which bike should i buy?

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Permalink Reply by Nigel on January 24, 2012 at 5:49pm

Of the four bikes you have mentioned the Fuji Absolute 2.0 is the lightest at 10.71kg and also has the better groupset (Tiagra) and other components such as a carbon fork. It is the dearest but the specifications are better than the other bikes mentioned. You will have to check if there is enough room for mudguards or an alternative is a seatpost rack which would act as a mudguard and a clip on front guard. K.mart or Aldi have great deals on cheaper bits though a good lock should come from your local bike shop. Try to include the extras in your bike purchase, it can sometimes work out cheaper if you bargain hard. Happy cycling

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Permalink Reply by Ariane Elyse Welch on January 24, 2012 at 7:19pm

Thanks so much! And if the Fuji 2.0 isn't available at that sale price? (It's not for sure that there'll be a sale bike in my size.) Which of the other three would be best? 

Thanks so much for the advice, it's really appreciated and I will follow it. Great advice about being careful about fit, haggling over extras and choosing a good store. 

Cheers, Ariane. 

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Permalink Reply by Will Wassell on January 24, 2012 at 7:36pm

As John says, make sure they fit the bike for you, make sure the store will allow you to test ride what you intend to buy (or a similar one) before you part with any cash. Most places should be okay with that. I haven’t heard of any LBS’s that won’t do this for you.

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Permalink Reply by PeterT on January 24, 2012 at 7:29pm

I'll defer to the others on the bike choice.

Also, where's cheapest for buying extras: helmet, lock, lights, mudguards, rack, basket?

-  but generally accessories are marked up (margin recovery) incredibly in Australia retail shops.

Online shops are generally better , see local websites such as cycling express, torpedo 7, cell bikes for local based websites (and helmets that come with the AS/NZ sticker ) or wiggle et al for overseas websites (some of these sites offer free delivery all the way from Europe, possibly with a minimum purchase).

You might want to arm yourself with some pricing and you can decide the % you want to pay to a local brick and mortar store over websites prices 

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Permalink Reply by Susan on January 24, 2012 at 10:01pm

When haggling for price and fit see if you can get them to swap out your saddle for a women's specific one that fits you. Many women's saddles are big and fat and really uncomfortable. A good bike store will be bale to set you up on a saddle that suits your sit bones (sometimes they have these funny gel pads you sit on and from there they can tell how wide your sit bones are). A good saddle is a huge improvement to making riding easier.

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Permalink Reply by Steve D on January 25, 2012 at 7:10am

As an aside, I find the prospect of buying a bike daunting. There seem to be way to many variables. Is it a rule of thumb that the more you pay, the lighter the bike and the smoother the gears? Also, when is it better to replace a clapped out drive train than to just buy a new bike? I imagine the answer is it depends on the drive-train:bike cost ratio??

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Permalink Reply by Ben on January 25, 2012 at 7:39am

I have previously looked at buying a bike from Clarence St, and they were very firm on not haggling, which surprised me a bit. They told me that if I wanted to pay less I should buy a cheaper bike.

That said, a couple of weeks ago we were in looking at the Trek 3.7 WSD. The staff in their women's shop were incredibly helpful in showing my wife different bikes, and getting something that fit her, and that she was comfortable with. When we go to buy the bike I'll likely go back there because of the helpful service.

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Permalink Reply by PeterT on January 25, 2012 at 8:49am

Agreed.

You just have to work out what what your definition of  the value of the "few extra" dollars between:

"milk the cash cow" bad service , just bad service, absolutely zero service, good / great (human) service, "milk the cash cow" good / great service.

Paying more doesn't automatically mean the shop is looking out for your interests.

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Permalink Reply by Jay on January 25, 2012 at 9:15am

You just have to work out what what your definition of  the value of the "few extra" dollars

Yes, this is the fine line. I'd decided on a bike at a Sydney store, found it online from Melbourne 30% cheaper (inc. free shipping) but liked the service so much I was willing to pay a bit more to get it from the local place that had recommended it. However, it turned out the local shop didn't have my size in stock and they wouldn't be able to get it for 2 months. I went with the delivery from Melbourne unfortunately as the local shop couldn't follow through quickly enough.

I did buy the bulk of my accessories from the Sydney store and take my bike there to be serviced as I really liked them. 

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