Firefox Axxis (2009) Review

I guess it's been a while now and so I figured a review is probably due.

Here's the post I made in my epic thread titled "Aalaap's big bike search" .. heh.

"aalaap" wrote:

I bought the Firefo Axxis.



Rs. 7,062 exact. Rode it all the way home from the Malad bike station to Mahim.

Hardtail (front shocks). Standard, powder-coated 18-inch frame. VERY light. No gears. Alloy rims, steel spokes and hub. V-type brakes. Easily detachable front tyres. Easy seat height adjustment. Great looking. Great name.

Add-ons in the next few days or so:

- Bottle holder

- 21-speeder Shimanos. If I go for Revo Shift, it'll cost me around 1,800 bucks. If I go for Rapid Fire shifters, around Rs. 2,000. I think I'll take the rapid fires...

- Helmet - a standard Kamachi from Metro for Rs. 250 or so.

- Mud guards would be a good idea...

Some more details on my blog.

THE END

* credits roll *

Ride

Very, very comfortable and smooth to ride. Makes NO noise at all. It's like I'm riding on smooth tarmac. And when I actually get on smooth tarmac, I don't feel like I'm on the ground at all!

The front suspension is very basic, cheap stuff that you'll probably find in some local, under 5k bikes. It does kick in when riding over potholes, but otherwise, on non-potholed roads, it's fairly hard, and so it doesn't have a negative effect on pedalling efficiency. I think that's a good thing.

The seat is a bit hard, but I'm going to put a Velo GelTec cover on it and see if that makes it any better.

The grip isn't uncomfortable, but a slightly thicker, softer rubber cover might help. I do think the grip is a bit too thin for me, so an added cover is really going to help me.

Components

From what I see, the bike has very standard components that you'll find in a normal and/or cheapo bike. The downside is that they'll give way sooner than the good quality stuff, but on the other hand, they are cheap and easily replaceable. Another upside to standard, cheapo components is that you won't have a problem letting your local cycle shop repair guy tinker around with it. They're used to working with that kinda stuff. I would have hated to take a Trek or a Merida to the local shop!!

On one of the RTWs (I suppose it was the second one), I was noticeably slow on our way to town from shivaji park. The reason was that my front brakes were rubbing against the rim even when I wasn't braking. We (Kunal, R K) tried fixing it with toolkits, but we only made it worse and I rode back with a barely working front brake. I was dead slow on the way back, so it was okay. I took it to the local cycle guy (Sardar) and he fixed it up in 10 minutes for 10 bucks. lol. No problems since.

After-market components and Accessories

I had planned to put gears on this, inspite of Dipak (of Gear) advising against it. But after giving it more thought, and more importantly, after riding it for a longer amount of time, I have a feeling that I don't need gears at all. I hadn't seriously ridden a bike for almost a decade till I bought this one, so I was naturally feeling left behind. But I guess I'm slowly regaining the stamina every time I ride, so even light slopes such as flyovers seem pretty trivial now. So I don't think I want to put gears. Besides, even if I do, that'll end up streching the seat stay to accomodate for the rear gears, and that's gonna screw up the frame, which is what everyone is saying. Fair. No gears.

But you can put gears if you want. Around 1500-1800 for 21s.

Style

The Axxis is a REALLY good looking bike. I finalized on buying it the day I actually saw it on front of me. I already liked it in the pictures, but when I saw it, I had to have it. And that's why I bought it.

The bike has a perfect balance of black and silver colors. It's got some great tribal-ish vinyl-ish sticker on the frame with a fantastic looking "Firefox" and "Axxis" logos in a very good looking font.

This bike looks so good, almost everyone stares at it when I ride by. One guy on a motorcycle in my area slowed down while next to me and was staring at it. I told him its a Firefox Axxis and asked him to check out firefoxbikes.com. He asked me where I got it from. I said Malad. Then he said it's a cool bike and sped away. And I was smiling!

Customer Service

Don't ever go to the Malad shop. The guy out there is a total ass. Go to Nerul or Thane. Much nicer people.

However, you don't always need to go to the Firefox Station for everything. Like I said before, the local guy can take care of everything for you, and he won't mess anything up, since the components are pretty standard on this one.

Conclusion

So the bike has standard, cheap components, but the ride quality is excellent and the style factor is way up there. For Rs. 7,062, this may not be the best quality bike you can buy (surely not), but it IS definitely the best looking bike you can find!

I may add more to this review as and when I remember stuff.

Bought the Firefox Axxis on March 13, 2009 around 6pm from the Firefox Station in Malad. Paid Rs. 7,062 by credit card (so 2.5% got added).