Vilano Diverse 3.0 Performance Hybrid Road Bike 24 Speed Disc Brakes

My bike arrived on the first day of the delivery window. It was very well packaged. I assembled it without too much trouble. (The attached photo was taken after my assembly and included a cargo carrier I took off my old bike.) This morning, I took it to a pro shop in my area and had them do a safety check and adjustments as needed. There wasn’t too much that they needed to adjust. In fact, the front brakes were just about the only adjustment they made.I’m 6’2” and got the 57cm frame. It fits me perfectly. I have some issues with my neck, so I had the shop put a handle bar stem extension on it so that I can sit in a more upright position. The cables that came on the bike were plenty long enough to reach my higher handle bar.As soon as I got it from the shop, I took it on a 14 mile ride. I love the gear ratios on this bike. My previous bike was a comfort bike and it wasn’t great at climbing hills. It also wasn’t built for speed, so I was constantly outrunning the highest gear. On this bike, I was cruising comfortably with a gear or 2 left for when I really wanted to stretch it out. I also climbed a rather steep hill in lower gears with much less effort than my old bike.Quality bikes, especially large frames, are difficult to come by these days. I was pleased to be able to get a bike this good in this size at this price. I am also very pleased with the customer service at CyclingForLess. I reached out to them with a concern about pricing. They responded quickly, courteously and professionally. I couldn’t be happier with this experience, start to finish.I try to ride at least 8 to 10 miles on country roads everyday. I’m really looking forward to my rides on this bike!UPDATE #1 - On the first day riding on the rail trail, I was moving along at a pretty good clip. I hit some bumps where tree roots pushed up the asphalt. As a result, several spokes on the back wheel became loose. I took it back to the shop and the tech had it tightened up in no time. (I actually knocked the rear wheel out of true on my old bike the same way.) Another reviewer complained about loose spokes, I suspect something like this was to blame.I have five rides on it from 9 to 14 miles each, and I’m loving it more and more each time. On today’s ride, I tackled 3 hills. On 2 of them, I climbed much further than I ever have before. The bike is light enough and the great ratios are perfect for climbing comfortably. I will continue to update my review in the weeks and months ahead. I highly recommend this bike for a quality bike on a budget!UPDATE #2I've now ridden 350 miles on this bike. Still loving it completely. Since my original review, I had it back at the shop to have the rear spokes tightened again. The tech said this is not unusual and part of normal break-in. It's due for a break-in period tune up. The shifters and brakes need to be adjusted. This is normal as the cables stretch as the bike breaks-in. I've also noticed that a couple spokes on the front wheel will need to be tightened.I've done some longer (for me) rides of 20 and 24 miles on various terrains. This bike handles them well. On one route, the map claimed the entire path was paved, but about 4 miles were actually gravel. This is not a bike for gravel roads, but the bike held up just fine mechanically speaking. On the same ride, I climbed the highest hill I've ever ridden. The bike made relatively easy work of it. I continue to highly recommend this bike!UPDATE #3I now have nearly 800 miles on this bike. Continue to love it! Great purchase. Easily rivals bikes costing 2x as much. Highly recommend!Update #4I thought I'd come back and give one last update. I have 1080 miles on this bike. I couldn't be happier. It's lightweight and solid. The disc brakes are great. I enjoy riding it. As I said in my original review, I'm grateful to get a bike this good at this price in this size. I highly recommend getting a bike shop to check your assembly - or even do the assembly. It's also important to take it back in a few times as you break it in. This is true of all bikes. So plan another $100 or so. Even at that, this bike is a bargain. And you should be getting the check-ups done on more expensive bikes, anyway. Completely pleased with this bike!FINAL UPDATE:Earlier this summer, my local bike shop had a Trek Verve 2 in stock. That bike is nearly 2x the price of this bike. I purchased that bike and have been riding it ever since. This bike is my back-up. Comparing the 2, I would say that the Trek has a slightly better build quality, but the Vilano is fine. The biggest difference for me is that the Trek fits mmey better. The Vilano feels small by comparison, yet they are both XL frames. In this price range, I'd buy the Vilano again. For not a lot more money, you could get the Trek. Depending on your body size and riding style, you may prefer one over the other. Both are a good buy!

