Try before you huy?

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Time and again I see here that a newbie (or anyone else) should ride bikes before they buy, because it's all about feel.

I have problems with this. They sound like simple contention, but did occur to me when I was buying bikes. I am not denying that one bike's ride is better for someone than another's, having bought, a bike then swopped to another

but:

(1) - where do you go to get a _decent_ ride of several bikes to try them?
- a spin around the carpark of most highway-side bike shops will show nothing.
- I was not even offered this. I was buying two bikes and spending $1400
- Saying "then go somewhere else" could mean that the "free service" offered by bike shops would mean travelling so far that it's not worth the trouble.
- Trying at a shop that lets you, and then buying elsewhere would soon get unfair.
- not many are going to let you really try the bike, and reading some comments about how guys busted bikes in the parking lot og ghe HBS, I am not surprised.

(2) -if you are a newbie, how on earth are you going to know what's a good bike anyway, after even a 10 minute ride?
- you probably have low riding skills
- you are riding in a whole different environment from where you are probably going to use the bike (MTB)

As I say I am not knocking the theory, but the practice is not so easy.

I will ask if there is really some earth-shattering difference between a Giant and a GT, that you can't overcome, especially if you are just starting out and learning to ride? After all, many people seem to "prefer" both. Should first impressions dictate your whole relationship with a bike?

well when I test ride a bike it's just to check the fit. You're right in that you can't get a complete test in a parking lot, but it's better than nothing.

[QUOTE=OldNickToo]should ride bikes before they buy, because it's all about feel.
I found the problem annoying when upgrading to a full sus, the hill climbing properties of the different bikes differ with the individual ridding style, so ideally you need 4-5 bikes and test them in the feild. The forward thinking LBS, has a few demo bikes obviously supplied by the forward thinking cycle supplier/manufacturer. And they probably get more sales but this does not really help you because you don’t have a comparison spread.

In the end my decision was swayed to get the lock out facility on both shocks so i could have a greater level of adjustment.

A couple of months down the line and i was using the total lock out less and less and now i never lock out the shocks front or back.

So if I had known this I could have bought a different bike.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess that was what I meant about learning ghe bike, rather then stickling about what bike suits me. Whie I would take chances to try bikes over extended periods if I could and was in the market, the advice to newbies that they had to test first was what concerned me a bit.