What are the most important things when buying a bike?

aquaplex2004

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

Mark Tranchant

aquaplex2004 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!
>
> 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/

Tumbleweed

"aquaplex2004" <aquaplex2004.1h1txy@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote in
message news:aquaplex2004.1h1txy@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com...
>
> 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 crap 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

David Martin

On 10/12/04 1:00 pm, in article
41b99de6$0$9343$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net, "Mark Tranchant"
<mark@tranchant.plus.com> wrote:

> aquaplex2004 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!
>>
>> 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

Peter Clinch

aquaplex2004 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!
>
> 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 p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Call me Bob

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 23:42:11 +1100, aquaplex2004
<aquaplex2004.1h1txy@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> 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!
>
>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.

Paul - xxx

aquaplex2004 vaguely muttered something like ...
> 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 tosser is a tosser, no matter what mode of transport they're using."
(8(|) Homer Rules !!!

Helen Deborah Vecht

The colour.

--
Helen D. Vecht: helenvecht@zetnet.co.uk
Edgware.

Arthur Clune

aquaplex2004 <aquaplex2004.1h1txy@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> 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

Nick Kew

In article <31tm89F3flajuU1@individual.net>,
"Tumbleweed" <thisaccountneverread@yahoo.com> writes:

> Whenever I see a headline along the lines of 'university announces that
> ......' I always suspect the data was collected by a really crap 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

MSeries

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
> The colour.
>

Bah you beat me to it.

Sniper8052

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

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

Simon Brooke

in message <aquaplex2004.1h1txy@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com>,
aquaplex2004 ('aquaplex2004.1h1txy@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com')
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!
>
> 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.

--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (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

Colin Blackburn

Sniper8052 wrote:
> aquaplex2004 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!
>>
>>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