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Mason bikes as good as we are told?

by steady lad
Tue, Jan 17, 2017 21:44
35

Hopefully somebody who has a Mason bike will be able to say whether they are as exceptional as the reviews suggest.

 

The situation is that I like them and would buy one if it weren't for the fact that we have a cycle to work scheme with Evans cycles that due to my tax circumstances amounts to a discount of around £650 and on top of that we have a discount scheme which would get me a further 10% off the balance at Evans.  So I'm finding it hard to justify not going to Evans which is pushing me to a Specialized Roubaix or a BMC Road Machine or a Trek Domane.

 

This would make a Mason bike relatively even more expensive for me so I can't decide if they are sufficiently better than the Evans options to justify foregoing the savings.  Can anybody offer an opinion?

 

Cheers

 

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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35 comments

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Swiss | 8 years ago
1 like

I was in a similar situation as work's scheme was with halfords. EXTRA discount on top of promotional prices made going elsewhere seem silly. The three bike s you listed are all sound, I like the bmc it's a nice looking bike. Spend time on a good fit and tyres and you'll be right on any.

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drosco | 8 years ago
1 like

I agree with the above after having ridden many bikes. My favourite was a £500 bike with 105 group which I owned for 10 years before it got written off. I upgraded bits of it over time to make it right for me. There was nothing special about the frame or materials, it was the geometry and tweaks that made it a great bike.

Saying that, never ridden a Mason, so what do I know?

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madcarew | 8 years ago
3 likes

They're only as good as their marketing. A bike is made up of 3 things. A frame, a groupset, wheels. 

They use standard groupsets, so your gears / brakes etc will work (generally) as well as any other bike with that groupset. 

The frames are Alu or titanium using Deda carbon forks. Masons haven't been around a very long time, and as few bikes from these materials fail in short order nowadays, then reliability is hard to determine. So far as performance goes, there is almost nothing they can do to make them as comfortable to ride as a carbon frame, however, if their design and manufacturing is top notch, they will still be very comfortable and pleasant to ride. 

Their main 'point of difference' is that they are designed for 'all kinds of roads' and can accomodate up to 40mm tyres. Be definition they are trying to cover a lot of ground ( 3 ) and so their performance and handling is going to be compromised to some extent compared to the best in any particular niche they are being compared against. 

Their wheels are by Hunt wheels and so will perform as well as any other bike with hunt wheels.

Bike manufacturing is such nowadays that there are very few lemons out there once you are paying reasonable money. Personally I feel that anything north of 2 grand is ego money, or for those after the last tiny percent of performance in their particular area (personally I ride a Cannondale Supersix retail 5 grand, but I race it well and often).

Don't kill yourself to get a Mason because it says it's brilliant, because it won't be any better than any other bike of similar cost. However, I love my cannondale, and have ridden scotts, specializeds, Avantis, hand built italian jobs and all sorts of other brands, and the only one I've ever loved is the Cracknfail. For everything else you need Mastercard.

Avatar
Scrapples replied to madcarew | 8 years ago
2 likes
madcarew wrote:

They're only as good as their marketing. A bike is made up of 3 things. A frame, a groupset, wheels. 

They use standard groupsets, so your gears / brakes etc will work (generally) as well as any other bike with that groupset. 

The frames are Alu or titanium using Deda carbon forks. Masons haven't been around a very long time, and as few bikes from these materials fail in short order nowadays, then reliability is hard to determine. So far as performance goes, there is almost nothing they can do to make them as comfortable to ride as a carbon frame, however, if their design and manufacturing is top notch, they will still be very comfortable and pleasant to ride. 

Their main 'point of difference' is that they are designed for 'all kinds of roads' and can accomodate up to 40mm tyres. Be definition they are trying to cover a lot of ground ( 3 ) and so their performance and handling is going to be compromised to some extent compared to the best in any particular niche they are being compared against. 

Their wheels are by Hunt wheels and so will perform as well as any other bike with hunt wheels.

Bike manufacturing is such nowadays that there are very few lemons out there once you are paying reasonable money. Personally I feel that anything north of 2 grand is ego money, or for those after the last tiny percent of performance in their particular area (personally I ride a Cannondale Supersix retail 5 grand, but I race it well and often).

Don't kill yourself to get a Mason because it says it's brilliant, because it won't be any better than any other bike of similar cost. However, I love my cannondale, and have ridden scotts, specializeds, Avantis, hand built italian jobs and all sorts of other brands, and the only one I've ever loved is the Cracknfail. For everything else you need Mastercard.

You forgot about the ones made from steel, which will probably still be around when the carbon ones have all crumbled into dust.
Look, we all but bikes for different reasons, you could have the same argument for and against most bikes. I bought one after smashing my Kinesis up and it's perfect for my winter bike.
To be honest though if I had the offers you have at Evans I would get something from there with a great groupset then maybe get a Mason frame next year.

Avatar
Jimthebikeguy.com | 8 years ago
3 likes

They are certainly very good at marketing themselves; I would love a Bokeh, but the reality probably is that most of the bikes you mentioned above are perfect to own too.

Also bear in mind that no-one who owns a mason is going to tell you anything other than 'its brill'.

As a parallel, i went out and bought a GT Grade because about 2 yrs ago all the hype was on them. Last year i also bought a boardman for about 1/3rd of the price. They both ride the same.

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