General Cycling Discussion - I may not be able to buy a bike until Sept/October, should I just wait til winter?

So, I'm rehabbing some nasty knee stuff. Lots of pain. Diagnosed via MRI so far as chondromalacia patella, some cartilage damage ( no tears ), and one big loose piece in the joint. Still haven't seen the surgeon yet, but I'm 2 weeks into PT and not showing much improvement yet, so I'm worried I may be heading towards surgery. So if he makes me go for another month, then does surgery, etc etc it's October before I'm back up to full biking strength to get a good test ride and fitting done.

At that late in the season, should I just pack it in, and try to wait out some LBS's looking to move bikes when snow is on the ground to get the best deal? By then its dark already and I could only ride on the weekends really with my current work schedule.

And of course, if I get better, all this is just speculation. I'm hoping for the best, planning for the worst. I was going to start buying accessories for my next bike but I might as well wait on those for some late season sales. I'm trying to save as much money as I can on the bike purchase , because this whole incident with my knees is costing me a good bit of cash, which sucks royal ass.

What would you guys do?

That's about the time of year that new models start to show up. So they might be interested in selling this year's model cheaper. If I were you I'd go ahead and start looking in October.

Unless you ride a very large or very small bike waiting shouldn't be a problem. They may or may not discount them depending on the shop. If they have floor models they most likely will.

Aaron :)

I've not had any knee work done, but have some experience in post-operative therapies (two back surgeries). I think that you should discuss this question (the part about when/how to begin riding a bike again) with your surgeon (should you go that route) and your assigned physical therapy staff. Have the discussion up front, because you and they can begin to agree on the time frame, activities, and intensities that you can expect.

There will be a range of possible outcomes, from optimistic to longer-term, and it sounds like you'd really want to include bike riding as part of your recovery. If you have a bike that works for now, maybe you should just focus on gaining strength back using that bike. Maybe using a fluid trainer and your bike can become a portion (with your surgeon's and therapist's agreement) of your treatment. Don't overdo it, obviously.

As to the new bike - that seems like an entirely separate question. Allow the market to dictate your timing, but only to a point. Again, if you have a bike that works for now, use that one as part of your therapy and see how it goes. With your present condition, maybe you should just focus on healing completely - and enjoying your new bike when the season is right for you.

Does this make sense?

Hope that you do heal completely. PG

Makes sense, stay with the old bike (even though you may not be able to ride it) till you find out more about the medical issues. Both new bike plus accessories and medical bills have a dollar cost.

Unfortunately I sold the old bike, but that' for the better as deficiencies in it's mechanics, as well as the fit lead to my injury. I was mashing gears on a poorly sized bike and here I am...

Patience is a virtue...