When is the best time of the year to buy a bike?

junii

Im going to buy a road racer. I understand that I won't use it a whole lot over the winter due to weather. Im going with a beginners bike, ocr4 or the like.

Are bikes cheaper now seen as there getting ready for 2007 stock or would I pay the same price next year? Basically, I have a low budget so I want to get it at the best possible time.

Thanks.

Morgan

The best time would probably be right now - 2007 models are arriving in the shops and they may be willing to reduce the 2006 stock.

You can find some real bargains online for older stock.
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant_road_bikes.html

junii

Ok.

There doesn't seem to be anything too basic there. Cheapest is e900.

I won't have the money for this for another two weeks. I wonder would it be ok to ring around a few shops and just ask them for their prices. What would I say afterwards though... "Ill get back to ya???"

blorg

In my experience they don't actually get the 2007 models in Ireland until around March; thus first four months or so of the new year is the best time to get a discount on the last year's model if you are buying new. Haven't bought a new bike in three years or so though so things may have changed.

However now is an _excellent_ time to pick up a good bike second-hand, complete buyers market with the rain starting and people selling after the summer. If you can evaluate condition you should get something far better than if you were buying new.

junii

blorg wrote:

In my experience they don't actually get the 2007 models in Ireland until around March; thus first four months or so of the new year is the best time to get a discount on the last year's model if you are buying new. Haven't bought a new bike in three years or so though so things may have changed.

However now is an _excellent_ time to pick up a good bike second-hand, complete buyers market with the rain starting and people selling after the summer. If you can evaluate condition you should get something far better than if you were buying new.

Great! A second hand one would do just fine.
Is there a good magazine/publication in Ireland where I could find some sellers?

Id be quite iffy about buying a bike on ebay tbh.

blorg

Buy and Sell and www.adverts.ie will be your best bet. No harm to post a wanted ad if there isn't anything there right now.

EDIT: By the way, racing bikes _do_ tend to be quite expensive, €799 or so _is_ basically the entry level for a new bike (something like a Trek 1000.) Second hand you should get something decent from €400 or so.

What size are you? Someone else is selling a nice looking Look bike on these very forums (might be a bit expensive though.)

junii

I have posted a wanted now on adverts. Is that the Terry Dolan bike your talking about that someone else is selling? Can't afford that im afraid. Don't you want that yourself anyways?

I went into a shop there and had a quick look at lunch. 779 for the trek 1000 and 389 or something for an OCR4. I thought these two bikes were in the same league and also both entry levels.

Anyways, if nothing decent turns up on adverts I will probably go with the OCR4... Should I hold off till March as It won't be used much until next summer though id like to have it around for any decent days we get in the winter. Ive only a bog standard mtb at the moment but I could live with it.

aodhu

junii wrote:

I wonder would it be ok to ring around a few shops and just ask them for their prices. What would I say afterwards though... "Ill get back to ya???"

Of course it is. You don't need to make any excuses after, just say thanks! I did this loads when I was buying my last bike. What I did was get a few of the catalogs then rang the different shops asked them their prices and marked it in the catalog.

Also if you find it cheaper in one bike shop then another but prefer the more expensive shop (or the one closer to your house/with better service whatever) tell em! If you can tell a bike shop a cheaper price in a different shop a lot of them will either match the price or throw in something extra to close the sale.

blorg

No, not specifically the Terry Dolan, someone was posting in Cycling trying to get a value on a Look Ultegra-equipped bike. Don't think they put an ad up yet but it would likely be in the ~750 bracket.

But besides that there was an oldish but nice-looking racer that sold for 200 recently, and there have been others. There may not be anything _right now_ but if you keep a look out there and in the Buy & Sell (maybe stick a wanted in there also) something will likely come up over the next month or so. All the more so if you are considering waiting until March. A few years back I got a Trek 1000 in perfect condition from Cyclogical for half the RRP.

If you were buying new, 779 for the Trek is RRP AFAIK but 389 for the OCR4 sounds like a pretty good deal, I think RRP is around 469. The Trek is the better bike but Giant do tend to be very good value and you will get a better Giant bike for a given amount of money than Trek IMHO.

junii

aodhu wrote:

Of course it is. You don't need to make any excuses after, just say thanks! I did this loads when I was buying my last bike. What I did was get a few of the catalogs then rang the different shops asked them their prices and marked it in the catalog.

Also if you find it cheaper in one bike shop then another but prefer the more expensive shop (or the one closer to your house/with better service whatever) tell em! If you can tell a bike shop a cheaper price in a different shop a lot of them will either match the price or throw in something extra to close the sale.

Great! Ill do just that. Thanks.

rash

Wiggle seems to have deals on 06 models
http://wiggle.ec-messenger.com/re?l=o2tjpI4fo4daI0I4t8