I have been riding MTB's for about 20 years. My wife recently showed interest in starting to ride, so I decided to by a quality, entry level bike for her to get started on. I am familiar with the Royce Union name. The company has been around since the early 1900's, but like everyone else, they have moved most of their manufacturing overseas. Not a bad thing...just sad that there are very few fully American made bikes anymore...unless you want to pay thousands to get one. And even with that, most of the components are still made in China. But I digress. This Royce Union MTB is a quality bike for the price. Many want to try to compare it to cheap, big box store bikes. It is unfair because this bike is MUCH nicer than almost all of those. Here are some pros and cons. Please keep in mind that these are simply my opinions. Hopefully you find them helpful. The pros. 1. The bike comes with everything you need to assemble it in the box (more about that later). If you can assemble an office chair, you can assemble this bike. It is very straight forward. 2. The frame is 6061 aluminum...not steel. This reduces weight, while remaining a very strong foundation for the rider. It also gives you a nice platform to upgrade on if you choose to. The powder blue and clear coat finish is really nice. The welds are clean, and the decals and logo really pop, and are applied nice and straight. 3. The drivetrain is a 21 speed Shimano Tourney with the EZ fire trigger shifter/Brake lever combos. This is a nice upgrade from twists shifters found on cheaper bikes, as they offer more precise shifting. They also have windows on the shifters that show you what chain ring you are on on the crank, and what gear you are in. Right hand shifts gears, left hand changes the chain position on the crank. 4. The caliper brakes are easy to setup and adjust. 5. It comes with a nice set of knobby trail tires. 6. The rims are painted aluminum with unpainted sides for better braking. 7. The saddle is well padded and comfortable. 8. The front suspension fork is more than sufficient for light trail riding, or tackling the urban sidewalks, streets and paved trails. Now for the cons. 1. Although the box the bike was shipped in was in good condition, and the bike inside arrived pretty much unscathed, several pieces of hardware had fallen out of the parts box and were just rattling around inside the larger box. This included the plug for the handlebars, the friction mounts for the saddle, the bolt for the saddle, and one of the nuts for the saddle bolt. The problem here is 2 fold. First of all, either of those parts missing would have made the bike unrideable unless you made a trip to the bike shop or hardware store to get a replacement. Not cool. Second, these parts rattling around could have damaged that paint and finish on the bike. Other reviews have also complained about the packaging. Royce Union REALLY needs to address this with the manufacturer. 2. The front rim was noticeably warped. This probably happened during shipping. The warped spot causes the brakes to rub against the rim in that one spot, and you cannot adjust it out. 3. The bike needs a complete tune up to fix some minor shifting bugs. It shifts up from gears 1-7 fine, but it skips gears on the way back down. My local bike shop should be able to fix that easily enough, along with hopefully being able to true the bent rim. These are minor things, but it just sucks that I am going to have to pay around $65.00 to fix these issues on top of what I just paid for a brand new bike. But I usually take my bike to the shop annually for a tune up anyway. I just chalk that up to the cost of the hobby, and owning, riding and maintaining quality bikes. Wrapping this up...Given all of the pros and cons, do I think that bike is worth the price and would I buy it again? Absolutely. This is a vey nice bike for the money. Quality of build, component grupo, the saddle, tires, and ease of assembly make this bike a great value. As for buying it again...I just ordered one for my daughter, because she liked the one I bought for my wife so much. So there ya go! Hope this helps, especially if you were on the fence about this bike. My recommendation...don't be. Buy with confidence that it is a really nice bike for the money.

We bought 4 of these for a charity event and, while they ARE actual bikes, they also ARE exactly what you should expect at this price point. Our expectations were initially pretty high but, the further wee got into the assembly, the better grounded in reality we became.

Paint quality is great. Hardware is average. One of the four came with a flat tube and another bike came with two. With some fine tuning, brakes and shifters started working better. If you're not a "bike person", plan to take your assembled machine to one so they can help you sort it out. Paying a reputable shop to assemble and set up might be a good idea for the average yokel.

The only issue I can see at this moment is that their is no kick stand for this rather pricie bicycle. Even the less expensive bikes come with a kickstand just out of convenience or upkeep.

La bicicleta es hermosa, su sistema de cambios y freno de excelente marca. El único detalle por lo que no doy puntuación máxima es que compré una bicicleta con un frame tamaño 15 pero llegó 17. Ese tamaño para mí no fue funcional porque resultó muy grande. Finalmente y por no devolverla se la vendí a mi vecina, ella está super contenta.

Smooth ride, very comfortable. Would have given it 5 stars overall if it had a kickstand. That's not the sort of thing I expect to buy separately.