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    NEW Decathlon Riverside GCR gravel bike is consumer-direct with an in-store price. What gives?



    The Decathlon Riverside GCR is a good gravel bike with quality parts – but it needs an identity or a better price for the US market.

    Decathlon is a French sporting goods chain — Americans, think REI meets Dick’s Sporting Goods. I think of Decathlon as a place I bought CO2 cartridges and an inner tube in Lille before doing the Paris-Roubaix sportif. Not a high-end bike shop but a general sports store.

    In North America, you can buy their bikes direct or through Amazon or Walmart. They had a San Francisco store for a year or two but closed it down.

    Most of Decathlon’s bikes – like those at Dick’s – are a few hundred dollars up to a little over a thousand dollars. This Riverside GCR is $6,000 with SRAM Force, carbon Reynolds wheels and Hutchinson Touareg tires.

    The geometry is competitive gravel, the frame looks good and the aluminum bar, stem and seatpost are straightforward and easy to adjust or swap out.

    The bike is quick and comfortable to ride, and aside from a minor compatibility complaint and a blinky shifter – I have no issue with the bike itself.

    My question, though, is who in the US will buy this bike consumer-direct at $6000? For less than that price you could get a similar spec’ed Canyon Grizl or a Fezzari Pro XPLR, both consumer direct. And for that price you could get a Trek Checkpoint SL 7 AXS for $5999 with Force, carbon wheels, internal storage, IsoSpeed.

    I’m kinda stumped, honestly.

    In this video I’ll tell you about how it rides, the two problems I had with it, what I like about it, and my suggestion on what Decathlon should do going forward with the Riverside GCR.

    —
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    View 45 Comments

    45 Comments

    2. BikeNLiftDad on

      My s-works crux had a bad sram red explr derailuer. Send videos and pictures to sram, on the phone with them as well. It kept rejecting my easy shifts, then would automatically shift it back down. No one could figure it out. Sram sent out a new derailuer. Great customer service!

    4. thrawed on

      They had a limited run of a titanium gravel bike a few years ago that was a stellar deal. Usually their stuff is very competitively priced, both high and low end.

    5. bikey on

      Canyon's customer support is spot on. One call, they authorize you enough money to get any issues sorted out at any bike shop. Easier to deal with than Giant where you have to talk to the dealer, the dealer talks to Giant, miscommunication, Giant customer support sucks, and when the dealer gets back to you. You wasted 2 weeks to hear a "No".

    7. FuriousFilipino on

      No more Decathlon retailers in the USA. One warehouse is still in Oakland, just had a close out sale recently.

      Retail pricing, premium pricing at that, means matching service. There is really nothing special about their bikes beside the value proposition, even then, at full retail, they were just marginally better in value (Triban RC120 vs. Giant Contend AR). If you are not mechanically inclined then the price difference is just about wiped out by a visit to a local bike shop.

    8. Neil Johnson on

      This seems like an absolutely terrible deal. Not even carbon seat post or bars for $6K? You can not only get Canyon and many shop bikes for less but you can get a 17+lb Red equipped Lauf for less than that if sticking with DTC.

    9. Shyam’s Footprints on

      obviously they used the wrong currency. Since it is presumably made in China, it was supposed to be priced at 6,000 yuan but a “genius” in marketing at Decathlon USA decide not to convert to US$ and instead just put a $ prefix.

    11. cdeluise on

      I agree with your conclusion. If it was considerably less we may be interested. My Crux Pro was too expensive but, I love it. With pedals 16lbs on the dot. Living in the mountains low weight helps!

    13. Luke Richardson on

      Decathlon still has a bunch of stores in Canada. The prices in Canada aren't as good as they are here in China, but they're still respectably low, definitely lower than the big brands.

