GrandaddyBiker

I went to a Schwinn Bike shop back in 1985 and bought a Mountain Bike. I had never road a Mt bike. I seen an ad in a magazine for this Schwinn Mountain Bike and decided I had to have one. Back then I was so uninformed about bikes, I did not know that bikes came in different size frames. I thought all 26 inch bikes were basically the same size. The shop I bought the bike from never offered to let me ride the bike and they didn’t say a word about size. It turns out that I bought a bike that is way too big for me. So I have been riding a bike that is too big for 25 years. When I was younger that was ok but at my age I am tired of riding a bike that I have to almost lay it down to get off of it.

Today I went into six bike shops looking at bikes. The last shop I went to was a Trek Shop. A lady waited on me at the Trek shop and I told her I was looking for a comfort type bike that was easy to get on and off of. She showed me a, Pure Sport 21 speed. This model bike only comes in one size, 16 inch. I asked her if I could sit on it and she said “You can take it outside and ride it.” None of the other shops I went to today offered to let me ride a bike. In fact this was the first time in my life a bike shop has offered to let me ride a bike before I bought it. The more I looked at this bike the more I liked it and I really wanted to ride it. I didn’t because I was afraid I might get a scratch on it or damage it in some way. I always test drive a car before I buy it but I know the car as insurance on it if I damage it. Now this lady was serious about letting me ride the bike because she tried to get me to take it outside three times. I didn’t buy it because before I spend $615.00 (that’s with sales tax) I wanted more time to think about it.

Do most people test drive New bikes before buying?

I have never had a shop offer to let me ride a bike before buying, so I was a little shocked when the Lady told me 3 times that it was ok for me to ride it.