Mountain Biking - New Bike?

Most of yall who have seen my other thread bout my budget bike maybe confuzzled. Rite now, I convinced my mom, that I can get a bike of ANY price range, but I hope to get a decent bike for about 350 CDN. (thats if I can manage to refund my schwin :()However..that means it drains my money for a while, but it should be worth it... Now I need tips for finding and getting the ideal bike. In my previous post, someone mentioned alot of places to me, but keep in mind, I want to buy the bike directly from a store, and keep the bike location IN toronto. Like I dont want to go to richmond hill or Barry.

Also, I need tips on finding a good bike.

Torontonians, I need your help!

Being 15 and buying a better bike that will ride for a couple years-you may want to get a slightly larger frame than you are comfortable riding now.

Check out Set Me Free on College St. You should be able to get a really good used or a pretty good new bike there. I had some work done on mine and they are really good.

does anyone have any advice on a bike, rather than a place? Like only for about 300-350 CDN, and only from a store, not a net store.

Try sportcheck. They carry the low end ironhorses which should fit in that range.

Let me second the sportcheck bit.

My IronHorse desperado ($500) is kicking ass. I got mine way back in August. Awesome components for the price.. Rockshox Judy TT (not that great.. but) .. Deore rear derailleur, WTB MotoRaptor tires, etc.

Just one thing about SportChek .. not all of their stores are equal. Some of their stores are more "high budget".. thus have better mechanics. The store in Yorkdale is pretty good.

Good luck!

Seems to me that Sportchek owns Coast Mountain Sport. Which is a more aggressive and dedicated to outdoor sports. You might want to check them out for a better product. Sportchek also sells jerseys, caps and kicks therefore it has a different clientele than an outdoor store.

When buying a bike I would choose an actual bike shop rather than a store that sells bikes too.

Does sportchek have warranties or refunds? My LBs does...

SportChek has a 1 year of free tune ups, that includes waranties. Also, you can return a bike within 60 days.

does anyone have any advice on a bike, rather than a place? Like only for about 300-350 CDN, and only from a store, not a net store.

the links to the stores i gave you in the other thread have actual store locations. i'm not sure if they'll have bikes in your price range, but it'd be worth it to call and ask.

you might also want to wait until the spring show in march. a lot of the bike shops in the gta are going to be selling off stock they want to get rid of. there'll be a lot of good bikes going for cheap.

there'll be a lot of good bikes going for cheap.

many bike will have a couple hundred dollars off and if you have cold hard cash that usually helps ;)

mindbogger,

So you're saying that shops in Toronto give discounts if you come with cash? I know PC stores do this because it saves everyone tax money.

Hey, Dmulyava

Is your ironhorse desperado 2001? If it was...did you know that cpsc tried to recall all desperado 2001's?

nvm

Dang 5 character minimum...

mindbogger,

So you're saying that shops in Toronto give discounts if you come with cash? I know PC stores do this because it saves everyone tax money.

some of them do at the bike show.

at the fall bike show this past year i saw a lot of bikes going for cheap. i saw a norco fluid 1 going for 1600 which is almost half retail price. so i'm sure you'll be able to find some really good deals on stuff if you go.

mindbogger,

So you're saying that shops in Toronto give discounts if you come with cash? I know PC stores do this because it saves everyone tax money.

i was referring more to the bike show. What stores usually give are water bottles and other small freebes but at the fall show, cash is a must.

If you are going to a bike show and want to get a good deal go on the last day and offer cash. They would rather sell it than drive it back to the shop. Trust me this will save you alot 9 times out of 10. Not just bikes but parts too.

Ok.. so, at the fall show.. if you buy a bike there, there is obviously no shop free tuneups or anything, right?

Is there a waranty though?

thats exactly what I was thinkinig of. Do I get returns, warranty or (applicable to some shops only) free service?

Depends on the product. In my experience so stand behind theirs and some don't because it's a bike show. Always ask about their policies. I think most of them will offer a warranty, the only thing is you have to know where their shop is and it might be far away. There are definitely good deals. Even if I don't go to buy I still go.