General Cycling Discussion - Best place to buy a bike online?

Like the title says what is the best place to buy a bike online?



Seems all the website I goto are just websites for stores. There is a place online that ships the bikes to you right? :(

What exactly did you expect? The bicycle industry is more tightly controlled as far as price fixing than most other industries. As soon as the manufacturer finds out who is selling cheap or what distributor is selling to them they are cut off. I don't know how they get away with it but they do.


Tim

Like the title says what is the best place to buy a bike online?



Seems all the website I goto are just websites for stores. There is a place online that ships the bikes to you right? :(
Actually, there are a number of good online retailers. Colorado Cyclist, Excel Sports, Nytro.com, Competitive Cyclist to name a few. A few manufacturers forbid their retailers to sell online (Trek and Felt, for example) while other manufactuers are just fine with it. FWIW, the bikes sold by the online retailers I mentioned tend to be "high-end" bikes (>$2,500). If you're looking for a bike in a lower price range, you're better off shopping at your LBS.

The only online bike I've bought was from an actual store in Oregon. But it was a custom build that we spent alot of time talking about. From your post though, I believe you're talking about an online warehouse type that sends you a bike in a box for a low, low price. If that's what you're after; I've heard folks on these forums who've ordered from Bikesdirect.com with satisfactory results. That is they delivered what they said they would and the bike didn't arrive bent in half or anything. But be warned; these big volume wharehouse places warn you up front that the bike will be shipped in 'dealer ready' condition. This means that some minor assembly will be required and that you will be responsible for checking - and if necessary adjusting - the shifters, brakes, head set, bottom bracket, and perhaps truing up the wheels. If you do most of your own wrenching, go for it. Otherwise you will have to cart your .com purchase into the LBS and pay them to get the bike road ready - something they would have been compelled to do gratis had you bought it there. And they just might charge you a pretty penny, since it will be obvious to any mechanic, and throw in a bit of attitude for free. That said, I do most of my own wrenching (I might have to take just the wheels in for tensioning and truing) so I might consider a .com purchase next time... if, the price is right.

DanO

Like the title says what is the best place to buy a bike online?



Seems all the website I goto are just websites for stores. There is a place online that ships the bikes to you right? :(


http://www.bikesdirect.com/

Here's the basic scoop. Brands that are sold in bike stores depend on the bike stores and don't want to irritate them, so they go to considerable trouble to make sure that their bikes are only sold new through bike stores. So there are basically two types of bikes available online -- brands that are not sold in bike stores, and bike store brands being sold by individuals.

Just because a bike is not sold in bike stores does not mean it is low quality. There are some well-respected manufacturers who sell direct to the consumer -- Rivendell and Terry come to mind; Ibex seems interesting as well although I'm not sure they've been around long enough to have a track record. Then there are the mail-order houses that stock a house brand: Nashbar, Performance, REI, etc. However, a lot of the bikes for sale on the net are just cheap Walmart quality imports.

The other alternative is to buy a bike store brand in a private sale -- Ebay is king, Craigslist is usually cheaper. Bikes from individuals are usually used, but not always. There are dealers who surrepticiously put their unsold stock on Ebay, and there are liquidators who buy out the hundreds of bike stores that fail every year and dump the bikes on Ebay as well. There are also a few dealers who say on their websites that they will skirt their agreements with the manufacturer by pretending that a sale was made in the store and charging shipping as a separate transaction. My rule of thumb is that if someone tells you they are willing to cheat someone else, you should assume they are willing to cheat you as well.

In any case, to buy online happily you really have to know what you are doing. Bikes are kind of like shoes that you really have to try them on to see if you like them. In a private sale the sale is final and you can't expect any support from the seller or the manufacturer. If you don't like the bike, your only recourse is to try to sell it yourself. I would expect an absolute minimum 30% discount for a new bike bought this way, minimum 50% for used, to compensate for this uncertainty. Manufacturers who sell direct usually have liberal return policies, but you have to pay for shipping if you return the bike, so a test ride could end up costing you seventy or a hundred dollars. You should also expect to do some assembly on a bike that has been shipped.

I'm an online shopping junkie and I've bought bikes I've been happy with over the net. Look at ebay, look on Froogle. Read reviews here, and ride as many bikes as you can to get an idea for what you're looking for.

sampson bikes. Check them out :D