if you're buying a bike in 2022 then the technology that you're getting for your money
is the best it's ever been but buying a bike can still be a bit of a minefield so
in today's episode we're gonna arm you with some information that will help you with
the decision process you own a bike shop don't you sell me that sixteen thousand pounds sato
start by buying the right type of bike we see quite a lot of people coming through here who
have bought a bike that is frankly way too long way too low they're buying a race bike it's free
so if you consider that racing bikes you know there's a hint in the name
they're intended for racing they're designed around a 20 year old 60 kilo athlete who can
pedal at 400 watts all day long which is probably about double what most consumers can regardless
of how much you think you might be able to push 400 watts all day long you can't and the amount
of power you put through the pedals aids in sustaining your torso angle so a professional a
rider who has no upper body mass and is able to put out you know very high levels of power
for all day long he's able to tolerate a longer lower position than a consumer is so you're not
really comparing apps with apples and this is the problem with the bike industry as a
whole for the most part in that they're designing bikes for professionals rather than the end user
so if you're just starting out or you're just going to be a weekend warrior you're not going
to do any racing it's a really good starting point to start with an endurance orientated
bike they're more comfortable they are typically a little bit easier to ride and more importantly
most importantly they fit a little bit better because they've got a taller head tube the top
tube is shorter the whole thing is a little bit more relaxed and it's just generally conducive to
working better for consumers so i tend to recommend almost always buying an endurance
buying can you give me some examples of endurance bikes a specialized ruby the canon endurance uh
scott maker addict uh it's just the addict i think rather than an xrc which is basically
the same bike but with a slightly more relaxed geometry looks the same same carbon all that uh
trek makerbot called the damani giant defy cannondale synapse look 765. there are lots
of more endurance orientated bikes out there particularly the canyon and the scott actually
they kind of look exactly the same as their race orientated kin
but they're geometrically you know can uh connor go also does a high version of their
c series bikes so uh you know you can get a bike that looks cool but it fits well as well
all right the corner in particular when i used to work my previous employer i used to sell a lot of
corners and all of them were highs rather than the sloping geometries what most people want which is
what most bike shops stock unfortunately so there's a lot to be said for buying a bike
that fits you if you're a bike brand please please make a relaxed version of your frames
what about buying bikes online the good thing about buying box online particularly with uh
you know brands like the likes of fairlight and canyon these these kind of direct to consumer
models is that you get a lot more value for your money yeah sorry you get a lot more bike for your
money value is more than a monetary element you do get a better on paper spec and if that's what
you're interested in then then you know have at it particularly can you make fantastic bikes for
what for the uh for the price and we actively push people to to buy canyons however the minefield is
that we is the sizing structures are extremely misleading geometries are misleading so take
this for an example so i've got the geometry up here for a cannondale synapse let's take the 54
centimeter sizing which is the kind of the average size if you look at a 54 centimeter
not one number here has 54 centimeters on it so 54 centimeter bike actually has a 55
and a half centimeters top tube right that's 25 mil longer than my top tube which would render
a 54 centimeter too big for me the point of getting across here is that do not take the
size as the actual size a lot of the time the size the the size number will be the length of
the seat tube for instance what we're actually really interested in is the reach of the bike
that's the most important thing because you can you can adjust the saddle high by raising low on
the seat post the reach is significantly harder to adjust so i guess my advice would be to look
at the geometry tables read and understand the geometry tables and then be a bit more informed
about your purchasing decisions right and i think the other problem with particularly buying bikes
and bike shops and i had this i had this last week where i had a guy come in here and he was
like six foot riding a 58 centimeter bike that his bike shot that sold him like no on
no planet in this solar system so should someone who's six foot be riding a 58 centimeter bike
it's just way too big i ride a 52 53 centimeter bike and i'm five foot ten so i'm kind of average
height and i would ride a small in in most brands bikes you know like logic would dictate the
you know because i'll buy a medium t-shirt or medium pair of shorts or whatever it might
whatever it is uh logic would dictate that i would buy a medium bicycle not the case in a
look for instance i would ride a small this is a small 785 53 and a half centimeter top tube
it's only a centimeter shorter than the cannondale synapse and that's a racing buy sizing
recommendations on most websites seem to be based on the saddle height being about 20 mil too high
and if you consider that the most common bike fitting algorithm system is owned by the biggest
one of the biggest bike manufacturers and said system has a strong correlation with
excessive saddle height that kind of makes sense look and read the uh the geometry
tables and be a bit more informed about it which brings us on to our next point though
have a bike fee before you buy a bike this is the other way around to what the industry tells you
the problem is that if you have a bike fit on a bike you've already bought it as soon as the
bike's right in the first place so and this isn't just about coming here for a bike fit
there are lots of people out there that have jigs like this you don't need to have a bike with you
