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HOW TO BUY A BIKE
What does buying a bike online mean? We’re
talking about buying direct and having the bike
sent to you. Buying online is only going to grow,
with brands like Giant and Specialized already
offering a click and collect service. This means
you can browse their range via your computer,
laptop or smartphone, and order your bike to be
delivered and built for you by your local dealer.
While this adds a huge amount of convenience,
such as being able to browse the product range
whenever and wherever you like, avoiding peak
times and not having to travel anywhere, you still
need to travel to a shop to collect your bike, where
it will be built and ready to go. Suppliers like
Bicycles Online, Canyon, YT, Commencal, Intense
and others send bikes direct to riders to build and
ride, and this has its own benefits.
CONVENIENCE
Forget about opening hours, finding a parking
spot, avoiding busy periods or even being
disrupted by conscientious sales staff – when
you’re shopping online, you set the time line. It is
hard to escape the internet sometimes, but when
shopping online its presence is instead a huge
convenience. From reading a manufacturer’s spiel
to quickly reading reviews or feedback on forums,
this is something you can do anywhere you have
phone reception and a few minutes.
“Buying online you have industry reviews,
customer reviews, comparison charts, detailed
specifications and more. These aren’t often
available out of the store,” explains James van
Rooyen from Bicycles Online.A BROAD RANGE OF OPTIONS AND SIZES
Mountain bikers come in all shapes and sizes, but
if you are on the short or tall end of the spectrum
you will be familiar with the difficulties in finding
bikes in stock or even available.
“We draw from global stock, so there is no
reduction in choice,” explains Darryl Moliere,
from Canyon Australia. “This means we don’t
have to cut the extreme sizes.” On a global scale,
Australia is a small market for the mountain bike
world and many major brands won’t have a whole
lot of stock available in those extreme sizes. With
the likes of Canyon or YT who sell from their
global stock, you might just have a larger range to
choose from.
There are some limits, for example Canyon
produce more models than are available in
Australia. Given the costs of sending a bike box
from Germany to Australia, their bikes at lower
price points aren’t as viable given the flat rate
shipping cost.BUT CAN I TEST RIDE A BIKE BOUGHT ONLINE?
If you’re dropping a wad of cash on a new bike,
whether it’s a $399 Polygon or a $10199 Canyon
Strive CFR 9.0 LTD, it’s totally understandable
that you’d want to know if you’ll like it, or even if
it’s the right fit. Major online retailers like Canyon
and Bicycles Online (who sell Polygon and Marin)
have fit guides for every bike model they sell, and
Canyon incorporate a calculator to do so. Plus,there is always help via an email or phone call.
Commencal are offering bikes to hire as
tests via select bike shops. There aren’t a huge
amount of options right now, but this presents an
opportunity to confirm whether the bike you have
been fact-checking and Google image searching
every free minute is the right bike for you.
You might see test events around the country,
where there can be an opportunity to get on a bike
or two from online retailers. Darryl from Canyon
says they will continue to do this with big events
like the Ignition MTB Festival in Falls Creek, but
they also plan to expand their global Shred City
concept to Australia.
“We have a new van setup and will start
between Melbourne and Sydney,” explains Darryl.
“We want to connect with riders and have people
come to go riding with us on our bikes. And we
want existing Canyon owners to come out and ride
with us on their bikes.”WHAT IF I DON’T LIKE IT?
You actually have a bit more flexibility here than in
a bike shop with some direct to consumer sellers.
Canyon offer a 30-day returns policy for unused
bikes. So that doesn’t mean shred for 29 days
then say you don’t want it anymore. But if the fit
just isn’t right once you got it out of the box, or
maybe you just don’t like it, you can return it. “If
you work out that it’s just not the right bike for
you, you can return it for a full refund,” explains
Darryl from Canyon.
With a Marin or Polygon from Bicycles Online,BUYING A BIKE ONLINE