ShoreCyclist

Glad someone said it...

StephenH

My tandem falls into the last category, and I don't match the requirements in the last two items, so I'd say you'd want to reconsider those items. Meanwhile, a friend of mine who probably owns more dollar value of bikes than anyone I know does his purchasing off Ebay, not at the local bike store, so yeah, he's fit and heeled with shaved legs and all, but I probably spend more at my local bike store than he does.

A couple of months ago, I went to a triathlon show with a friend. There was one dealer with tables full of all sorts of goodies. There's a box with big rubber bands there. The friend asks "What are those for?" I haven't a clue, so I step over and ask the dealer guy. He looks at me sort of funny, and says, "They're to hold the water bottles on the front of the tribike." Well, my friend had recently bought a Shiv, hasn't put hardly any miles on it yet. Meanwhile, I'm not the fittest-looking guy around, but my next bike is probably going to be some sort of time-trial/ tri bike for long-distance racing. So yes, the ignorant people that don't look like they belong on a tri bike may in fact be the ones purchasing said bike. In my case, I've never sat on one, not sure how comfortably I could, so there's some learning to do that a regular user wouldn't need.

Another factor for bike shop owners to consider, regardless of test rides, is they'd like for cyclists to come into the store for other stuff, too. I recall going to the RBM store down on Garland Road one time. I don't remember what I was after, but they managed to unimpress me enough with their service that I've never been back. Meanwhile, I've got my tandem here in the office with me as after work, I'm going to run it 60 or 70 miles up the road to the shop I bought it from for minor tune-up.

joejack951

Maybe you should reconsider

You bring up a good point about tandems though. They completely slipped my mind. As you've shown, they likely need their own AAFTR (Appropriate Attire For Test Ride) classification system.

seymour1910

Hey Joe, I've decided that next time I go for a test ride I'm going in with full kit, wearing my helmet and I will take five friends so we can enter the store in a pace line.

joejack951

Pics/video requested! It could become part of the FAQ in the new sticky thread about test rides.

DaveWC

Ha ha ha, joejack & seymour are more upset about the lack of test ride than the OP. The salesmen also said that all demo bikes were out at the time and from what BigJeff added, this store has been open for mere months & while they may have dropped the ball on this one, they do good business. But carry on, the 41 isn't about whether the OP had merit to his complaint, it's all about the responses by others.

ShoreCyclist

I'd like to volunteer to do the steering.

joejack951

I won't stop posting stupid S**T in this thread until justice is served!

DaveWC

Seriously? You think it's limited to this thread?

ShoreCyclist

^^^ Funniest comment of the day. Unless your name is Joe or Jack.

Hiro11

Fair enough, I understand and agree with your point.

This is where we depart ways. I imagine it feels exactly the same, but there's one more cog. Why would this be worth a test ride? I guess I understand it in other situations where major equipment changes are involved, like trying a road bike with disc brakes or perhaps electronic shifting.

This is question I'm asking: except for getting a basic read on major functionality changes, what value is a test ride providing? This is a valid question given that a typical LBS generally has higher pricing. Personally, I feel I need something like 100 miles of riding to properly understand how I feel about a bike.

joejack951

Are you stalking me? I'm so flattered.

himespau 

Make sure you're all dripping with sweat too. That way they'll know you're the type to give their shiny new bikes a good hard workout on your test ride.

DaveWC

No. I am responding to posts that you are making in response to my posts. I assume that's what you're doing as you quoted me. Stalking you would be to follow you from thread to thread making fun of you. I'm simply making fun of you right here. 8300+ posts into this game you'd think you'd know this stuff.

joejack951

Every time I've seen new shifters announced the product description goes on about all the ergonomic differences (lever throw distance/force, hood shape, lever shape, etc.) that make this latest group so much better than previous years. Those differences are really important to some, including me. For instance, I tolerate my 6503 shifters but really enjoy using my 6603 shifters when the biggest difference between the two drive-trains (on the surface) is one extra cassette cog.

I agree that much more time is needed to get a proper feel for a bike. I'll still take a test ride if I can.

joejack951

That's funny. Up until you decided to attempt to insult me, I hadn't responded to a single one of your posts in this thread.

So stalking could also be like when you go find someone's posts from other threads and post them in a different thread by the same person in an attempt to make them look bad? Yup, confirmed that you're a stalker.

DaveWC

Oh well, I guess we've beaten test rides to death, now we'll work on whether you're being stalked.

joejack951

I don't know. Seems a bit premature to steer this thread so off-topic. I felt like we were still going strong on test rides.

RPK79

+1

Could we get an admin to change the thread title to "Is #joejack951 getting stalked? Maybe add in a poll as well.

joejack951

+2, though I'd prefer a clean thread without all the legacy crap posted in this one.

DaveWC

If a new thread is started no one should quote posts from this thread... Or that would be stalking I am told.

Fatmansmallbike

I love when sales people are judgmental. I go out of my way to look disheveled when buying expensive items or from commission driven places. Keeps the sharks away and you get a sales person who is genuine.

My wife and I went out to brunch about 2 months ago. I was in shorts, button down shirt and flip flops. My wife was in a sun dress and flats. After brunch we were walking back to the car and we decided to stop off at one of the bike shops in the area. This bike shop only deals in high retail bikes. Cheapest bike is about $2k and average around $4-5k. The goal was to lust a bit for myself and to see if my wife liked any of the bikes they had in stock and maybe introduce her to biking at a later date. This shop didn't give us the time of day. No a single other customer in the shop and they didn't acknowledge we were there.

We left without a word said to us. On the way home we decided to stop at the bike shop I normally go to and see how their year-end stock was looking for women's specific road bikes. One thing led to an other and we walked out with over $5k in bikes that day. An upgrade for myself and a new bike for my wife. They made every accommodation they could, including putting pedals on bikes so I could take it for a spin in my flip flops. They let my wife barrow shorts and a jersey for a test ride that they ended up giving her for free. In total we were there for over 5 hours. They took their time and never rushed us. The sales girl's face was priceless as I said "ok, we will take both."

Service like that is why I buy local and from a good LBS.

BykOfALesserGod

So anyway just to wrap up this story, I visited a tri shop 50 miles away from my home. https://www.nytro.com

This time I was in street clothes but had my shoes and pedals in the car.

Greg, the guy who helped me was very patient (as an aside he was a former pro rider but no it wasn't THAT Greg). We had it down to two bikes, a QR and a Dale. I made several requests to remove spacers, adjust saddles and did several 1 mile long road tests on HWY 101 before I made my choice and Greg cheerfully accommodated all these. After the bike purchase was done I decided to get a wetsuit as well and Greg helped me fit and try it on too. I can't wait to pickup the bike next week!

macca33

Good result mate and does show what can happen when a salesperson actually wants to ply his/her craft to accommodating a customer.

I'm quite perplexed at a lot of the responses in this thread intimating that test rides are not necessary, or just to buy a bike, unridden, when in almost all threads where people ask about which bike to buy, the first thing anyone instructs, is for them to TEST RIDE the bike/s first?!?!?

Enjoy your Tri-events.

cheers

rebel1916

Really? Because that seems to only happen (aside from brand newbs, maybe) in the tortured imaginations of a few panicky Petes here at BF.