Upgrading Your Road Bike – An Illustrated Guide

DecathlonUK

Hi everyone,

We recently created a visual guide for upgrading your road bike: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/blog/cycling/upgrading-your-road-bike-an-illustrated-guide/

It would be great to hear your feedback and comments!

Thank you,

Decathlon UK

imposter2.0

Overly-simplistic and raises more questions than it answers. You will probably end up wishing you hadn't bothered.

Anonymous

As above, plus its a bit random and no mention of brake pads or brakes.
Inaccuracies look amateurish and uninspiring.
Do you even sell some of the items mentioned?

Are you opening a Decathlon in Cheltenham?

simon_masterson

It's very poorly written; in places so much so that the meaning is unclear. E.g. are you suggesting that factory wheels are an upgrade? I hope not.

Otherwise, some plainly stupid stuff in there. Bearing noise is a reason to - you guessed it - service your bearings.

Anonymous

I did not want to pick it apart in too much detail, but if its going to happen I think we should first agree on which is the seat and which is the seat post.

wishitwasallflat

10/10 for marketing ploy

6/10 for the guide

ai_1

Really not done well.

It's a mess of inaccurate bullet points and little or no clear explanation.
The sketch of the bike with labels on the parts is inaccurate to start with and that's the basis of the whole thing surely? It's hardly rocket science to correctly label the saddle, seatpost, handlebar and stem individually and correctly. Also pointing to the cassette/rear derailleur and calling them "gears" is vague, incomplete and will just cause confusion. Call the components by name. That's the only value in the illustrations and is worthwhile if you do it properly.
There's also a number of blatant errors like saying 25mm tyres are for training and narrower tyres have lower rolling resistance. It also says higher quality wheels have lower rolling resistance....really? You could perhaps argue the point but it's far from a factual statement.

No, I have to agree with the others. This is a poor attempt. It could be good but that's not.

Anyone who has a reasonable idea what's going on will learn nothing and just get annoy with Decathlon. Anyone who doesn't have a good understanding will just end up even more confused and mislead.

If you want to do this properly, start off by labeling all the major parts of the bike. Everyone knows a bike typically has "gears". Not everyone knows that the set of sprockets is called a cassette, the front rings attached to the cranks are called chainrings and the things for moving the chain are called front and rear derailleurs.
Similarly they know a bike has brakes. They may not know the difference between calipers, shoes and pads. They know what handlebars are. They may not know what the stem is. Point it out specifically. A general tag of "stem and handlebars" pointing at the handlebars is pointless.

They know it has wheels, why bother labeling them?

What they need to know is:
- How sizes work (700c, 26", 29", ETRO codes, etc)
- Types of tyre (clincher, tubless, tubular)
- How to choose a tyre based on your priorities (speed, durability and comfort)


If I may suggest. Take this off the website. Take a step back and decide who you're aiming this at and what questions you are trying to answer. Then perhaps take another shot at it and solicit help here if you like. Once finished, and before putting it on the site, pretend you're a beginner and see if it actually tells you CLEARLY about the parts of a bike, what they are, what they do, how they impact performance, how easy they are to change, etc.

Anonymous

If you are a beginner, how would your bike be so buggered it needed upgrading?
Equally, if it were just poor spec, then as a beginner, why would that bother you (why did you buy it?)?

Surely you are just better off getting a new bike if you do not know more than what that 'guide' tells you.

If the staff in the store cannot come up with a better guide than that then would you really go there for an upgrade?

Decathlon should concentrate on selling as good a range of bikes as poss, with staff that can advise beginners realistically.
Have a range of pads, callipers, tyres and wheels that can offer immediate upgrades over the crap that will be on a lot of them, and leave the rest for people who find their own desire and ask for them.

Anonymous

Have not been in a UK Decathlon, but I'd probably rate Halfords higher.
Would not get any upgrades or repairs done in either though.
Don't run before you can walk ;-)

laurentian

DecathlonUK wrote:

Hi everyone,

We would like to create a visual guide for upgrading your road bike: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/blog/cycling/upgrading-your-road-bike-an-illustrated-guide/

Before we jump in head first, it would be great to hear your advice and to have your input as to the best way we can design and effectively execute this

Thank you,

Decathlon UK

FTFY

Anonymous

^ LOL

Is it really Decathlon UK that started this thread?

Bit rude to not get back to the thread after asking for help isn't it?

This is yet another contender for the 'Best First Thread' award.

Bordersroadie

Inaccurate and almost totally useless garbage.

ai_1

Bordersroadie wrote:

Inaccurate and almost totally useless garbage.

Yep, don't think they're coming back.
Perhaps they actually thought they had a great guide put together and really posted this thread, not to solicit feedback as they pretended, but to try and get us to pass on the link to help out all the struggling upgraders out there!

DecathlonUK

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone. We are taking everything on board.

wishitwasallflat

DecathlonUK wrote:

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone. We are taking everything on board. :oops:

FTFY

iPete

You'd do well to split from the initial image into 1 page per component. Then break it down into clear pro/con bullet points.

But do note, it'll never be detailed enough for most people on here but then they aren't your target audience.

JayKosta

The 'guide' would be more useful if retitled -
"Things to consider about buying your First bike"

It serves a good purpose in providing info to someone new to cycling about what they should consider when buying a bike, and what to discuss with a shop's sales staff.

It should also included info about other types of bicycles - mountain, commuting, off-road, recreational versus racing, etc.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA