One of our Dragon riders, George S. recently wrote a letter to Road Bike Action magazine; we're hoping the letter gets published because George really speaks to what Dragon is about: simplicity, durability, and fun all at a reasonable price. Bikes don't have to cost thousands of dollars to ride well and look awesome. Here's George's letter in full:
I'm a 62 year old recreational cyclist that does a 15 mile circuit 5 days a week and was riding an aluminum framed 10 gear gravel bike with hydraulic disc brakes that weighed about 26 lbs. for a couple of years and after reading your mag for a while decided to make the the switch to a carbon framed road bike. My old gravel bike I decided had become too heavy and the disc brakes, especially the front brake, were noisy. I mean it would screech for like no reason in the middle of a ride and the brakes were noisy under hard braking. I had the brakes looked at by a mechanic and he said he aligned them but they would probably get noisey again, nature of the beast he said. The bike I had before I bought the gravel one had rim brakes and had no such problems. Anyway, armed with a 3K budget I started shopping all of the big brands, Canyon, Trek, Ribble and others. I found I not only needed to increase my budget but my wait times went from 6 months to a full year to get a bike! Then I came across the website for Dragon Bicycles, a small independent manufacturer in Seattle. They only make one model called the Bahamut. It's a carbon framed bike equipped with SRAM rim brakes and a SRAM Apex 10 gear group set. I immediately fell in love, best of all was the price, under $2,000. A call to the factory put me in touch with the owner who gave me a week delivery time! Oh and no, I don't work for Dragon. My point is that I'd wish RBA would once in a while profile bikes like this because I'm sure there are readers out there like me who are looking for a road bike and who don't really need all the bells and whistles. By the way I've tested the rim brakes in both dry and wet conditions and the bike stops on a dime without any problems. I don't think I'll ever go back to disc brakes again. Thanks for a great magazine and keep the issues coming!
