How / why do you buy a bike from a distance eg the net?

[Fletch456]

How / why do you buy a bike from a distance eg the net? Lots of people on here seem to buy great value (total bargains to be exact) bikes from a distance (ie Fat Birds and Canyon) and some bikes such as Canyon may not be available to test ride.

Do you know exactly what you're going to get? Can you not notice the difference in ride qualities as much as I seem to be able to?

I am in the process of buying carbon for the first time having been riding aluminium and last weekend rode a Trek 5.2 (just happened to be the shop in about my size at 62cm :-) - which is a rare thing I am finding)and a Wilier Mortirolo. Now not absolutely everyone can tell the differences, it's just the way us human beings are but for me it was sort of like chalk and cheese.

The Wilier did good bump absorbing (possibly bear in mind I am used to alu) but managed to be hard at the same time - perhaps because they have a race orientation to their design according the man in the shop. Whereas the Trek was a distinctly softer ride. (It may suit as it will contribute to the long distance discomfort I am trying to get rid of...which comes onto my next point; fit.)

For me it's also about fit - may be cos at 6'3" I'm used to the world (cars, desks, kitchens, chairs and a lot more) being designed for people who are several inches shorter and don't trust myself or have the bike confidence / know how as yet to get a bike then tune it to me (ie change head stem, bars, cranks if necessary). So for me this can only be done in a shop with someone who knows what they are talking about (I am trying to carefully filter any out any who come across as otherwise). And the variety of bike design these days (compared to the old triangular frame) means one size that fits you on one bike may not fit you on another.

I never planned to have Trek on my shopping list as I am no fan of Lance Armstrong..respect yes but I don't like and they put the logo absolutely all over it. Yet, at the moment the Madone 4.7 is top of the list partly because I liked who served me, feel he will fit it well to me, think I can trust him and it will be a very good bike and they are fairly near to me. It's extremely white..including rims (!) but it's still top of the list right now.

 

[Moodyman]

I bought my last two bikes off the net cause they were much cheaper than my LBS.

I bought based upon the bike's geometry - head/seat tube angles and top tube length.

If you have a bike that you're comfortable with, which I had, then you compare your new purchases to the geometry and size of that.

The two bikes that I bought off the net were from retailers who have shops within 30-mile radius, so if any problems arose, I could always take the bike in. No regrets thus far.

If you're new to cycling, I wouldn't encourage this approach as you need to know you're riding style and bike preference.

 

[BSRU]

I am buying a bike of the net because it is last years model and very few still exist.
I had already visited an LBS and tried that particular bike when I was deciding which one to go for.
The only reason I did not buy it from the LBS was they did not have any 2010 bikes remaining by the time I got round to wanting to reserve one.

 

[zizou]

I have bought after a test ride and also bought from the internet too without ever having sat on the bike never mind riden it.

I think a weekend test ride would be really useful but a short test ride in a carpark or up and down the street in front of the shop i dont really feel gives me a better insight into how the bike feels than looking at the measurements and pictures of it - a new bike for me always feels a bit odd at the start because i havent got used to it yet...i need a long ride just to get used to how it handles then start thinking about if i need to make any minor adjustments on saddle height and things like that.

 

[Glover Fan]

Bought mine off wiggle, just because I really didn't think I was going to find a full carbon frame and forks and a 105 groupset for £875 in 2009.

Impulse purchase, which I imagine accounts for maybe 5-10% of bike purchases made online?

Saying that it fits perfect, infact couldn't quite believe how well it did fit.

 

[Hydra]

Mine came from Wiggle. It was my first road bike, and I was a bit dubious but the 30-day test ride deal that they do pushed me forward.

I'd previously test-ridden similar bikes at the LBS, and I knew more-or-less which size I needed and it turned out to be perfek.

I wouldn't recommend purchasing online unless you know what size you need, or if you can get a similar thing to Wiggle's 30-day test ride.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Hmmm.... four out of the five most recently purchased bikes I've got were bought over the web/email order sight unseen and un-test ridden by me. Admittedly these were not top of the range mega thousand jobs, or made of exotic materials, but 3 of the 4 were C2W bikes I still own.

The most recent of these was specced and built to order, on an otp frame, and I admit I was a bit nervous about the "What if's..." I need not have been as Nigel at Surosa is a genius at this sort of thing. My evidence for this is I took this bike to another excellent shop, Corridori in Epsom, for a spesh bikefit session and the only tweaking it needed was an increase in saddle height and an adjustment to the bar angle, and both of these were my 'bads' as the young folk say.

I think provided you can talk it through with someone to double check your sizing assumptions, and budget for some changes, then buying off the web is fine. After all not every LBS does those bar and stems swaps for free these days and they are well within the scope of a home mechanics capabilities especially if you've got some bikefit reference data, or a perfectly setup up 'old' bike to work from.

 

[Fletch456]

Thank you guys. Some very useful information and helping confirm I am doing the right thing by buying from a shop this time; as I am not properly comfortable with my existing bike and also want to try out bikes to find the ride feel / quality that I want. Your ideas can change a lot once you've made cycling a week in week out thing, as I have over last 18 months.