Direct Buy Bikes
If you do not have the need to purchase the name brand bike, you can find great offers in smaller direct to consumer bike companies. Every brand listed below can be purchased from the brand site and some are available directly through eCommerce marketplaces. When purchasing road bikes online, the buyer is responsible for arranging proper assembly to validate the component manufacturers warranty. Many of these DTC brands offer assembly services and trial periods, but at home assembly appointments can also be organized with Velofix.
direct buy bikes
Canyon Bicycles is the benchmark for DTC bike brands and it also has the biggest selection. The German brand was founded in 1985 and began selling bikes online as early as 1996. Since then, it has grown into a cycling juggernaut.
Factor was founded in 2007 in Norfolk, England, and started out as a motorsport engineering firm working with brands like Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati, as well as several F1, Moto GP, and WRC teams. It used its engineering expertise to produce an innovative split downtube aero road bike that impressed a few pro riders enough for them to invest in the company. Factor transitioned fully to building bikes in 2009 and has never looked back. Cycling fans may have seen Factor bikes in the pro peloton where it sponsored AGR2 La Mondiale and currently provides bikes to the Israel Start-Up Nation World Tour team.
While the LBS lives on, thankfully, more and more companies are switching to a direct to consumer model. In fact, direct to consumer bikes over recent years have become a big thing, and the market is growing rapidly. Big players like The American Bicycle Group (owners of Litespeed) and Walmart have introduced their own direct to consumer brands, Ocoee and Viathon respectfully. Some of these models cut out the middle-man entirely, others use hybrid models, relying on dealers for assembly. Some brands even use a mobile mechanic service like Beeline Bikes or Velofix to deliver the bike and assemble it curbside.
Back in the day, you simply went to a bike shop, tried out a couple bikes and off you went. But in the mid-90s, everything started getting shaken up by this confusing, maybe-too-good-to-be-true thing called the internet.\nEver since, buying products online has become an increasingly popular option, whether that\u2019s from an online retailer or direct-sales bike brand. It\u2019s not hard to see why, with the ease of shopping at home, seemingly lower prices and delivery right to your door.\nBut what are the pros and cons of buying a bike at your local bike shop versus buying online, and what route should you take?\nBuying at the local bike shop \u2013 pros and cons\n\n Bike shops are normally tied to a select number of brands. Allan McKenzie \/ SWPix.com \nKnowledge and fit are the biggest advantages of buying from an actual, physical shop.\nGood bike shops live and breathe bikes so their advice might clue you in on something you didn\u2019t know and they can help you make sure the bike\u2019s size is correct.\nGetting the right bike fit is dependent on a variety of factors: height, flexibility, leg and arm length, riding style, even personal preference. There\u2019s little that can compare to actually riding the bike and having a trained eye there to look at you and analyse the bike fit.\nGeometry can also vary significantly from one bike to another, which in turn has a knock-on impact on fit and handling, so a good bike shop can help advise on the intricacies of road bike geometry and mountain bike geometry.\nRoad bike size guide\nMountain bike size guide\nWomen\u2019s bike size guide\n\n If you want to try on kit, the bike shop is the place to go. Allan McKenzie \/ SWPix.com\nFit extends beyond bikes, too. If you want to try on clothing, helmets or shoes without worrying about a returns policy or having to send kit back in the post, the bike shop is your best bet.\nAnother benefit to buying from a bricks-and-mortar bike shop is its service department.\nAlmost all new bikes come with a complimentary tune-up or discounted service. And if anything does happen to fail or go wrong, warranty issues are more easily dealt with by returning to a shop, and can sometimes be handled right there, depending on the part, of course.\nDownsides basically centre around having to pay more, at least upfront (we\u2019ll get more into that below). As with anything, buying from a shop can come at an additional cost, and bikes and bike components are no different, though some shops may offer a price match service.\n\n You\u2019ll miss your local bike shop\u2019s workshop when it\u2019s gone. Allan McKenzie \/ SWPix.com\nSome shops have pivoted to offering services beyond simply buying a bike, including quality coffee, in-depth bike fitting and coaching. Many bike shops also organise group rides or have a club.\nBeyond price, the other negative is that, unfortunately, really good bike shops stocked with the inventory you desire can be quite rare, and most bike shops are tied to the brands they specifically stock.