http://www.ambmag.com.au 47HOW TO BUY A BIKEthey have a 14-day free test ride. So if the bike
you bought hasn’t met your expectations, they’ll
refund you and pick the bike up free of charge. Of
course there are conditions to do with fair use,
returning it clean and packing it up, but it’s a very
fair policy. And James van Rooyen says while it
helps you, the rider, it keeps them in check too.
“It is important for us to be able to share in the
perceived risk of buying online as it is still fairly
new in Australia. What the real benefit is however,
is that it keeps us on our toes in all aspects of the
delivery - we have to ensure the customer has a
great experience otherwise it is rather costly for
us to then have it returned.”
“Compared to many stores, riding a bike
around the car park often doesn’t give a good
impression of what its like hucking off a jump. We
feel its necessary to ride it on your local trails.”
HOW LONG DO I NEED TO WAIT?
Once you have pressed ‘buy’ and spent your
money, you want your bike. So how long will you
wait? With bicycles coming from Sydney, Bicycles
Online claim delivery times of 2 days on the East
coast of Australia. But if you’re not sure for your
location, they have a delivery calculator on their
website.
Coming from Germany, Canyon is faster than you
might think. While they say to allow 14 days, due
to recently improved warehouse processes, the
time frame to reconfigure your bike to right-to-
front braking has been reduced substantially
and Canyon Australia are confident that you will
probably see your bike in about 5 business days
for delivery to a metro region in a major capital
city. With Specialized and Giant claiming 4-8
days for click and collect, delivery times aren’t
something to be put off by!HOW DO I BUILD IT?
If you’re not handy with a set of tools, this may be
a concern. Retailers who sell direct understand
this and their bikes are prepped before packing
so they are easy to build when they land at
your door. Most brands have videos online, and
instructions. From the direct to consumer bikes
we have built to test here at AMB there have been
no nightmares. It’s usually a case of fitting a front
wheel, handlebars and attaching the dropper
post. Gears and brakes are set, but you still need
to adjust your suspension, tyre pressures and do
your bike fit.
Canyon are based out of Koblenz, Germany.
All of their stock is hand built, test-ridden, and
re-packed so it’s easy to build once it arrives on
your door step. The same goes for Sydney-based
company Bicycles Online. With our experience
from Bicycles Online with Marin bikes, all we
have had to do is fit front wheels, handlebars and
dropper posts and everything else is done.
“Anyone should be able to do it” states James
from Bicycles Online. “Typically it’s only the front
wheel, handlebars and pedals. The bikes have
gone through a very thorough build process
by our heavily trained mechanics. In the past,
online bike stores just shipped out a bike as it
would normally be delivered from the distributor.
However the industry has come a long way and
it’s quite a different process in delivering a bike
direct to a customer.”
If you’re not confident, a proper bike fit and
the build can be done via another provider. Youmight choose a specialist physio for the bike fit
or a trusted store. The bike build can be done by
a local shop or a stand alone mechanic service.
Here’s a tip though, don’t stand for poor service
because you didn’t buy the bike from that shop.
You’ve come in to be a customer, and if they don’t
want you, go elsewhere.WHAT ABOUT WARRANTY?
Your warranty is with the bike brand, or importer.
If you buy a bike from a shop your contact will
be with the shop – but they still put the case to
the importer or bike brand. So there is no real
difference when buying direct.
“There’s a team of five of us here in
Melbourne,” explains Darryl from Canyon. “So it
is no different to any other brand in Australia. If
you have a problem, just get on the phone and call
us, or send an email if it’s after hours.” In a sense,
this might be faster than going via a shop, as like
in the purchase, you have cut out the middleman.
Without going over every scenario for a warranty
claim, you may need to call on a local store to fit
something for you, but Canyon have a range of
stores they work with and refer riders to around
the country. Bicycles Online have their team in
Sydney ready to assist, whether you’re on the
phone, dropping them an email, using Facebook
or have a live chat window open. In fact they feel
it’s faster than a normal shop experience because
as highlighted above – you’re going direct.
Import duty and taxes are all covered in the
price you will see from the brands set up to sell
direct, and it’s part of the service that is offered by
brands selling you a bike from overseas.