Originally Posted by Banded Krait

No, that’s not the case. I actually tried to post some more yesterday evening. That was when I discovered a rather annoying bug—err, feature—of the software behind this forum. Apparently there is an unadvertised inactivity time limit. I had typed a longer than average reply, and when I attempted to post it, I got a message that I would have to log-in, even though I had been logged-in when I began typing my post. So, I logged-in again, only to discover that my reply had vanished in the ether. Man, that was annoying. Any suggestions as to how to avoid this in the future?

Anyway, thanks for all the nice comments. I thought I would recount a little of my selection/shopping experience, for as I said in my original post, the whole process was very enlightening for me.

What surprised me the most was the huge variation in professionalism and service I experienced in the five different local bicycle stores (LBS) I visited during this process. This ranged from what can be described as almost total indifference in not just one, but actually two different stores of the same local chain of LBS, to what I will characterize as the historical seat-of-the-pants level of service in two other stores, to a notably higher level of service, advice, and professionalism at the fifth store. Guess which one I bought the bike at? Given the fact that the country is in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, I would have thought that small businesses like bicycle stores would be clawing for customers, but that’s certainly not what I found.

This was most obvious in the area of determining the correct size of bike for me. As I said in my original post, it has been over 30 years since I last rode a bike. One of the most important things I knew from reading this and other bicycle forums is how important it is to get a bike which fits you well. It was startling to see the casual and almost haphazard way most of the stores approached this. Four out of the five stores used what I refer to as the “eyeball” method. That is, the salesman looked me over and then either asked me, or guessed my height. He then grabbed the nearest bike from the overhead racks in the category I was interested in (“comfort” road bikes) in the frame size he guessed would fit. Next, he had me straddle the top tube and asked me how it felt. Now remember, I am almost a complete novice at this point. I was not wearing bicycle shorts—I was wearing jeans. The clearance from the top tube I experienced among the different bikes I tried probably ranged from ¼” to ¾” (or more), yet none of the salesmen ever measured it, nor could they see it due to the cloth of my pants. They then had me climb aboard the saddle, briefly checked the bend of my knee as I put the pedals in the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions, and then they shoved me out the door for a test ride in the parking lot of the store.

The salesman at the store where I bought my bike also used the eyeball method, but that was merely to establish the starting point. After selecting a bike from the rack, he directed me to the back of the store where he mounted the bike in a set of rollers and had me climb aboard. He then proceeded through a set of careful measurements. I particularly took notice when he pulled out an instrument which looked like a giant pair of navigator’s dividers with which he measured my thigh-knee-calf angle at various points during the pedal cycle. He also used a plumb line to determine the correct fore-aft position of the saddle. He repeated this measurement exercise with several different bikes and frame sizes. At the end of this process—which took over a half-hour—he stated that the frame size which fit me best was 52 cm. The frame sizes the other bike stores had me try ranged from 50 cm to 54 cm, and you can imagine the difference in how those different sizes felt to me.

What I am trying to say is that it is easy to see how a novice can be sold an ill-fitting bike and how disappointed I am in the general level of professionalism in the bike stores I visited.

The bike store where I bought my bike was the third one I visited. I didn’t buy from them immediately because, as a novice, I wanted to try as many bikes as possible before making a purchase decision. So, this past Saturday I spent over four hours test-riding bikes from stores numbered four and five. It was at these stores that I rode bikes with frames ranging from 50 cm to 54 cm. Simply because of the level of bikes I was trying—like the Cannondale Synapse, Specialized Roubaix, and Fuji SL 2.0—they all felt good compared to the bikes I had ridden 30 years ago, but they didn’t feel optimal. So, the next day I returned to the store which had fitted me correctly, and I took the two bikes I liked there—the Specialized Roubaix and the Gary Fisher Cronus, both in the 52 cm frame size—out for repeated test rides until I decided on the Cronus. Both of these bikes felt so good that it was very hard picking one. In the end I picked the Cronus because of its stiffness—it felt as though every ounce of energy I put into the pedal transferred into driving the bike forward. A reviewer on a Web site called ride of the Cronus “buttery smooth,” and it felt like that to me. The ride of the Roubaix was truly excellent, as well, but in a slightly different way. I am sure I would have been happy with either bike.

Because I didn’t have any bicycle accessories, I had the bike store hold my bike for me. I placed an order for a Thule Helium bike rack, and I will pick up the bike rack and my new bike this coming Sunday. Tomorrow I am getting a trailer hitch installed on my vehicle for use with the bike rack. I will also be purchasing all the other accessories and gear—such as clothing, water bottles, bike computer, and helmet—in the next week or so. I am certainly doing my part to pump up the economy!

I certainly look forward to sharing my initial impressions of the bike over the next month or so as I get back into cycling. I know I’ll be coming back for advice frequently in the days ahead.