Health & Family Bike riding

Just like a pair of shoes, you know your size & style. Research what you want, test out a few, find something suitable, then consider online vs the LBS. For customer service, the LBS wins in most cases.

 

Yep, that's pretty much it.

"How do people buy bikes online?" Guesstimate...It's hard if you haven't ridden many bikes and not sure which frame you want/need/like. You'll see many many people 'bang on' about supporting your local bike shop (LBS), I wouldn't care so much for your 'local' shop but there's nothing like sitting/feeling/riding a bike before you buy.

Bike fitting is like one of the 'dark arts' but it's pretty easy to get the right size for 90% of the population. For your first bike best off measuring your inseam and matching it against the particular manufacturers size charts. Each brand will have size chart and will only vary slightly from each other.
Inseam measurement is a little different than sizing up a pair of pants

Measure Your Inseam

1. Stand with your back against a wall and spread your feet 6-8" apart.
2. Place a book between your legs and up against the wall, spine up; raise the book until snug against your crotch (this mimics your bike seat).
3. Have another person measure from the top of the book (spine) down to the floor.

There's plenty of sizing info on the interweb..
Bike Sizing Charts
Bike Size Guide Chart | What Size Bike do I Need? | Tredz Bikes

I'd steer clear of Polygon

 

Thanks @Shady

 

You can't buy performance.
While mostly 105 is nice modern Tiagra performs very well. If i was building an all weather, high km/year commuter work horse it would be on by shopping list. I wouldn't get to hung up on groupset. People always mention groupset never the wheels. Most new bikes have pretty ordinary wheels. Wheels make a big difference to performance.

You will either end up with a shed decoration or you will like bike riding in which case in 12 months you will what a new bike and will have a good idea of what you want.

What is your bike maintenance/mechanical skills like?
If you new to bikes than paying a few hundred extra buying from a shop is money well spent.
Bike fit is very important so too minor repairs
I would strongly recommend against buying a bike online if your on a forum asking for advice.

For various reasons I nearly always buy online. I also have brought 2 frames and built custom bikes.

 

Ha ha.
Yeah. I was talking about riding to a mate and he said the quickest way to make a bike go faster is to change the engine (rider).

If your not going fast enough, it’s not the bikes fault.

 

Unicycles are like shoes to you Gockie! That unused B&B room will be needed to keep them all soon. Is this the 29" you are thinking of ?

Back on topic, Mrs 2dogs are I both have Merida (for those rare occasions I use a bike instead of a unicycle). Basic models but not cheap (about $750) or nasty, but not great either. Basic build quality is fine, bit the real money is in the drive chain and suspension. $2k budget will get you something nice, but so many options to choose from makes it's hard to know what that is. I would go Giant on next purchase. Never buy anything online or self assembled either, get the advise from the shop.

 

How many unicycles does @Gockie require? U+1 .

 

Thats the basic formula

 

Would you believe I picked up a 19" trial uni with a 2.5" wide tyre? It has no tread on it so I found I can do ~1 m wide circles with it...

I bought 2 tyres on line for it today. I discovered that there's not many tyre options for that size....

 

You've only got one wheel.

 

I can see this is starting to become a circular argument

 

Reason for the 2 tyres was to save on postage charges.... Free postage on purchases of at least $99.

lol. Classic unicycle joke.

I just have no comebacks for these. Very punny...

Off topic. I want a t-shirt like this but there is no female version
Life's not fair #firstworldproblem

 

Hey Blacky

I'm not into road riding but love MTB

My first "decent" bike was a new polygon. They're made pretty well - with a decent frame and good components. They're service is excellent too - fast shipping, money back guarantee and good post sales service if you have any issues.

Having said that - I upgraded after a year and spent three times as much on a carbon Canyon and the difference is huge!

I guess it all comes down to how much you'll use it. The Polygon suited me fine at the start - but once I started taking it more seriously and began riding a lot I wanted something with better performance. In hindsight - if I had of known I would become addicted to riding I would have splashed out more cash at the start...rather than buying two bikes within 12 months.

Cheers

Jamie

 

They usually have a calculator on their websites where you enter in your measurements - they'll then recommend the size.

Most will also provide a free return period (usually two weeks).

My last bike was purchased online from Germany (a Canyon) and only took 2-3 weeks to arrive.

Cheers

Jamie

 

I have had this Wheeler road bike for the past 2.5 years and am very happy with it. The parts alone are worth more than what they are charging and the frame is light, full carbon and comfortable to ride. I have done rides up to 180km on it (did an Ironman on it and several half IM's) and could not be happier.
https://www.cyclingdeal.com.au/buy/2015-wheeler-route-1.6-ultegra-22-speed-road-bike/CGRT16MA

 

That's not bad at all, not serious coin with for that setup.

I'm surprised that you can get something like that for sub-3k. I'll have to start shopping

 

I was exactly the same. I may get a more known brand when I upgrade but as I was starting out did not want to spend a heap. The customer service from the company is great as well.