roadie / lbs help please

[trophies]

I'm about to buy my wife a road bike for her birthday. It will be her first road. I want to buy from my lbs not online. A new bike shop opened up about 18 months ago. I like the guy who owns it and regularly go out on rides with the crowd from the shop. I feel I should be loyal to him, but he only sells felt road bikes. I dont know why, but I just dont love them. The 'other' local shop sell bianchi, which is a brand I like.

So I could be loyal and buy Felt F95 or a Bianchi Via Nirone 7 Alu Sora. The Bianchi will be £100 dearer.

So my question is should I just buy the bianchi because its much better or is there not much in it. I dont know road bike and the lack of knowledge is frustrating.

[donfisher]

Which one does your wife prefer? The bike, not the shopkeeper.

[trophies]

ha

She wont go for a test ride because she is scared of damaging the demo bikes if she falls off or has a 'blonde moment' (her words, my thoughts.)

[jaedba2604]

have you asked whether the chap you like can get hold of other brands? years ago my lbs only did trek, giant, bianchi and raleigh. i was quite loyal to them and he sourced me a specialized m2 and a proflex 955, when trek were going through a wk patch.

might be worth asking, he would probably be on a lower margin, but would still be making a bit.

[bbc]

jaedba2604 said:

have you asked whether the chap you like can get hold of other brands?

This - my lbs have sourced everything from bottle cages to complete bikes for me that they would normally not stock.

[scubadude]

bbc said:

This - my lbs have sourced everything from bottle cages to complete bikes for me that they would normally not stock.

Couldn't agree more- if this LBS and owner are as friendly as you suggest I'm sure he'll jump through hoops to get what you want, or close to.

Also wrt test rides, take your missus in to the shop and talk to the owner, if he and she agrees she'll fall off a road bike just trying it out perhaps a road bikes not for her? (meant in a nice way) I'm sure he'll stick some flat pedals on a bike for a test ride so no need to worry about clipping in and stuff.

If you have a good LBS enjoy it and support it, so few "good" shops, too many shops with bikes in that don't know a spoke from their elbow.

[S26VE P]

Just collected a Bianchi from JD's in benfleet, infact 2 friends are still waiting for theirs to arrive (any day so they say) so watch out for us

What shop are you currently using?
I used JD's as i can easily walk there in several minutes but did also go into Les's on canvey when looking, just decided that Jason @ JD's sometimes attends the month pistonheads meet @ the lodge, that was good enough for me.

[anonymous-user]

In all honesty, buy the one that fits and that she is comfortable on and likes the colour of because there is very little to separate them in terms of spec and quality.

I'd look at a female specific model though, Mrs Pablo is a lot comfier on a womens fit bike. Its all to do with leg and torso lengths, men tend to have longer torsos so a women on a regular fitting bike may be too stretched out, on a female specific model, the top tube is shorter. Trek and Giant seem to have a female model for every bike throughout the range...

[trophies]

Thanks everyone. We are going into the lbs this evening to have a chat about other brands and mayb a test ride.

Thank you all

[anonymous-user]

trophies said:

Thanks everyone. We are going into the lbs this evening to have a chat about other brands and mayb a test ride.

Thank you all

If she's not comfortable in taking the bike out for a spin outside (my wife wouldn't be - she hates being the centre of attention and causing what she'd see as a bit of a fuss!), you could get them to set it up on a Turbo Trainer in the store, that way she can sit on it, feel what it's like to pedal, see if she's comfortable with the handlebars etc. Unless she's a serious cyclist then she'll just want to be comfortable on it, and like the colour.