I’ve been thinking of buying a road bike for awhile now, given that I ride (on the road) about 3 times a week with friends....
I’ve been thinking of buying a road bike for awhile now, given that I ride (on the road) about 3 times a week with friends. I considered the purchase to be more of an investment in my riding stamina, the only thing holding me back has been cost. The bike that I was riding up until I got the new one is a full suspension mountain bike, something that it great for the trails but leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the road.
After talking myself into spending the money I headed out with Andrea and a few friends on Wednesday (April 27th) to make the purchase. We visited 3 bike shops around San Antonio before I decided on going with Planet Bike, they had a nice selection of bikes and the staff was both friendly and eager to help me with the purchase (and they were NOT on commission). Before talking about the purchase I would like to explain why I did not go with the other two shops, if you don’t really care about that then please feel free to skip ahead.
Shop Reviews
I am going to rank the stores in 4 categories which I have explained below:
• Staff knowledge – How much the staff really knows about bikes and the products they sell.
• On hand bike selection – The selection of complete bikes (ready to ride) that the store has in stock.
• Price – The average price of the category of bike I am looking for (road).
• Overall experience – The overall customer service experience I received from the staff.
The ranking will be poor, mediocre, and excellent
Stop one: Britton’s Bikes
* Staff knowledge: Excellent
* On hand bike selection: Mediocre
* Price: Poor
* Overall experience: Excellent
Review:
I found out about Britton’s from a friend at work, he had them assemble his custom bike and was very pleased with the service. I visited their website (http://www.brittonbikes.com/) before going to the store and while I was not too excited about the site design I thought I would give the store a shot. When I first arrived I was greeted with a friendly welcome from the staff and once I told them my budget and what I was looking for they showed me (the very few) bikes that they had in my price range. I quickly realized that this was a specialty shop that almost exclusively catered to the hard core rider with a fat wallet.
The staff was VERY smart and judging by the size of their legs and the passion they had when discussing the sport they probably biked A LOT. After about thirty minutes of looking and talking to the staff I realized that this was not the place for me, I did however get a free measure of my inseam which was great since I had no idea what it was (54.4).
All in all Britton’s was a great store with a smart staff but was too far out of my price range, if I ever decide to custom build a bike they will probably my starting point.
Stop Two: Bike World
* Staff knowledge: Mediocre
* On hand bike selection: Excellent
* Price: Poor
* Overall experience: Poor
Review:
Bike World is a commercial business that had been established in South Texas since 1971, I have heard a lot of bad things about them but wanted to check it out for myself. When I first entered the store I noticed that there were quite a few staff members on hand however they were all busy talking to each other in the back of the store, so I started to look around. After about 5 minutes in the store (the only people in the store are me and my friends) I am approached by an associate. I explained to the associate what I was looking for and my price range to which he promptly replied “Not gonna’ find it�. This frustrated me since I had seen offers online that fit both my budget and equipment requirements. I looked at a few (over priced) Trek bikes and quickly left the store, probably never to return.
Stop Three: Plant Bike
* Staff knowledge: Excellent
* On hand bike selection: Excellent
* Price: Mediocre
* Overall experience: Excellent
Review:
I had visited Planet Bike a few months ago when I first started looking for a road bike, the staff was very nice and the price was about where I wanted to be. There were a few things I was looking for in a new bike that I was trying not to deviate from (they are listed later in this post) and they came the closest to meeting them all while maintaining a decent price. I did a few test rides on some Specialized bikes (that’s a company that makes bikes for those of you that don’t already know that!) and ended up taking one home that night.
The new bike
The bike I chose to purchase was the Specialized Allez Sport, the total cost (including uncle Sam’s cut) was $862.98. I had secretly promised myself not to spend more than $1,000 on the bike so I felt pretty good about the price. The two features I wanted on my new bike were a carbon fiber front fork and Shimano 105 components. The Allez sport has a carbon fiber front fork and seat post along with a rear Shimano 105 Derailleur so it was about 85% of what I wanted.
So far I have logged 38.1 miles on the bike and have loved every one, when compared to what I was riding the trip is like night and day. A link to the full spec sheet of the bike along with some images are below, all in all I am very happy with the purchase. I ended up going back to Planet Bike today to buy an accessory bag (seen on the back of the bike in the images below), a spare tube, chain and gear lube, and a pump that will support the special tube that the bike uses.
Full spec sheet (will open in a new window)
My pictures
