My Motobecane is very similar to the current HAL; I bought a slightly older “29er HAL29 SL boost” model (29”; SRAM components).
BikesDirect has great prices, but I went EVEN CHEAPER through their “scratch and dent” outlet: Bike Island. Some joker had retuned my bike without even assembling it, but they scratched the frame in the process. I think I paid $1300 in 2021, during the bike drought. Yes - the websites are very 1989, and very hard to understand. But,
I LOVE MY BIKE!
This was my first full suspension and it was perfect for learning. Easy to assemble. Was tuned right from the seller. Decent RockShox suspension.
I rode the heck out of it, and am still loving it.
Upgrades:
pedals and grips are the usual throw-aways.
After 1.5 years of hard use, it was time to do routine maintenance on the RockShox fork, but every place around here wants $200 + for a rebuild. For $219 on sale, I found 170mm RockShox 35 Gold RL forks with the Debon Air system. . Installed those. Very similar performance.
Dropper works great! Need a better lever than the Motobecane one. I don’t use the dropper that much.
The SRAM 1x12 that came on mine in 2021 is not Eagle, and it is not clear what level Bikes Direct used on the drivetrain. No matter. I ran over a really big stick a few months back, and broke the derailleur clean off. Bought a new GX (and new chain) and it bolted right on perfectly.
Tires were WTB. Not bad. When I found some Maxxis on sale, I went tubeless. Plenty of grip.
Look: the Motobecane frames come straight from the exact same Taiwanese factory (Kinesis bicycle) that makes many other brand frames including Comencal, Jamie, etc. The bikes are solid and a real bargain for what you get.
I would buy another, but this one is still going strong.
Here is a REALLY DRY review, but at the end, he does show my exact bike (only mine did not come with the dork disk):
Motobecane 2020 HAL 29 Review