Best Time to Buy a Bike
 

So I've had it in my head for a while now to get a new bike, and I have laid out my priorities, and am working on developing my preferred geometry, etc. The bike I have now I got as a gift, purchase price wasn't the biggest priority. Now that I'm buying my own, it is (I'm a student, and the budget is fairly tight).

So here's my question: is there a "season" for buying bikes at a discount? Do bike shops generally discount their bikes in fall, for example? I would love to pull the trigger on a bike now, but if I can get more value later I can be convinced to wait.

For "value" you want to get a used bike.

Or to put it another way, the best time to buy a bike is after it has been hanging in someone's garage for two years.

I troll ebay, craigslist, and roadbikereview classifieds daily. I would definitely take a used bike if one jumped out at me. Problem with used is that quality is never guaranteed. At least with new, you have the warranty.

I bought my last bike in the middle of a snow storm, I got it for 800.00 off MSRP and that was an 07 model. Believe me nobody was buying bikes on that day.

Jan/Feb will probably be the time to score the best deals... when the shop is trying to get rid of the previous year's models and demand is low.

The best time to buy is NOW! There's a lot of nice riding weather between now and cheap deal time.

I have a bike that I'm riding with now, a cheap aluminum entry-level one. No worries on missing out on great riding, so long as I stop crashing in races.

Bike shops will often discount the old models when new models come out. This can be any time after July or so. For example, with the 2008 Trek Madone coming out this month, dealers have already started closing out the 2007 model at bargain prices.

If budget is a consideration then used is the way to go.