\nUnfortunately a lot of bike shops are started by people with passion, rather than business savvy, and employee turnover can be high, due to low wages and long hours, too.\nHowever, if your local bike shop is run by passionate, knowledgeable staff, and stocks brands that work for you, then that personal touch can be very valuable as a customer.\nBuying online \u2013 pros and cons\nBuying a bike online can be done in two ways. First, there are manufacturers, such as Canyon, YT and others, that ship bikes straight to customers. Direct-sales brands, as they\u2019re known, typically have a team in each country for technical and warranty support.\nThen there are online shops with their own bike brands, including Vitus from Chain Reaction Cycles, and Ribble. You\u2019ll also find some sites with exclusive deals with certain manufacturers, with those bikes only being available from that retailer (exclusive partnerships).\nWhether it\u2019s the direct-to-consumer model or an online site blowing out last year\u2019s frames, the number-one benefit to buying online is price. Simply put, there are fewer layers to the end purchase, so less margin has to be made. This results in a nicer bike for less money or stretching your budget up a level in components.\n\n Direct-sales brands such as YT normally offer excellent value for money. Dan Milner \/ BikeRadar\nSounds awesome, doesn\u2019t it? Well, there are downsides to buying a bike from the comfort of your own home.\nUnless you snag a ride on a demo day or have a friend with the bike you want, you\u2019re spending a significant amount of money without a test ride. This, of course, can be less of an issue if you know what numbers you need on a geometry chart.\nThe savings you were so stoked on might not be there in the end, either.\nOn a basic level, you will have to assemble your bike from the box when it arrives and, if the bike shows up with a kinked cable, the disc brakes need to be bled, or the wheel got tweaked in transit, that\u2019s extra time and money to get those issues resolved.\n\n If you buy a bike online, it will arrive in a cardboard box for you to assemble at home. Dave Caudrey \/ Immediate Media\nYou\u2019ll likely have to go to your local bike shop for the parts or the repair, plus, depending on the company and where you live, you might have to pay for shipping if the bike needs to go back to the brand.\nThe other downside is warranty work. Whereas a local bike shop will often do their best to take care of you (their paying customer), when going direct it\u2019s on you to call or email, explain the issues, box and ship the bike or part back, and then wait on the response.\nLast but not least, some bike brands just aren\u2019t available outside of the bike shop. Also, if you live in an area with only one bike shop and it goes out of business, a last-minute tube or other ride-saving part purchase can\u2019t happen immediately online.\nThere\u2019s also the argument about keeping your money in the local cycling community where you live and supporting the business that may help with things like infrastructure campaigning, events and trail building.\nSo what\u2019s better?\nIt comes down to how experienced you are, whether you know exactly what you want, what brands you\u2019re keen on and, ultimately, your budget.\nIf cycling is new to you, or you don\u2019t have a solid, confident grasp of what all those lines and numbers mean on that goofy geometry chart, visit a shop for your new bike.\nOnline retailers and brands often offer great advice and knowledge, with passionate staff, but the reality is phone calls, emails and Skype chats can\u2019t always compare to direct face-to-face communication and butt-on-saddle experience.\nOn the flip side, if you\u2019ve been into bikes for a while, know what you want, and have the mechanical know-how to build and fix things, going online might be the right call.\nOnline pricing is tough to ignore, as is the convenience of having your new bike delivered to your door. Do keep in mind, though, buying online does have its compromises as well.","image":"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/21\/2021\/02\/DSC_4342-5fff9b5.jpg?quality=45&resize=768,574","width":768,"height":574,"headline":"Buying a bike from a bike shop vs buying online","author":["@type":"Person","name":"Russell Eich"],"publisher":"@type":"Organization","name":"BikeRadar","url":"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com","logo":"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/21\/2019\/03\/cropped-White-Orange-da60b0b-04d8ff9.png?quality=90&resize=265,53","width":182,"height":60,"speakable":"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","xpath":["\/html\/head\/title","\/html\/head\/meta[@name='description']\/@content"],"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/features\/buying-a-bike-from-a-bike-shop-vs-buying-online\/","datePublished":"2021-02-18T11:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-31T11:29:56+00:00"}] Buying a bike from a bike shop vs buying online Pros and cons of online and bricks-and-mortar shop purchases 041b061a72