700c Metro Bicycles H2 Hybrid Bike (Men's or Women's, Various Sizes)

I got my H2 today. It does have hydraulic brakes, and it's not a bad bike. The tires seem cheap, but functional. Setup was pretty straightforward, it feels a little loose, so I need to go through everything before I take it on a real ride.

I'm 6'6" and got an XL, it's smaller than my XL Trek DS3, but works. (I got this one to turn into an e bike).

Does the RD shift correctly out of the box without adjusting?

Yes, bafang makes several, there are some good videos on YouTube

I took it for a quick spin, and it went through the gears fine, and the brakes felt good

My H1 arrived this afternoon also, no damage. I knew what I was getting into because I helped my friend purchase and assemble his Giordano H1 a few weeks ago. These are very nice bikes for the price, and I've built (from the frame up) and owned many expensive mountain and road bikes. I bought the medium size for my wife and son to use. My 11 yo son is 5'2" with long legs and there's enough standover clearance for him. My wife is 5'10'. So this bike will work well for both of them, especially as my son grows. I'm 6'3" and it could fit me fine with a slightly longer seatpost. If you look at the geometry chart, the only major fit difference among the 3 sizes is the seattube length and resultant standover height. It's pretty long and slack for a road bike, so it should be a very stable ride, and would work well on gravel roads. There is also plenty of tire clearance, and there are eyelets to mount fenders. The rear derailleur looks much better than a Shimano Tourney (someone early claimed that this Mezzo is in the same class as the Tourney, and I would disagree). I encourage buyers to read over my assembly/tune-up tips I posted a few pages back, as I had to perform every one of them on this bike. I also had to tighten the brake rotor bolts. Another tip, at least for the H1: the bolt at the bottom of the brake lever can easily interfere with the shift lever if you don't pay attention when adjusting the lever position, which results in the shifter not working properly.

What is the largest tire you think this bike will take? Any chance for you to measure the rear spacing please if you find time? I was thinking about using 2" 29 MTB tires, but not sure if those will fit. Thank you very much in advance

I would expect a different model to have more than a $40 price difference if it means including a worthwhile functional difference... otherwise just buy the cheaper model. I don't see much value in upgrading the derailleur if they also don't upgrade the shifters. It's not clear what they even use. If they put the same quality shifters on both bikes, they will also likely have the same shifting precision regardless of the upgraded derailleur. I've stated multiple times why I think the average person buying this type of bike won't benefit from doing the upgrade. I'll just leave it at that.

One reason to upgrade to the H2 is that it's easier to find 9 speed replacement parts, and it's much easier to upgrade the 9 speed version with high quality drivetrain parts.

9 speed was the standard high-end mountain bike drivetrain for many years, and you can still find high quality replacement parts that used to come on $1500+ bikes, both new and lightly used, usually for not much money. (Microshift 9 speed is Shimano compatible, so you can upgrade just shifters or rear derailleurwithout having to do both.)

8 speed was only a standard for a few years, and the remaining 8 speed parts available new are almost always low end.

Front will fit a 2.2 but you will have to zip-tie the front brake hose out of the way.
Rear might fit a 2.0 but might not. Chainstays are a lot tighter.

My H1 just arrived. Everything seems to be packaged okay except that the front wheel quick release assembly was in pieces and is missing one of the springs. So I guess I just can't use the bike. Awesome.

For those curious about size, I'm between 6'-6'1" and the large is perfect.

Edit: it seems that these springs may not be needed and are only for convenience? If anyone can chime in I'd appreciate it.

Received my H1 yesterday. Condition of the bike was excellent. No damage from shipping or packaging. Finished installation/tuning this morning and just got back from bedding brakes.

INSTALLATION NOTES:
1) Both rotors had 2 noticeably loose bolts. Each were only about half way in and were not sitting flush to the rotors.
2) The front brake cable rubs the front tire. There is already a cable tie mid-way up the fork, but I will need to zip tie another higher up to stop it rubbing when turning.
3) Derailleur would not shift to lowest gear. I had to undo the cable from the derailleur & manually adjusted the H & L screws. It now shifts well.
4) Both brakes rubbed. Had to loosen caliper, spin, brake, tighten a couple times both ends. Then had to bend both rotors slightly.

GENERAL NOTES:
1) Bike is really light. I have a medium and is super easy to pickup move around.
2) Brakes still seem to not be up to snuff. It could just be I need to bed them more, but noticeably more effort is needed to brake compared to the hydraulic brakes on my MTB. Couldn't do a stoppie since the wheel just kept turning.
3) The low gear seems adequate for hilly terrain.
4) Both wheels and/or tires are slightly wobbly. I have not diagnosed this yet.

CONCERNS:
Front fork/headset seems to be loose. If I hold onto the front brake and move forward/back a little I can hear a slight knocking. I tightened the headset bolt and still kind of there. The other really strange part is if I drop the bike, the front vibrates almost like a tuning fork for a couple seconds. I'm not used to having a rigid fork, so maybe this is normal?

Overall, I'm still happy with the bike. It's light, peddles well, and I like the look. For $160 seems like a solid deal.