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.

Lost Time

Everyone loses time and the key thing about lost time is that once lost you never find it again. During everyone’s day, there is a period where you could do something useful like mending a fuse, cleaning the car or baking some scones. Instead we all waste that time and it is lost. It can occur It could be at any time It could be in the morning if you work nights or even in the dark for a commuter. If you are neither a lark or an owl the gap between afternoon and evening is ideal for fresh scones, or for pedaling. If truth were told, many of us prefer the scones.

My real problem is like everyone else I do not seem to have enough time, so it becomes another exercise in balance. Work, family, friends, cars, gardens and even other people’s bikes seem to come ahead of my own bike, which despite my best efforts need lots of extra care. I ride a lot so it always needs cleaning, I tried to jump that log and now it needs repairing. It is making a tiny noise so it obviously needs absolutely everything adjusting. It has worn something out and needs replacing. Riding conditions have changed so something needs swapping. There is a new improved widget just launched that I want to get. And you have something on your bike that I like, really like, and do not need but it feels necessary somehow. Therefore, I do not have enough time to ride further, to ride more often, to ride more places or even to ride an extra local loop. I have a solution for this that does not include winning the lottery. I need to improve my time planning. How long will this take? An hour. No, it will not! By the time, I am organised and ready to start that hour has slipped away. By the time I have finished and cleared away - half a day. A meeting scheduled for an hour with everyone prepared and a fixed agenda can eat up a day and achieve nothing. Hence, the result is that the time left is never enough to go for a ride with the only exception of when it has just started to pour down of course. Therefore, I will try to be more realistic about the time for everything but plan in some rides, ideally with someone else, so I cannot change it and also to try, just try mind, to take advantage of some of my lost time.

Need to go now, almost teatime and I have arranged a ride. Make mental note - Buy ticket just in case…

SDW Recovery

On the 12th August we rode the 106 miles of the South Downs Way in a day as part of a Muddy@rse effort to raise money for a local charitble event. Check the Muddy@rse link for ride reports.

During the week immediately following the SDW ride I noticed that I was eating significantly more than usual and in particular I was loading up with protien. Also I had no interest in fiddling or cleaning the bike for 5 days - not like me! My knees had been virtually trouble free during the ride but the following days they became increasingly stiff and sore, very noticable when descending stairs. The numbness around the @rse area disappeared after the first nights sleep so luckily no problems there.


The knees stiffness began to ease after 3 days so I figured I would be fine leading the Muddy@rse ride around Whiteways on the 19th August, so I cleaned the bike and was all set to go. After the usual milling about we set off from Whiteways carpark straight into the slippery rooty singletrack. Trails where gravity was on my side were not a problem but as soon as it went up I began to feel an ache and tightness in my knees. When I could spin the hills it was okay but as soon as I needed to put any power through the pedals I could feel the knee discomfort growing significantly. I decided that rather than risk any damage as soon as I felt I was forcing the pedals I would walk the hill. Luckily the ride was ralatively flat and I didn't suffer too much.

Back at the carpark I mentioned the knee issues to Lisa who had also done the SDW with me on 12th August. Yep, she had experienced exactly the same troubles at exactly the same points in the ride. A week and a half after the SDW ride I don't feel sore or tired although I do still have an excessive appetite for protien and I really don't fancy riding the bike.

It seems my aging body is telling me that it is not yet recovered and that I need to slow down and take it easy.


Check photos for before & after pics.

Sunset Rider

This is not a time of day it’s a time of life.

As we age we discover a whole new world of wrinkles, glasses, slowed reflexes and aches and pains. At first it takes longer to recover after a long ride then it takes longer to recover after the last hill. We need to pace ourselves better, eat and drink regularly, and harbour our reserves stringently because we will need all of them by the end of the day. Instead of wanting to ride every day it seems nice to have a rest day in between deluding ourselves that we are somewhat like an Olympic athlete peaking for a superhuman effort to reach for gold and all we need to do is keep up with the others or reach the top of the hill with at least one gear left. We could argue that with age comes wisdom and that we can employ our efforts more effectively but you still have less power, less strength and less endurance.

One of our few friends in this new arena is technology and perhaps we can afford lighter and faster kit more easily than the teenager with a restricted budget. Just as well really as they seem to have forgotten to get tired or slow up.Our other friend is bad weather. In the wind and the rain, or in the dark evenings of winter we rarely see a younger face. They don’t need to go out because they are young and there is always tomorrow.

For us though consistency is the key and regular outings seem to make a bigger difference as the years roll by, so with the evenings now light climb on your bike and fight the wind and rain for an hour. You will be tired and perhaps wet but you will have fought Father Time and my Nomad will not be the only bike on the trail.

