What are the most important things when buying a bike?

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

We're probably the worst people to ask, as we tend to own expensive,
unusual bikes. I own a £1500 Roberts and sometimes feel inadequate in
this group, with most people owning multiple bikes, some of which cost
way more than that!

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/

"aquaplex2004" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

many thanks

rob

Whenever I see a headline along the lines of 'university announces that
.......' I always suspect the data was collected by a really [censored] method like
this.

I would suggest you read some bike magazines,visit some biking websites, and
then go speak to manufacturers, importers and retailers (in person or over
the phone). That will be far more useful than data collected from here,
which will be worthless.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

On 10/12/04 1:00 pm, in article
[email hidden], "Mark Tranchant"

Quoted message said:

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

We're probably the worst people to ask, as we tend to own expensive,
unusual bikes. I own a £1500 Roberts and sometimes feel inadequate in
this group, with most people owning multiple bikes, some of which cost
way more than that!

And some of us build our own..

We are definitely not representative. Why not contact retailers to find out
what sells. For the general public this is likely to be based on:

1. Price
2. Price
3. trendyness.

If you were to break this down by category (ie band the prices) you would
possibly notice a distinct change at 400-600 pounds in the criteria people
use to select bikes.

...d

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

1) Fitness for purpose. All bikes are not created equal, and while the
bike that Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France on may be very
desirable to a road racer it wouldn't be much use to me when I want to
do my shopping. So "performance" comes into this, but it's about
context of what sort of performance you want: my Freight bike is much
slower than Lance's Tour bike, but its performance at carrying a two
seater sofa is /considerably/ superior! "Features" is all built into
this too: I'll want features that contribute to fitnees for purpose, not
because they're there and are the Accessory Du Jour (i.e., disc brakes
I'll have where they'll be good, like if I was buying a high end
Mountain Bike, I don't want them on my folder as they'll just make it
heavier and not as compact a fold).

2) Errrr, that's it. If it's right for the job and I've got the money
I'll spend it and I don't really care who built it.

I think this is /not/ a common approach. The typical spend on a UK bike
is ~£100 for a *thing* made of cheese and gaspipe with a long list of
"features". The 3 bikes I use the most would account for 3 dozen of
those by price.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

Fit, function, value.

Oh, and how shiny it is, obviously.

--

Call me "Bob"

"More oneness, less categories,
Open hearts, no strategies"

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

aquaplex2004 vaguely muttered something like ...

Quoted message said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

Jeez, how can anyone answer?

My reasons for buying a bike, and the reasons I buy a particular bike, are
as diverse as the weather .. I might like the look, I might want it to do
something particular, I might have a wodge of cash, I might be skint, all
these factors come into it, but mostly I would pick a bike based upon
whether the bike 'fits' me, does what I want it to do better than others I
look at, and .. errr ... has a few spangly bits on it .. 😉

--
Paul ...
http://www.4x4prejudice.org/index.php
"A [censored] is a [censored], no matter what mode of transport they're using."
(8(|) Homer Rules !!!

The colour.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

aquaplex2004 <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
: University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
: bikes!

Clearly. So, why should we do your homework for you?

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

In article <[email hidden]>,

Tumbleweed said:

Whenever I see a headline along the lines of 'university announces that
......' I always suspect the data was collected by a really [censored] method like
this.

Once upon a time, "university" indicated more than one braincell, and some
understanding of appropriate methodologies for a task.

[1] OK, they've always had the upper class twit tradition. But when
the nobs make asses of themselves, it tends not to be in the name of
the university.

--
Nick Kew

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

The colour.

Bah you beat me to it.

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features, performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

many thanks

rob

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sniper:
Seems a funny topic to pick if you have no interest in cycling.

Sniper8052
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in message <[email hidden]>,
aquaplex2004 ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for
a University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand,
features, performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of
importance

It depends what sort of riding you're buying it for, of course; you'll
buy a completely different bike for off-road downhilling than for
on-road time trials. But within each category, two things stand out:
fit and weight. If the bike doesn't fit you, it isn't going to be much
good, and if it's heavier than it needs to be, that's not a good thing.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Our modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees,
;; lakes, running streams and transforms it into a mountain of junk,
;; garbage, slime pits, and debris. -- Edward Abbey

Sniper8052 said:

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

many thanks

rob

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sniper:
Seems a funny topic to pick if you have no interest in cycling.

Probably the last project left in the box! Maybe he got up too late :-)

Colin

Simon Brooke said:

It depends what sort of riding you're buying it for, of course; you'll
buy a completely different bike for off-road downhilling than for
on-road time trials. But within each category, two things stand out:
fit and weight. If the bike doesn't fit you, it isn't going to be much
good, and if it's heavier than it needs to be, that's not a good thing.

But the Jekyll is heavier than it /needs/ to be, but the weight is going
on things you consider worth taking up weight. But it would still
function very well with, for example, good V brakes.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Colin Blackburn <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Probably the last project left in the box! Maybe he got up too late :-)

Hey. Who needs to be interested in the subject at Uni? After all, all
you're there for is to get a well-paid job so you can pay off all
those loans.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

MSeries <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

The colour.

Quoted message said:

Bah you beat me to it.

Hee hee...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

in message <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

It depends what sort of riding you're buying it for, of course;
you'll buy a completely different bike for off-road downhilling than
for on-road time trials. But within each category, two things stand
out: fit and weight. If the bike doesn't fit you, it isn't going to
be much good, and if it's heavier than it needs to be, that's not a
good thing.

But the Jekyll is heavier than it /needs/ to be, but the weight is
going
on things you consider worth taking up weight. But it would still
function very well with, for example, good V brakes.

Uhhhmmm.

It would function perfectly well with V brakes at the rear, and that
would save a few grammes. To use V brakes at the front, you'd need a
second fork leg, and a fork leg weighs a *lot* more than a disk brake.

It would be a bit lighter without the Brooks saddle, of course.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

There are no messages. The above is just a random stream of
bytes. Any opinion or meaning you find in it is your own creation.

Colin Blackburn vaguely muttered something like ...

Quoted message said:

Sniper8052 said:

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

many thanks

rob

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sniper:
Seems a funny topic to pick if you have no interest in cycling.

Probably the last project left in the box! Maybe he got up too late :-)

Heheheh, bloody students .. 😉

--
Paul ...
http://www.4x4prejudice.org/index.php
"A [censored] is a [censored], no matter what mode of transport they're using."
(8(|) Homer Rules !!!

aquaplex2004 said:

Im currently undertaking a project on the bike industry in the Uk for a
University course and to be honest I have no clue whatso ever about
bikes!

Why on earth choose a project on bikes then?

Quoted message said:

I'm just wondering if some of you could let me know what things you
consider to be important when buying a bicycle (price, brand, features,
performance etc) please, and to also rank them in order of importance

Its got to be a bike. That's about it really.

Tony