Your experience of buying a bike online??

bagz3

In an ideal world we'd all like to buy from our local bike shop. However price can dictate whether we do or not, along with availability etc and whole host of other factors.

Reason i'm asking is because i'm looking at getting a Canyon for my next bike. No test ride available, can't even see it in the flesh and sizing is going to based on a calculator.

What's everyone opinions and experiences (good and bad) of buying a bike online ?

keef66

First bike came from a proper bike shop; initial fitting, right size frame ordered in and built up with my choice of components etc.

Second bike bought online as frame and forks because it was too big a bargain to resist. But I only felt confident doing that armed with the geometry / size of the first bike.

I did contemplated an online purchase of the first bike, but I suspect I'd have bought a size too big using the online sizing guides. (I have long legs / short torso, so reach is the crucial measurement for me)

chrisaonabike

Very good experience buying a Canyon Roadlite Al 7.0 for my OH a few months back.

They didn't have either the saddle or the cassette that we initially ordered, but they communicated very well and since they were only about 50 quid from Wiggle we opted not to wait till Canyon got the bits in themselves.

It arrived perfect, and was very easy to set up. Very nice looking bike, I have to say. My Giant looks positively dowdy in comparison.

She was after the XS frame size, which they had in stock. There may be a bit more of a wait with the more common sizes, so it's worth checking.

bagz3

As you'd imagine, getting the right size is crucial, and is the most off putting thing for me at the moment.

I bought my first bike online, its a 58cm Cannondale Synapse and while the leg measurment is good, in fact i doubt the seat will go any higher before the line on the seat post appears, i do feel i have to over reach and would be more comfortable with 2-3cm less reach.

Granted the geometry will be different with other bikes......... but its a head ache for me trying to get my head around geometry figures :oops:

YIMan

bagz3 wrote:

As you'd imagine, getting the right size is crucial, and is the most off putting thing for me at the moment.

I bought my first bike online, its a 58cm Cannondale Synapse and while the leg measurment is good, in fact i doubt the seat will go any higher before the line on the seat post appears, i do feel i have to over reach and would be more comfortable with 2-3cm less reach.

Granted the geometry will be different with other bikes......... but its a head ache for me trying to get my head around geometry figures :oops:

Tried a shorter stem?

rickeverett

Have always bought from local bike shops until recently where I got a bike from Wiggle.

Setup was spot on, service was fast and hassle free. I got a frame set and components from Ribble online for my winter bike. Just the same.

I try and get to my local bike shops but as with many things online is cheap. Its a shame.

bagz3

YIMan wrote:

bagz3 wrote:

As you'd imagine, getting the right size is crucial, and is the most off putting thing for me at the moment.

I bought my first bike online, its a 58cm Cannondale Synapse and while the leg measurment is good, in fact i doubt the seat will go any higher before the line on the seat post appears, i do feel i have to over reach and would be more comfortable with 2-3cm less reach.

Granted the geometry will be different with other bikes......... but its a head ache for me trying to get my head around geometry figures :oops:

Tried a shorter stem?

Yeah absolutely, this only occurred to me a couple of weeks ago, despite having the bike 2 years now. Would a 3cm shorter stem have much effect on handling?

mattyarse

Ordered my first road bike via Ribble earlier this year.

Took the time to follow their online guide to measuring yourself to try and get the right size and all was fine. Pedals originally supplied were incorrect, but they sorted that ok.

KonkyWonky

Ordered a Canyon Ultimate AL 7.0 earlier this year and am delighted with it. Would recommend it provided you are comfortable sizing the bike yourself, I also got good advice from the Canyon service centre regarding the sizing.

bagz3

KonkyWonky wrote:

Ordered a Canyon Ultimate AL 7.0 earlier this year and am delighted with it. Would recommend it provided you are comfortable sizing the bike yourself, I also got good advice from the Canyon service centre regarding the sizing.

Did you use their Perfect Position System calculator to help or did you know your prefered geometry already?

YIMan

bagz3 wrote:

YIMan wrote:

bagz3 wrote:

As you'd imagine, getting the right size is crucial, and is the most off putting thing for me at the moment.

I bought my first bike online, its a 58cm Cannondale Synapse and while the leg measurment is good, in fact i doubt the seat will go any higher before the line on the seat post appears, i do feel i have to over reach and would be more comfortable with 2-3cm less reach.

Granted the geometry will be different with other bikes......... but its a head ache for me trying to get my head around geometry figures :oops:

Tried a shorter stem?

Yeah absolutely, this only occurred to me a couple of weeks ago, despite having the bike 2 years now. Would a 3cm shorter stem have much effect on handling?

