New Bike - Online or Instore?

ncinnoir

hi guys, complete newbie to cycling (and boards!), so sorry if this is a daft q.

Going to use the bike for commuting, and some longer spins at the w/e. The best of what i've been recommended seems to be the Giant CRS 3.0W and so decided to pick up a few bits and pieces as well (mudguards, lights, rack etc)...

online (cyclestore.co.uk) i can get the whole lot including delivery for about €480, vs. about €600 (without trying for a discount though) in Ireland. What do you recommend? Is cyclestore a good online shop, or would i be better going to a shop in dublin (been into Cyclesuperstore and Bike Rack - BR seems very good though and may give me a good enough discount). Or does anyone know of a good place up north to go to?

thanks a million for any advice.
NC

Hermy

You might find something interesting at Chain Reaction Cycles.
Also check the wiki for other useful info.

Gavin

If you are new to cycling, the general consensus is to head into a local bike shop. You'll get a bike that fits you properly and usually a free service to tighten gear cables.

If there's problems you can go back to the bike shop. You can usually negotiate with them as well to throw stuff in or buy other stuff at a discount.

72hundred

Verb wrote: »

If you are new to cycling, the general consensus is to head into a local bike shop. You'll get a bike that fits you properly and usually a free service to tighten gear cables.

If there's problems you can go back to the bike shop. You can usually negotiate with them as well to throw stuff in or buy other stuff at a discount.

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+1

penexpers

I wouldn't buy off CRC if this is your first bike. They dont assemble the bike at all.

unionman

72hundred wrote: »

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+1

+1

drunkmonkey

I got my last bike from Evans Cycles, there service is very good, the first bike had a faulty derailer and snapped buckling the back wheel and scraped the paintwork....they sent me out a new one straight away and picked up the old one....top notch service....Got the bike for half the price it was in Ireland....gave the Irish Shops a fair chance but price was the deciding factor....saved over €400

http://www.evanscycles.com/

lukester

Re buying online vs locally, depends on your comfort level in terms of basic bike maintenance, etc. If you are happy to do some basic stuff, then buying online offers some very good bargains.

If you're going to use a local bike shop, ask around, get recommendations from others, etc. For online store info, do a search on this forum, tons of threads, but some of the most popular are Wiggle, Chain Reaction Cycles (up north) and Evans. Lots of others too, best bet is find the model you want and search for that. Remember to check out the shipping price, some, like CRC, offer free shipping here. Mc Convey's is another bike shop up north. As others have said, fit is very important, so if you're buying online ideally you'd try the bike beforehand.

Re type of bike, you'll get tons of advice. I was in your shoes a while back, and probably would have initially opted for a hybrid too, but ended up with a road bike after coming on here, talking to other cyclists, etc. I'm very glad I went down that route as it opened up a whole aspect of cycling I hadn't tried before.

Funkyzeit

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I got my last bike from Evans Cycles, there service is very good, the first bike had a faulty derailer and snapped buckling the back wheel and scraped the paintwork....they sent me out a new one straight away and picked up the old one....top notch service....Got the bike for half the price it was in Ireland....gave the Irish Shops a fair chance but price was the deciding factor....saved over €400

http://www.evanscycles.com/

I got my first bike off Evans aswell - found them brilliant and thrilled with the bike...

ncinnoir

Thanks,

the replies have been really helpful, think i'll give the guys here a call and give them the price i'm getting elsewhere and see what they can do...if that doesn't work I'll take a spin up north tomorrow!

have tried out a few bikes already and i think the one i prefer at the mo is the giant CRS 3.0 ... if all goes well and this the start of something bigger, then i'll look at a road bike then!

tnx again,
NC

dub_skav

I got a bike off Evans too. I had a terrible customer service experience (which I believe from here is unusual), but when the bike finally arrived it was assembled perfectly and I have no complaints since.

Raam

dub_skav wrote: »

I got a bike off Evans too. I had a terrible customer service experience (which I believe from here is unusual), but when the bike finally arrived it was assembled perfectly and I have no complaints since.

What happened?