Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

I bought the 58cm Podium Sport for myself as an upgrade over my initial lower-end road bike. I had looked at tons of bike shops in my area at brands such as Trek, Giant, Felt, and Specialized. The $750-850 bikes in those brands had Sora or lower groups and weighed a ton. I was not impressed with the value for the money ratio, so I went with the DB Podium Sport with the solid Shimano 105 set up. I couldn't be happier. This bike is fast and the Shimano components are solid as a rock. This bike looks great too. Very clean welds and graphics. I did have to put a shorter stem on it and a more comfortable saddle, but I love this bike. I can see this being my go-to ride for years to come. Just buy it!

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

I have been ridding mountain bikes a lot since 2008. I rode about 600 miles since I bought my first mountain bike in two weeks. The most fantastic trip I had made is a bike trip to Tibet. It took me 27 days to ride about 1500 miles and went across 12 mountain passes at altitude more than 13000 feet, and 2 of them are more than 16000 feet.

After come to the U.S. for half a year and the weather in Boston is getting warmer, I could not wait to buy this road bike.I found the bike components in the U.S. are about 20% more expensive than them in China. But this bike has very good value and nice looking. I have a lot of experience at fixing bikes and it took me an hour to assemble. But I think it would take much more time for fishes to do it. It also took me a couple of days to upgrade and adjust.

The 105 parts are good. But the problem is the best parts of 105 are cranks and brakes. This bike has neither of them. The R540 brakes are ligter but not strong enough for braking and the hand feeling is not good.So I upgrade it to 105 5700 brakes. I bought size 56cm and the cranks is not 175mm but 172.5. They are usually 172.5 for 56cm and I feel it is OK to use. The cranks are Ok to use, but much heavier than the 105 cranks. The saddle is not comfortable and I bought another one. I highly recommend to buy this bike, but you need to upgrade brakes, saddle at least. I recommend to also upgrade the pedals. Another thing is I do not like the white spokes. And 20 pounds is not very light for 105 parts. I think it is because the cranks and wheels. It is easy to upgrade the wheels and lose weight.

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

So I might not be the best person to write a review for a road bike, but I'll describe where I'm coming from so you can judge for yourself whether or not my point of view is helpful to you.

My last road bike was a 10-speed roughly 30 years ago when I would pack up with camping gear and go for days at a time. In the past 7 years I've gotten back into the sport and have been riding a Diamondback Edgewood hybrid as my kids have grown and started riding. That is also a great utilitarian bike but now that I've been taking longer and longer solo rides for fitness and conditioning, I just got a bit tired of feeling like an inefficient windsock and wished I could cover more miles in the time I have available.

I spent ~8 months researching road bikes (I was in no hurry.) I visited local bike shops, researched online, and asked many, many people what I should look for in a road bike. I tend toward performance gear in other sports (Kevlar kayaks, etc.) so I didn't want to buy something too cheap that I'd quickly regret and/or outgrow nor did I want to drop a ton of cash to buy a top-of-the line, full-carbon bike when I have no intention of racing or competing with but I do want to join on group rides and be as efficient as possible (within budget.)

I had come to terms with the fact that I would probably have to drop $1-$1.3K for the right bike so I put the decision on hold because that just seemed like a serious amount of cash for what is, afterall, just a bicycle.

But then I found this bike on sale at Jenson, did a little more quick homework, and 10 days later it was on my doorstep.

I've got a couple hundred miles on it now and I love it! I didn't even try the original seat based on others' reviews (and the reality of how painful it looked when it came out of the box.) I used the original seat from the Edgewood that I replaced when it was new and the combo works great. Others might laugh at me when they see the seat but I'm the kind who will just grin and laugh back.

Like I said, I haven't really tinkered with bikes in over 25 years but assembling this out of the box was straight forward. Add the front wheel, mount the brakes, put in the seat, clamp on the handle bars, and that was about it. Sure, I took some tools with me on my first few rides to make adjustments...but there weren't any other than seat position.

This bike turns out to be more bike than I thought I could afford. Great component package for the price, looks awesome, feels great. Gears were fine out of the box without adjustment (once I learned how to use these darned modern shifters and also learned there is a 'halfway' click for the front sprocket.) I had a Podium 3 in my cart for quite a while at sumotherzon online retailer just waiting for the price to drop, but then this Podium Sport came along and my decision was rather quick and easy at that point.