Rego: Recovery Drink

As I get older it seems to take longer to recover from any physical exertion and more worryingly alcohol overindulgence, what was a couple of hours discomfort can now last a day or two. I am usually sceptical of the claims made for 'sports' drinks and used to view them as overpriced flavoured sugar solutions but not anymore. 6 months ago I tried 'Science in Sport' REGO recovery drink on the advice of friends who swore by the stuff, I am now also a convert.

REGO comes as a powder and is mixed with water, I use an SIS measuring bottle (tip; add the powder first then add 3/4 of the actual amount of water, this gives shaking space in the bottle, when fully shaken top up with water). The finished product has the consistency of a thick milkshake, I find the chocolate flavour is the best as it does a good job of masking any sign of a synthetic taste. I mix it before a ride and leave it in the fridge until I return, alternatively chill it and take it in the car in a thermos flask.

Does it work? yes. After a couple of hours riding drink a pint of REGO. The most obvious effects are: 1) later the same day I have significantly less aches and pains; 2) the following day I don't suffer stiff legs or sore muscles.

Saturday 28th April we did a recconaissance ride of the upcoming May Muddy@rse ride and followed this on Sunday 29th April with the Falmer & Kingston Muddy@rse ride. A pint of REGO after each ride and I'm going out again tonight.

Try it, it does work. Get it from Wiggle.co.uk.

Importing Bikes and Parts from USA

There are a number of reviews on this site of high-end bikes that are pretty rare in the UK. All of these bikes were personally imported by us from the USA, in fact our regular group all ride bikes we have imported from USA. The purpose of this article is to describe what we have done and pass on our experience of the process. We do not work in the bike trade or import/export trades. I used to live in the USA and have a lot of experience of moving my belongings between the two countries.

Why Import from the USA, cost. The exchange rate is almost U$2.00 = £1.0 and has been for the past couple of years, saving money is the only reason. Importing for personal use is 100% legal and with the explosion of e-Bay during the last few years I believe that it will become increasingly common. Do not buy and import the whole bike as this has significant tax and duty consequences (see below for details). There are horror stories of warranties etc but we have never experienced a problem and have had shocks in Santa Cruz frames replaced under warranty in the UK for items imported from the US. With the cost savings we can afford to send the frame back to the US dealer if anything serious needs done under warranty eg one of us sent a cracked frame back to the US dealer and had it replaced under warranty.

What to do?
You need to know exactly what you want, make, model, size and colour. It is best to go to a UK dealer to check out the options and see if you like your favourite option in the flesh. Make the dealer an offer that you think is reasonable, ie on a full bike offer to pay 50% of the list price of the frame on top of any inducements he may suggest. It is likely he will refuse, don’t be deterred come home and get on the internet. E-mail all the dealers in the US that you can find for the item you want. Go to the manufacturers website and search the ‘Dealers’ section and also check e-bay for US sellers advertising bikes as these guys will ship to the UK. In the E-mail be very specific: will they invoice you and ship a frame to the UK or will they invoice to the US and ship to the UK. Many will say no as doing so will invalidate their dealer status in US if the manufacturer finds out. All the major dealers (Jensen, Supergo etc) will say no. Someone somewhere (usually a small one-man shop) will say yes. Alternatively if you have friends or relatives in the USA ask the shop to invoice and ship to them (all shops in US will do this) and they can post it on to you. If you visit the US you can carry the item back and pay excess baggage. I would recommend declaring it at UK customs, each time I have declared an item I have paid the minimum import tax and duty they could charge.

Ordering and Paying for it.
Get a brand new credit card. Call the shop and get the price (note US price quotes do not include state tax so ask if this will be charged) for exactly what you want, (US made headset, stem & seatpost stuff is silly cheap) and pay a deposit for the goods on the credit card. You will have to use U$ as all prices quoted to you will be in the currency. Tell the shop to e-mail you when everything is ready and pay for it (together with shipping cost) with the credit card. Destroy the card, call the credit card company and tell them not to authorise anymore payments on the card.

