I’ll probably be looking at a new bike in the next couple of years. However,I’m a chronic over-researcher. Today’s bikes all seem so awesome, leading me to geek out over minutiae. At this rate I’ll have a bike picked out in 5-10 Years-by which time all the currently cool stuff will be weird and scary.
How do you pick out. A new bike?
LBS availability
It’s on clearance, Clarence
Pick a BB type and be a d*ck about it
Pick a wheel size and be a d*ck about it
Who’s down with Kijiji? Yeah you know me
Logo looks good on trucker hat
Fanciest sounding suspension linkage
Makes me feel like when I used to climb the rope in gym class
I read a lot of reviews. Mostly in the Mountain Bike Action Magazine, but sometimes other mags, Pinkbike, Mtbr, etc. I’m pretty committed to the Specialized brand, but only because they originally hooked me with good reviews, and continue to get consistently good reviews.
The look of a bike also attracts me, but not at the cost of performance. This goes back a long time, but I really liked the look of the old Stumpjumpers and Enduros with the seat mast design.
I hated the 2004-2006 Stumpjumper shock-through-seatpost design. Would never have bought one of those. But ended up buying the similar 2007 model.
My newest bike is a 2017 Stumpjumper 6Fattie (27.5+). Liking Specialized in the first place, got me started, reading reviews kept me going, and a test ride on @riderx 's bike sold me. Deciding between 27.5, 27.5+ and 29 was a tough call. Ended up going with 27.5+ in large part because of @riderx 's experience with his. He said it worked really well for the trails around here and would fit my riding style.
I’m a Kijiji/Pinkbike bottom feeder, I’m all about the best bang for the buck and I’m not afraid of buying used if the price is right and the condition is good.
While this means that I’ve only ever bought one bike new, I have been able to amass a pretty sweet stable of bikes (too many at the moment actually LOL) that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford.
The “downside” (although I don’t really consider it such) is not having the latest and greatest. Which I am perfectly fine with, all my bikes are sporting 26" wheels.
I’m also pretty well outfitted to do my own repairs, mods, etc. so that definitely helps.
For me I both look at LBS deals and used bikes. The biggest thing for me is I won’t buy a bike without a good test ride. The feel of how it rides for my style is above all regardless of what reviews say about it.
Reviews are useful for narrowing down targets and see how they may hold up to abuse though.
You nailed first and foremost is the ride. If it don’t suit you or your not comfortable then your just throwing your money away. Once I got a ride I like then I think about service life and does it use proprietary components that should they fail leave you without a functioning bike. I want to be able to go into a bike shop and get most common parts off the shelf for service and repair’s aka shimano.