It might be slightly "twitchier" but it's a road bike so no great issue. On a mountain bike where you're constantly steering through obstacles it can make it difficult on hairpins etc.

Check your saddle position too - you might be able to move it forward slightly without compromising your pedalling position too much.

mamba80

i got a canyon cf 29er, its been a dream... until the rear wheel developed a Freehub bearing fault, i thought here we go, this is where i pay for the cheap purchase price, how wrong was i ? Canyon just sent me a new wheel, i then sent back the faulty one.
Canyon were great with the sizing and tbh, i dont think i d buy a complete bike anywhere else again.

KonkyWonky

bagz3 wrote:

KonkyWonky wrote:

Ordered a Canyon Ultimate AL 7.0 earlier this year and am delighted with it. Would recommend it provided you are comfortable sizing the bike yourself, I also got good advice from the Canyon service centre regarding the sizing.

Did you use their Perfect Position System calculator to help or did you know your prefered geometry already?

I used the PPS which recommended XS, when I had a look at the frame geometry I was worried it looked a little small in comparison to the Specialized Allez I had.

I posted a thread here http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=12930327&p=18418063&hilit=canyon+sizing#p18418063 and got plenty of responses which may be os use to you.

sparklehedgehog

i always want and try to support shops by using a 15% rule for me that if they're within 15% of the online price i'll plump up the cash as feel they are trying to be competitive whilst being obviously having more outgoings yet my last bike really angered me at the differences between shop and online.

Felt Z95 was £699 in shops (cheapest i could find) yet just £454 at Wiggle!!!! Totally takes the ***!!!

Bike was perfect setup and would do the same again. Shops need to try harder in quite a few cases although there are exceptions.

cat_with_no_tail

My most recent experience of buying a full bike online was using Rose, and I have to say it was nothing short of superb.

Their online bike fitting model works really well, and the support staff use excellent English (written and verbal) for those cases where you may find yourself between sizes on certain items.
Because their bike builder is so complete, you get to spec things which often get overlooked, like stem length, bar width, crank length, seatpost layback etc.
I'm a big fan of this approach as I like to spec my own bikes (I usually build them myself anyway).

Further to this, when your bike arrives you have a 4 week period where Rose will exchange any part of the bike for a different size free of charge. So you get to change stuff about after having the bike in some real-world situations.

Finally, when my bike arrived, they'd forgotten to change out the tires for 25s as I'd requested, so they sent me a set of GP400s in 25 flavour next day delivery from Germany, with some free stuff, and let me keep the 23s.

I'll absolutely be a repeat customer, and for a shop in such a competitive marketplace, you can't get a much better recommendation than that.

unixnerd

A bit of haggling with an LBS can often get them down to near internet levels, certainly worth a try before buying online.

Primus84

Depends if they want your business though, my experience of trying to buy a bike in several LBS recently was awful. Completely ignored from entering to leaving. Even after standing by the bike I was interested in for well over 20 minutes, looking it over carefully, clearly interested no one said a word to me.

I therefore left and bought online from Tredz and their service was exemplary.

sparklehedgehog

I've mentioned this in shops and said i'd rather buy in shops if the price is semi competitive and they never budge by more than 10% even when they're told that they'd get the sale there and then and that the online price is over 25% cheaper.

Some just don't wanna try

leegreenhough

do your homework and save yourself some money. I bought a ribble after two months of working out everything, best thing i did, i went to the bike show to check sizes and then checked the forum. Bike shops are thing of the past!

fatsmoker

leegreenhough wrote:

Bike shops are thing of the past!

If it ever happens it will be a sad, sad day.

BillyMansell

I haven't bought a bike in a LBS for over twenty years, that being a Dawes Galaxy as an insurance replacement, and the last road bike I assisted in buy from a shop was in 1987 when my brother was first getting into cycling.

We used to have one really good LBS run by passionate cyclists but when they past away it was taken on by younger generations more interested in making money so the service to cyclists declined as they focused their interests on the highly profitable market of mobility equipment for the infirm, an odd combination in one shop. They gave up on the cycle side of the business a year ago.

I've only just realised upon reflection that from when I first got into cycling for sport back in the '80s I've always put my own bikes together more often using mail order than local shops for parts, and it was only three years ago when I bought my PX Pro Carbon that I purchased a complete road bike for the first time. After all these years knowing what I require is the easy bit, it's the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive that becomes fraught.

napoleond

I get all mine from 'Shifty Dave' in the Horse and Jockey in Wythenshawe.