    15. Thomas Elble on

      Im really surprised about the price in USA..6K..🤔. Im living in Germany I can get the bike from Decathlon webshop wiith identical spec for 3.999€ which is about 4.200 USD. Im I think the 6K are wrong

    18. Rob Grndrth on

      Awesome bike for Decathlon but not for the price it’s sold in the US. Over here in Europe this particular model is sold for 3.999€ (little over 4.000$) and there’s even an Aluminium wheelset one with Rival AXS for 2.999€. At this price point it’s worth a thought despite my fear that a decathlon dealer isn’t used to maintain or do warranty repairs on a 3000+ € bike when
      most of their bikes are sub 1.000€. It’s one of these bikes back in the days you bought for their parts and sold the frame to use another one from a premium brand which complete bikes you couldn’t afford 😅

    19. Giulio Loforese on

      So in US it sounds like a bad deal . But hear me out, in Switzerland i can get if for 4000 euro ( italy 3900 euro), get it from the Physical shop. If I have any issue or I don't like how the bike ride i can bring it back (no questions asked) to the shop and get a full re fund (20minutes from home, good luck with Canyon rose etc etc , you need to pack ship and blah blah blah). At 4k to me its much a better deal that any oder brand. Sram force gruop and wheelset are already around 2.5k value add 500chf to cover for discs , tyres , saddle ,seat post and bar and you are at 3k. So i estimate paying the frame around 1k … pretty cheap. That said therre are really few reviews out there and would be great to understand well how it rides. Man i love your channel usually but this review was everything but not a review. You gave so few info about ride quality, feelings and frame impressions / value. Please share more 🙏.

    20. eagerbob on

      Where I am (The Netherlands) the Riverside GCR is €3.019,99. That is with sram Rival and Fulcrum wheels. With SRAM FORCE XPLR AXS and REYNOLDS ATR 700 wheels it is €4029. Still expensive for a Decathlon, but better than $6000 US.

    22. Horstelin on

      Bike prices in the states seem to be totally crazy. You can get this Frame with Sram Rival and Aluminum wheels for 3000€. Still very steep but much more affordable.

    23. TheDudeInTheRedHotHatch on

      Decathlon is entering the World Tour peloton next season (AG2R team bike). They are aiming at mid to high range market with their Van Rysel brand and they probably want to enter that segment in the gravel scene as well, given it is taking off massively in Europe now. Would I buy it? Meh, maybe if I had a Decathlon near my place and no bike shop, but given that is not the case and I have a bike shop 150m from my door and the nearest Decathlon is 20km away…I'll stick to the bike shop (Ridley and Trek available there).

    27. yeti575lt on

      In Spain is just 3.999€ and the model with Rival 2.799€. To me was the opposite when wanted to get a Sage or a Litespeed… We’re global but just sometimes

    34. Lazlo on

      Lovely machine but unfortunately you guys in thr YS will of course have to fork out a premium if you want something a little different than the usual Trek or whatever options.

    37. KO L on

      Decathlon as a brand imo has zero credibility in comparison to other mainstream bike brands that have a history and have been producing bikes for years. This price is a joke and I suspect (could be wrong) that the frame set is made in China. I went to decathlon recently and most of the products I looked at were cheap tat made in China. Fine if it’s cheap but this bike is not. Also there is ethics to consider. Human, environmental and otherwise.

    38. Thierry ATTIAS -SAN FRANCISCO- on

      @ridewithBenDelaney Thank you for detailed review – A couple of data points on Decathlon and the GCR. Decathlon's goal has been to make sports available to everyone, hence the previous relationship with Walmart – we know it is not profitable for a bike shop to sell a $300 bike once you include, shipping, build time, sales time and after sales service so we have made some models of our entry price point bikes available through mass merchants such at Walmart. The GCR is one of two types of gravel bikes we make. The other is a more do-all explore version made of Titanium. The price point on the GCR Force AXS is $5,699 .. not quite 6K. We also make the identical version with Sram Rival AXS and aluminum wheels for $4,000.00. Starting in 2024 Decathlon will shift it's focus to more premium bikes in the US market sold through IBD's. The GCR both Force and AXS are both slated for IBD distribution – I hope that helps offer some context.

    42. Zsolt Csapó on

      Have it since a couple of months. No problems at all.
      Picked up the Rival version for 2500€, astronomical value for money! Indeed, just ordered another one for my SO.

      I’m sad that the video came out like so, as this was the first covarage of it by a major source. The bike is great, the pricing is very competitive in the EU, I’m sorry for the US riders. Obviously noone is going to pick this one over a Checkpoint, I wouldn’t either.

    45. Paganiproductions on

      I have been in the Local Decathlon store in the Netherlands they have mostly's bikes upto 1000 euro in the store but you need to order it to get the higher end bikes they have ok spec for the money similar to what Canyon used to have.

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