Upon unpacking the box I noticed the back derailleur was badly bent / twisted to the side! The outside of the box looked fine so this tell me that the bike was probably packed damaged and not fully inspected before shipment!!!Update 9-21-2023:Seller contacted me and offer to send me the replacement parts to correct the issue.

This review is what’s known as a crap sammich. Yummy bread slices on either side of not so tasty filling.The good – When needed, Vilano Support was present. An English speaking human answered the phone on my first call and subsequent email communications to discuss manufacturer’s defect were both frequent and timely ultimately resulting in correction of the defect.The bad – That I needed to contact Vilano Support to repair a “New Factory Direct” bicycle out of the box before I could ride it and that I needed to convince them (difficult via email) that I knew what I was doing re: bike assembly and tuning before they’d ship a replacement part. This bike shipped with a bent crankset. The front gears were slightly bent but badly enough to cause the chain to rub on the front derailleur when the pedal was either at the Noon or 6 O’clock positions. The damage didn’t happen in shipping because the box it came in was in great shape and not dented in any way.Be prepared to receive some pushback from Vilano Support should you need to claim a defect for warranty repair and you’re not a Local Bike Shop. While they won’t NOT talk to you directly they definitely prefer communications be with an LBS. The direct email quote from them: “Our technician is out of the office today but we'll be reviewing your photos with him tomorrow morning. In the meantime we would love to speak with the bike shop that assembled your new factory direct bike, if you could pass along their contact information we would be happy to give them a call.”Since, as previously explained to them in my initial phone call, an LBS was not an option for me due to distance and cost and that I was imminently qualified to do it myself, I asked if assembling the bike on my own has voided the warranty. They replied, “Improper assembly will void your warranty but we're more than happy to work with you or a shop. From your pictures we can see the derailleur is touching the chain but we're not able to determine the cause. Its possible a complete tune will solve the issue or its also possible there's a defect. It will require a little more troubleshooting. Normally we'd suggest heading to your local bike shop but as yours is 45 minutes away I'm going to provide some information from Park Tools on tuning and adjusting everything that's relevant to your gears. If you or the shop has gone over the bike and determined you're unable to tune it we can get a replacement sprocket sent out.” I managed to convince them I knew what I was doing (after threatening to just ship the whole bike back out of frustration) and they shipped a replacement crankset which arrived quickly and in good shape.The other side of this sammich: The bicycle, once the defect was corrected, is what I hoped it would be - a very decent 300 dollar hybrid bike. Once the replacement crankset was installed and I could tune the bike properly I gave it a 20 mile test ride and was happy with the finished product.I bike a LOT and have put 10s of thousands of miles on various bikes over the years and the Vilano rides as well, if not better than, any other bike I’ve owned in the same price range. Granted, the shifting, weight and speed of it does not compare to my carbon Trek Domane but if the Domane could handle my rural roads I wouldn’t have needed the Vilano. Unfortunately, my county’s Department of Transportation has been repaving my previously smooth country roads with fine gravel that eats the Trek’s Gator Skins for breakfast, so I needed a hybrid bike capable of riding on fine gravel but not necessarily full blown Mountain Bike terrain. As I hoped, based on the positive reviews here, the Diverse 3.0 fits that bill nicely. It’s also a very sharp looking bike. Placed side by side, to an untrained eye the Domane and Diverse look very similar.Overall I’m satisfied with my purchase and would recommend it as long as you understand you’ll either need to be proficient at bike assembly and tuning or willing to pay an LBS to assemble it for you (in my case, that would have been 89.95 for LBS labor and a 1.5 hour trip).Edit: 2 months and 845 miles later and I'm still pleased. There have been a few times when I had more available energy to pedal than the bike could take but overall the bike has managed to keep up with me. The screen shot is from this morning's ride and for a "non-professional" 220 lb rider on a relatively heavy hybrid bike, max speed pushing 27 mph with no downhill component and no wind at my back is all I could ask from it. Well worth the money spent.

You will need to get it tuned. Both the brakes and the gears. Says they are factory adjusted but not really.