Shipping, Taxes and Import Duty
The cost to ship a frame is approximately U$70 or about £35-00, a fork is about U$ 50 or £25-30. These costs are for regular priority airmail, this is 5 day delivery to the UK, this is delivery to UK not delivery to your door. It can take around another 5-10 days for it to either be delivered to your door or notification for you to collect it from the post office. Get the shop to fax or scan and e-mail a copy of the shipping documentation as this numbers that can be traced. Items sold out of the US do not usually have a US state sales tax applied, if they charge you tax they will send you a form to claim it back, bin the form as the process is so long and complex it is not worth the hassle. Do not import a complete bike as this is subject to 17.5% VAT. A frame with headset, seatpost and stem is classed as bike components and these have only 3% VAT duty not the 17.5 % for a full bike, import duty in total is about 10% of the value written on the ticket. We have imported three bike frames during the last two years and have not been charged either VAT or import duty on any of them. I understand that the law was changed 18 months ago and anything with a value of £1000-00 or less is not subject to import taxes and duty. I would budget to pay the tax and duty and hope you don’t get charged for it.

Get out and ride your pride and joy.

During the past years we have bought a brand new Intense 5.5 EVP for £800-00, two Santa Cruz Blur frames for approximately £800-00 each, three Santa Cruz Nomad Frames for approximately £850-00 each, Avid Juicy 7 brakes for £150-00 the pair, 10 watt nickel-metal-halide lights with lithium ion batteries for approximately £150-00, FOX talas and vanilla 36 forks for approximately £300-00 each, a pair of Chris King hubs for £250-00 etc etc. These are massive discounts on the UK prices you just need a little patience to wait for it them to arrive.

Selling a Bike on E-Bay

This may be old hat to some of you but I have now sold a couple of high end bikes (Intense 5.5 evp and Santa Cruz Nomad frame) on e-Bay with great results. This article is a summary of my experience selling the Intense 5.5. (The photo's are of the Nomad).

1
Open an E-Bay Sellers account. My partner has bought things on E-Bay so we converted her account into both seller and buyer, a straightforward and painless exercise.

2
Decide the price. I considered: the rarity of the bikes and the retail cost, the up-charge cost of the custom finishes, the finishing kit on the bike and replacement costs at both retail and bargain shopping, the price that previous 5.5’s had gone for and finally how common they were on E-Bay. I could find only two previous 5.5 sales: one in the UK which had gone for £2800.00 but it had never been ridden and another in Canada with a dented frame. I decided on both a ‘Buy it Now’ with a bidding price £150.00 below. I put these figures close together as I assumed that bidding would soon bridge £150.00.

4
Decide on the method of delivery. A bike is a different proposition to anything I have previously sent through the post so I needed to check it out. The Royal Mail web-site was pretty useful and directed me to the Parcel Force web-site which was excellent. I followed the on-line guide and used the calculator to get an estimate price for the delivery and details of how it should be packed etc. Luckily I had the original box that the frame had arrived in.

5
Decide on payment terms. Pay-Pal the E-Bay ‘bank’ is straightforward to use; however as a seller it takes 3.5% of the selling price in commission. This doesn’t seem much but soon mounts up on an expensive item. In order to keep the price reasonable I opted to accept payment by personal cheque or bank draft only. This does limit the payment options for the buyer as they cannot use a credit card, this in turn is likely limit the number of people who will be in a position to bid or buy the item.

6
Placing the advert was a very simple process, I used a couple of photo’s of the clean bike and one of it in action on Holmbury Hill. I gave a brief description of the bike together with a summary of the kit, I listed major service dates and was specific in pointing out cosmetic flaws. I deliberately chose to be understated rather than talk up the components or frame. I thought if people know what it is they will read on, those who don’t know what it is will think it expensive for a bike and move on. I placed the advert to run for 7 days midweek to midweek therefore including a weekend.

7
I opted to ‘track’ the item which basically enabled me to see the number of bids, number of people watching it (not who they are) and how many questions I had received and answered. The first day nothing happened (was my scepticism justified?), the second day 4 people were watching this rose to 12 people on the 3rd day. Saturday brought a flood of questions covering everything possible on a bike from services to tyre choice(?). I answered as best and accurately as I could. I was pleased and relieved that people were interested. I went to the pub. The next day I was notified of a bid, it had been bought at the ‘Buy it Now’ price, a success.

8
Doing the deal. I received a personal cheque and used a priority clearing service at the bank to ensure it would not bounce. The bike was thoroughly wrapped in masses of bubble wrap and packed into the box. I rotated the handle bars 90 degrees, took the pedals off, wrapped them and taped them to the crossbar. I covered the box with sticky tape and took the bike-in-box to the main Post Office in Brighton and off it went. The new owner received it and let me know all was well. In fact we are still in touch, he loves the bike and 18 months later he has no intention of selling it.

All in all a painless exercise, in fact a very effective and efficient process. I doubt I will ever become an ‘E-Bay millionaire’ but it is an excellent way of moving things on that are still serviceable but no longer used.