in order to have the fit because a fit should be about a rider's needs and limitations not about
the limitations of their bicycle my ethos in terms of buying bikes is fit first by later be
informed about the rider's needs and limitations and allow that to dictate the bike that they buy
rather than just saying oh you know i wanted to buy this top top-end racing bike and i'm gonna
try and make it fit think about it you know be more informed we very often help riders
don't buy a canyon or a fair light or whatever it might be um to go and buy something that we don't
sell because ultimately we're not really here to sell bikes we do sell bikes we sell very nice
bikes that's not the core of our business our core of our business is in bike fitting and it's about
it's about helping people be more informed about their purchasing decisions at the end of a bike
fit you come away with an understanding of what the optimum crank length is what the best pedal
system is handlebar width saddle models seat post setbacks all of these things and i mean it can end
up being a little bit more expensive you've only got to do it once if you do it right the first
time if i was to go and buy an off the shelf bike i would typically change the handlebar the saddle
depending on the brand definitely the crank uh straight away without even riding the bike you
know and those that can represent a reasonable expense this takes all of the guesswork out of
the equation i think that's the problem you're not relying on a sales person or a big big bike
manufacturer telling you what size you should be on you you know you're taking advice from
someone who has spent some a reasonable amount of time with you first bye later
which group said to buy i mean are they really all different more technology packed into a group set
now than you ever have done and i think when i'm advising customers on how they're spending
their money and what and what they're buying i try and think about aspects of their purchase
that are actually going to make a difference to their lives the difference between 105 and
and ultegra these days is so minimal 105 has now gone into it into the electronic
realms uh it's the same with srab red that you can get basically the same functionality from
uh from uh rival access as you do from red uh you know it's wireless electronic system i don't think
that these high-end groups is gonna really make a difference to your life we were just talking
off-camera weren't we about how functional and how well uh even something like a claris group set
works it's better than what you would have gotten 10 15 years ago you know all of the shifting
and the ergonomics like yeah this claris lee for instance has got reach adjustment you can operate
on the drops which some of you may not remember the old saw shifter which had a thumb shifter at
the back at the top here not the same as cam bag it was inoperable on the drops and you know it
just didn't work there was no reach adjustment to the lever this is incredible and you know you can
buy well as we found earlier you could buy a class group for group set bike for a thousand pounds
i can't believe an entry-level bike now is a thousand pounds so it's clearly there's there's a
brexit and a coveted story to this as well but but i think that you don't necessarily need to have
all the bells and whistles you don't need to have electronic this and you know electric like
that do you really need durates i mean it's not question need is it it's a question of what and
i think that's the thing like you know dura ace at same with sram red same with super record eps
they represent the the highest possible level you're talking more usage of titanium and more
carbon fiber most importantly you're talking about improved bearing surfaces and sealed cartridge
bearing surfaces is it going to make a difference to your life no it's not it's not going to make
you go faster it's not you know might make you feel like you're going to go fast but it's not
ultegra is more than sufficient for most people in fact now with with 105 going to electronics
you know it begs the question do you even need more than y5 it's really more about
what's going to make a difference to your life and spending
thousands and thousands of pounds on top-end electronic group sets probably isn't going to
make you much happier or enjoy the sport much it's not going to enhance your enjoyment of the sport
this is the single most important part of your purchase this is where all the power goes this is
what stabilizes your feet this is what stabilizes your knees this is what impacts your saddle
interaction we found using pressure mapping that we can reduce pressure going through the saddle by
up to 50 just by administering arch support this is where you should spend your money going back to
what i was talking about earlier about things that make a difference to your life this is going to
make a difference to your life no you don't have to spend 450 pounds on the latest heat moldable
technology but having a shoe that fits you that's going to make a difference to your life i think
the the tip here or the recommendation here is don't spend all of your money on a bike save some
money for shoes don't just you know if you've got a 3 000 pound budget spend two and a half grand on
a bike and 300 pounds on shoes because okay 300 pounds sounds like a lot of money people scoff
at 300 pounds on shoes but then they're going to spend 3 000 pounds on wheels this makes you go
faster if done correctly i mentioned in previous videos we offer a shoe fitting service here i'm
sure there are lots of businesses out there that do the same um it's which is really all about
ensuring that you're getting the right shoe so if you're gonna go buy shoes buy them online yeah you
can try it but you're better off going somewhere which actually specializes in shoes potentially
has a bike fitting you know go to your bike fitter go to someone who is actually going to assess your
feet measure your feet and sew the right shoes rather not necessarily the most expensive just
the right shoe that marks the end of today's video i hope you enjoyed it any questions please put
them in the comment section down below equally if you'd like to book a fit shoe fitting a bike fit
a coffee with james you can't book a coffee with me thank you for watching and see you guys soon