the unipack appeal to you is because it's already a fully-build singlespeed bicycle and you didn't want to spend time 'building' up the bike, right?