Buying a Bike
You find yourself sitting in a well known large bike retailer trying on the shoes that are out of stock everywhere else. The Saturday staff is offering help on bike choice to another ‘sunset rider’.
A casual weekend rider wants to buy a replacement for a ten-year-old hardtail and wants to spend about £500. Well, £700 perhaps, but only if it provides something worth the extra cost e.g. shiny or carbon or something, and an absolute maximum of £1000 for something really impressive. If you were that staff member you would ask about the type of riding. Not here, the potential buyer is immediately shown a discounted race bike at £1200. Not sure? how about an even more expensive downhill bike that weighs about a tonne. Looks too heavy? Perhaps a discounted Freeride model of last year, which you could wind uphill before throwing down an Alp and may just cope with a bridleway trundle across the South Downs but at double your maximum budget figure. Want to buy it immediately? No? Oh…
The staff disappear and you smile reassuringly at the disappointed face under the greying hair. The day started so promisingly. Look for a new shiny bike that rides a bit better and makes you feel good every time you go to get on it. Without wishing to spoil all his hopes, you look towards the downhill monster and smile as you say;
“ride a lot?”
“Not really”
“Have you done any research?”
“None actually”
“There is loads of information available either in any of the magazines or online and at this time of the year there are lots of discounts available you know.”
“Yeah, I need to look up some stuff I think.”
Pass on the names of a magazine and a website to start him off and hope he remembers them. The staffer returns full of facts - XT, LX, dual control, float, bling this, techno that - the customers expression glazes over.
The mountain bike market is driven by product differentiation rather than product cost. For a manufacturer this means their aim is to offer a wider range of niche products that they hope will maximize their profit rather than offer the buyer better value. Therefore spending some time looking at the internet, reading a magazine and talking to a knowledgeable friend could help you find a bike that is suitable for you.
There are good bike shops staffed by well-informed people with good product to sell but they are not all like that so try visiting a few. There could be a good deal on the internet too but it is easy to choose cheap and end up disappointed with the wrong bike. If you are less experienced, the back up of a good shop or just the free advice may be worth a premium. If you work in a bike shop try remembering that you are there to serve and not offload inappropriate sale stock; find out someone’s requirements then suggest a few reasonable choices. And please do not try to pretend you are an expert if you only jump your BMX in the street. Go get the staffer who knows a bit and hand over to them. Then get me the right size of shoes from the stockroom because I do not need any advice just someone to go and get them before I die of old age waiting.
A casual weekend rider wants to buy a replacement for a ten-year-old hardtail and wants to spend about £500. Well, £700 perhaps, but only if it provides something worth the extra cost e.g. shiny or carbon or something, and an absolute maximum of £1000 for something really impressive. If you were that staff member you would ask about the type of riding. Not here, the potential buyer is immediately shown a discounted race bike at £1200. Not sure? how about an even more expensive downhill bike that weighs about a tonne. Looks too heavy? Perhaps a discounted Freeride model of last year, which you could wind uphill before throwing down an Alp and may just cope with a bridleway trundle across the South Downs but at double your maximum budget figure. Want to buy it immediately? No? Oh…
The staff disappear and you smile reassuringly at the disappointed face under the greying hair. The day started so promisingly. Look for a new shiny bike that rides a bit better and makes you feel good every time you go to get on it. Without wishing to spoil all his hopes, you look towards the downhill monster and smile as you say;
“ride a lot?”
“Not really”
“Have you done any research?”
“None actually”
“There is loads of information available either in any of the magazines or online and at this time of the year there are lots of discounts available you know.”
“Yeah, I need to look up some stuff I think.”
Pass on the names of a magazine and a website to start him off and hope he remembers them. The staffer returns full of facts - XT, LX, dual control, float, bling this, techno that - the customers expression glazes over.
The mountain bike market is driven by product differentiation rather than product cost. For a manufacturer this means their aim is to offer a wider range of niche products that they hope will maximize their profit rather than offer the buyer better value. Therefore spending some time looking at the internet, reading a magazine and talking to a knowledgeable friend could help you find a bike that is suitable for you.
There are good bike shops staffed by well-informed people with good product to sell but they are not all like that so try visiting a few. There could be a good deal on the internet too but it is easy to choose cheap and end up disappointed with the wrong bike. If you are less experienced, the back up of a good shop or just the free advice may be worth a premium. If you work in a bike shop try remembering that you are there to serve and not offload inappropriate sale stock; find out someone’s requirements then suggest a few reasonable choices. And please do not try to pretend you are an expert if you only jump your BMX in the street. Go get the staffer who knows a bit and hand over to them. Then get me the right size of shoes from the stockroom because I do not need any advice just someone to go and get them before I die of old age waiting.
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