Updated May 2020 and Sept 2020 at bottom
I recently decided to upgrade my daily commuter after five years to a Motobecane Century Ti Disc Force eTap 2x12. Here’s an early review for anyone else thinking about buying one. I basically wanted a nice all-around versatile bike for commuting, as well as occasional road or gravel rides.
It arrived a few days after I ordered it.
It was pretty easy to put together, at least if you know what you’re doing. I had to download the SRAM AXS app to set that up (and put it in “smart mode” where it automatically shifts the front for you).
Only issue during assembly was a sticker on the brake lever that wouldn’t come off nicely. Not a big deal, so whatever.
I didn’t bother putting the stock pedals on, so I can’t say anything to those, but I can say that I didn’t like the stock seat or handlebars. The seat was just uncomfortable, very hard with little give. The stock handlebars are too narrow diameter (or maybe it’s just the grip tape that’s too thin). In any case, I moved my Brooks Cambium saddle from my previous commuter over and I had other road bars laying around that I swapped over. Much better.
The stock seat post is also the annoying bolts-and-friction-curve system for adjusting tilt. I put a dropper on with the nicer two-opposing-bolts design.
The fenders are SKS Speedrockers. I’ve been riding on wet days and they seem to be working well.
After a couple days of riding the bottom bracket (I think) started creaking a lot. It was very annoying. Yesterday (after a few days) I pulled the rear wheel off to make sure the cassette and everything was properly on the bike. I didn’t find anything loose, but when I then rode the bike again the creak is gone. Yay! :)
I converted the tires to tubeless yesterday and that went smoothly. The bike came with the strips installed and valve cores on the side. The hardest part of the conversion was getting the tire (or one side of it) off and back on the rim. Then they seated around 40psi with a normal pump. I put them at 60psi last night and this morning when I checked they were only down to ~50psi.
I initially put the Wren rack I had on the fatbike on, and that worked fine, but I wanted to try the folding basket to carry my laptop holder and decided it was easier to swap the Bontrager rack from my previous bike than just the basket. I can report that it also fits happily, and doesn’t interfere with the dropper.
I like the bike. The eTap takes a bit of getting use to, especially timing your torque with the shift movement as you pedal, but after a week now I’ve gotten used to it. I’m excited about (hopefully) many years of perfectly aligned shifts. That was something my previous bike (running Shimano 105) did not provide and I had to do lots of “up two gears and down one” and the like. The SRAM Force hydro brakes are very strong too and it’s great.
I’m undecided about the dropper right now. I got it (a PNW Pine) because I wanted to make the bike as versatile as possible. So far for commuting I’ve found it’s easier to either track stand or get off the saddle at stops than to move my hands to put the seat down and bring it back up. If I ever tried to ride cyclocross I might want to use it, but it’s possible I’ll end up putting it on a different bike (it’s a 27.2 and externally routed, which means I can use a shim to put it on any 30.9 or 31.6 seat tube bike). We’ll see.
Since getting the bike my commutes and other rides have gotten a fair bit longer. It’s good.
Stay tuned for future updates.
Update May 2020:
Having had this bike for over six months now so I thought I would write an update.
Two main thoughts: It’s a good bike and SRAM’s AXS app is crap.
I’m still very happy I bought this bike. It’s just a good bike.
SRAM’s AXS app won’t work right anymore though. The main consequence is I’ve lost the ability to have the front chainring automatically shift. I can still tell the system if I want a long press to go 1, 2, 3, or all gears at once, it just won’t remember that I set it on auto front mode. Also the app won’t work if I say it can only access my location while the app is open, and the app doesn’t like it when I have poor signal on my phone (as in the case in my garage). It’s really obnoxious and hopefully SRAM will fix it at some point and offer an app that isn’t crap.
The wireless shifting is otherwise good. Very smooth and precise. It’s totally spoiled me in terms of smoothness.
I still have the dropper on it but eventually I’m going to take it off and put it on a different bike. I just keep forgetting. I’ve used it once or twice in the last months. If I was going to try riding the bike on MTB trails the dropper would probably be good, but that’s the only case I see a desire for it.
Late Sept 2020 Update:
I’ve replaced the stock Rambler tires after some ongoing problems. Sometime in the spring I got a puncture on rear Rambler tire. It sealed itself up at the time with some air added (which was very nice), but then the seal never totally held. I added more sealant several times and tried a plug as well, but then after a week or two seal would break while riding and/or inflating the tire.
After some research and a friend’s advice I’m now running Teravail Ramparts on the bike instead (same 38mm width). These are a more road focused tire since I mostly use the bike for commuting.
I’ve had them on for about a month now and haven’t had any problems. It was a tight fit getting them on the rim, but once I got them on they sealed up fine. I like them.
Edit Mid July ‘21:
This is a great bike. I like this bike.
