5 Things To Know BEFORE Buying A Bike

The following companies (that you'll see in my content) support me either financially or with free stuff, so huge thanks to these guys for helping the channel thrive:
Attacus Cycling,
SCOTT,
MET Helmets,
Shimano,
fidlock,
Hutchinson Tyres
Sungod
Tailfin
GT85
Garmin
Parcours Wheels

#cycling #bikes #bicycle

[jirdesteva]

The best words I ever heard from a bike shop owner a long time ago. "If it is uncomfortable you won't ride. If it is comfortable you won't stop riding."

[AuSTyNR]

I finally decided to buy a road bike last year. I watched so many of your bike fit Tuesday’s and the stuff I’ve learned here isn’t even known in a lot of bike shops. I’ll go into a bike shop and they’ll say the exact stuff you guys debunk. I just nod and pretend to agree with them.
Without these videos, I would’ve been living with numb balls and numb hands my whole life.

[agstudioband]

one of the key points to mention, people tend to go to higher groupsets, and then are surprised how expensive the maintanance is. Replacing just part of the component is several times more expensive than lower groupsets.

[umermirza]

Does anyone else just love the way this guy speaks? He reminds me of my English teacher the unbothered but passionate human you remember forever.

[the_erudite]

Honest. Informative. Direct-to-the-point. Zero b*llocks. My kind of cycling channel. Kudos, Francis and James for this snappy guide to buying a bike. Cheers, mate!

[davecech]

The guidance in the video is totally on point. I'd like to share my experience with purchasing and dialing in a new road bike from about a year ago. Prior to buying the bike, I was vacillating between buying a frame and building it up vs. just buying a complete bike. I already had a 15+ year old road bike that I was fit on to base some decisions with, so I compared the geometry to what I was buying and figured I was good to go with buying a pre-built bike. Well, eh, sort of. After buying the bike I quickly realized that the stem was too short, even though the "reach" measurement reported by the manufacturer was similar to my old bike. What I discovered was that the stem on my old bike, while it was labeled 100mm, was actually quite a bit longer than this and didn't really compare to the 100mm stem on the new bike. My bike fitter had also said I would benefit from wider bars, so I swapped the bars too. I also wasn't in love with the saddle that came with the bike, so I swapped that for a 3D printed one (it works really, really well for me, I've never been so happy with a saddle). The last item was the crankset, which I deliberated over for the first 9 months of riding the bike. The bike came with a 52/36 + 11/30 set up. I could make it work, but even as a reasonably strong rider, I knew I was going to be better off with a compact (50/34) chainring set up with all the (steep) hills in my area. After putting it off all that time, I finally broke down and ordered a new crankset, and then quickly kicked myself for waiting so long to do it because it was immediately apparent how much better the bike was with it. I was able to sit (a lot) more on longer climbs and the new crankset (along with a swap to 700x32 tires) made the bike much more effective on the gravel sections I mix into some of my rides. So ~$1, 200 in component changes later, the bike is pretty much perfect. Would I have been better off buying a frame and building it up from scratch? Maybe. The frame I wanted (note, I will only ride a bike with a threaded BB, so this limited my options to a few manufacturers) is sold standalone only in its highest end form, so I think I still came out ahead in terms of value for money. With that said, having a "curated" ride with handpicked components would have been pretty sweet.

[benjaminhunt]

James and his team are damn good. Best decision I ever made was going to him. Sorted out so many issues and kept me riding.

[grantmcalpine]

Absolutely fantastic video guys. I bought a new bike this year and now am dealing with Lake Shoes in Toronto to assist with my short wide feet. I bought G8's and am loving them so your videos have really helped.

[Scooter-K]

Great video, hitting all the critical sweet spots in making the most important cycling purchase decisions!

[mrpokeit]

Darn. I wish I'd seen this in Sept 21 when I started along this glorious road. I *Literally* made ever mistake possible from shoe size to bike fit after purchase. I will say that cycling as a thing does creep up on you somewhat. If you'd have told me last August that in about 3 months I'd be utterly obsessed with cycling I'd have laughed, I was still murdering my poor middle aged knees on a bi-daily run. And even once discovered It took about 6 months of exceedingly slippery slopery to realize this was going to be a (big) part of my life going forward and by then all the errors had been made... Ho hum. Time to book in a retrospective bike fit with James and hope he doesn't give me a bollocking 8)

[fredderf]

Fantastic video! Glad to hear James rides a 52/53. I recently bought a small and am so glad I did.

[keithmoore]

I really appreciate all the information you gents provide in all your videos. Thank you!

[JoeOlafs]

Many great points there for people starting!
I have an entry level bike with a Claris drivetrain and TRP disc brakes that has been great. Been wanting to upgrade to a 1x drivetrain for a more gravel oriented gearing and more powerful brakes but can't justify the cost because the Claris symply just continues to work, 1600km so far and only nedded to replace a chain.

[ddniUK]

The attitude and tone of that bike shop owner sums up the snide undercurrent of superiority than turns many off of cycling…

[BioStuff]

I agree - Colnago geometry is classic and superior. The larger head tube eliminates spares and yet allows the hips to open up.

[ramalufc]

Great videos and obvious James speaks from great knowledge and experience. That said, his comment on bike sizing really surprises me as the implication is that frame sizes of 58+ are for folk who are 6'4+. I'm 6'2" but with long inseam so needed a 60cm Domane as I was at the limit of the seatpost in the 58cm. I did have a general fitting and my seat height wasn't said to be 20mm too high and I'm sure any lower wouldn't be ideal so it's obviously down to individual sizing. I have needed to fit a shorter stem to reduce the reach but given the endurance fit it feels fine and I can ride on the hoods no problem.

[niceone]

The bit about sizing is absolutely correct, especially for people with shorter legs or longer legs. For example, I’m 176cm which falls into Trek’s size 56 (rider from 174-180cm), but again that’s based on people’s inseam length rather than actual height. My inseam is shorter than average and as well as my arms. So instead of 56cm, 52cm fits me the best. But this would be impossible to tell from a first time buyer and they could potentially be wasting a lot of money on a frame that can lead to injury and not comfortable to ride.

[mathewrose]

I'd also add the suggestion of considering summer and winter shoes, fitted for the thickness of socks you're likely to be wearing in that season. It took a few years, but I've now gone to having winter shoes that are 45 instead of 44 because I trade out thin cycling socks for medium weight wool once the frost comes.

[relaxingsoundsofswitzerlan]

Best video ever to watch before buy. It sure helped me with my thinking process of what is important. Thank you !

[cb]

Thanks Francis and wish id known a lot of this 4 years ? I have learned most of what I know from watching you, and others like you , on Youtube...I still love to ride , no matter what !