My rides are now longer, faster, and more efficient and I find I'm getting back into the sport more and more. And that's just on my lunch hour and weekends. I can't wait for ~good~ weather and longer days to really get out there and enjoy this ride.

Oh, and it comes with peddles that have toe clips. I immediately replaced those with $12 cheapies without clips. They'll be good enough for me until I get comfortable with this new-fangled bike technology and I figure by then I'll have talked with enough people and gotten enough opinions to know what peddles and shoes to buy.

I did a ton of research and don't think there is anything comparable for less than about $1200.

I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. No regrets.

If you are a performance athlete I have a hunch you'll find faults with this bike and be put off by the name on it. If you are not a performance athlete, this bike will make you feel and look like one.

I hope this review helps you.

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

I bought this based on the excellent choice of components (105 drivetrain) for the price, and other reviews posted here. Bike was in great shape when received, however the seat clamp broke as soon as I tried to tighten it. JensonUSA sent a replacement within a week. (Great service.)

I replaced the seat before I even road it. (see other reviews.)

One of the pedals had a tight bearing (outside nut was too tight), but I had already bought replacement pedals, so I installed those.

Brakes take a little more effort than my other road bike (Trek Pilot 1.0)

No adjustments to the drive train were necessary for smooth shifting.

Overall great value.

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

great components for a great price. I love the way it looks and handles. Seat could be better but its an easy thing to replace. I am very happy with this purchase. I searched and searched this was by far the best deal for the money. great components for a very good price.

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

This is my first road bike. I have owned this bike for a little over a month now and have put approximately 250 miles on the bike. The stock saddle is horrendous!! I replaced the saddle after 50 miles, three rides. You will do the same, so plan on this in your budget. The groupo shifts excellent and was tuned perfect from Jenson right out of the box. Jenson did an awesome job on the gold bike assembly which made the final assembly very easy. Before purchasing this bike I test road numerous top brand bikes (not to mention names) for several hundred dollars more. The geometry on the podium fits me very well. I am 5'7" and I bought the 52cm which is a perfect fit. For the money you will be hard pressed to find a better bike…Go ahead and make the purchase!
PS. Two weeks after I purchased my Podium Sport from Jenson they dropped the price $50.00 and with one email and no questions asked they credited my card $50.00. Way to go Jenson USA!!

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

I am at heart an MTB rider but now dabbling in Tri & Dualathlons I needed a road bike to get me started that wouldn't break the bank.Jensons Podium Sport fit the bill to the Tee. The Podium sport is essentially the Podium 3 with a couple of part changes none of which makes it less than the podium 3 but the price difference was huge.The Podium Sport is exclusive to Jenson Usa and the only changes are in paint scheme red not blue and the headset FSA not Cane Creek. This bike delivered was easy to put together a little longer to set up to my body type and the bronze build left the bike shifting well but I did adjust the front derailer a bit and the brakes as well. I took my time unpacking and assembling the bike as it is my first road bike. I will replace the saddle ASAP because the stock one has no cut out and hurts like hell. The hubs don't role as smooth as the could if they used some shimanos but thats ok had to budget part it there. So far I've had it about a week and put 60 miles on it and really feel the bang for your bucks goes far here. I feel bike snobs will probably laugh at the make of this bike but I could really care less about those geeks. So if you want something solid to put some miles on you should consider this bike it rocks. P.S. 2 parts were slightly damaged on this bike and Jenson stepped up and sent the parts to me no questions asked, now thats customer service. Way to go Jenson USA !!

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

exelent bike with good choice of components very impressive this is the best bang for the money

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

This is my first road bike and i cant be any happier. I did a bunch of research on bikes, and for the money this one blew away the competition. Buy this bike, you will not regret it.

Comments about Diamondback Podium Sport Road Bike '12:

This bike is amazing! It looks good and performs great! I'm new to the sport of cycling and before I purchased this bike, I was planning on buying a Giant. I ride to work and back everyday and with friends on the weekends. The Giant that I wanted had a Shimano 105 component set but was way out of my budget. This bike performs just as well and looks way better. I took some advice from others and purchased a Velo seat because the seat that comes with bike is pretty uncomfortable. A very good inexpensive seat that I ordered with the bike. This bike is an incredible deal at this price!