Test rides for a new bike

Quoted message said:

Originally posted by Billy Maston
My question is, is it possible to test ride a good road bike

Generally, yes. Take in a driver's license (urgh) and most shops
will let you test ride their bikes. You should be serious about it.
Shops are obviously going to be a bit wary of Joe Blogs rocking
up in flannies and wanting to ride their $13k LE Madone...

Pedals could be anything. If you have a pedal system, take in
your shoes and see if they will swap pedals. You might just ride
in flat soled shoes on whatever pedals they have fitted - depends
on how busy the shop is I guess.

Quoted message said:

I just want to feel what a good road bike goes like before I
make the change, and to see if I like it, as I have never
ridden a road bike, its always MTB's.

Explain that to them. Also, do you have any mates with road
bikes? What budget are you looking at and where are you -
people might be able to suggest test-ride-friendly shops...

hippy

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 20:19:22 +1000, Billy Maston wrote:

Hi Billy,

Quoted message said:

I want to upgrade from a MTB to a good road bike.

My question is, is it possible to test ride a good
road bike ?

IME most shops will let you ride any bike around the block,
if the weather's fine and the road is dry, but that's it.
Otherwise you have to make do with a trainer (holds the bike
upright and offers resistance to the back wheel with a
roller). That demonstrates the bike's fit, when adjusted
properly, but not its handling, of course.

Quoted message said:

Do shops in general let you test ride a new bike, and what
about the pedals, are they just standard ones, or is there
drama with having shoes clippless ones ????

Since you don't have any cleated shoes, they should be
willing to put pedals with toe clips on for you. These are
still standard on some low-end road bikes (e.g. the Giant
OCR3), so you might try such a bike first. Avoid anything
really cheap with a steel frame. Since you can already ride
your MTB with regular shoes, you'd presumably get clipless
pedals and cleated shoes if you decided to get a road bike.

Quoted message said:

I just want to feel what a good road bike goes like before
I make the change, and to see if I like it, as I have
never ridden a road bike, its always MTB's.

Well, you probably won't like it at first, simply because
the riding position is much less upright and more extended,
and the handling is much more sensitive. Until you learn to
keep your back straight and relax your upper body, it'll
probably make you ache a bit, too.

Because of your aerodynamic riding position and the narrow,
thinner tyres, any road bike will be much faster than a MTB
for the same effort. Increasing price gets you relatively
subtle improvements in smoothness, lightness and the
drivetrain, even though they're blown out to religious
proportions in groups like this :-)

Good luck!

--
bpo gallery at www4.tpgi.com.aubpoOpen ↗

hippy said:

Quoted message said:

Originally posted by Billy Maston My question is, is it
possible to test ride a good road bike

Generally, yes. Take in a driver's license (urgh) and most
shops will let you test ride their bikes. You should be
serious about it. Shops are obviously going to be a bit
wary of Joe Blogs rocking up in flannies and wanting to
ride their $13k LE Madone...

Pedals could be anything. If you have a pedal system, take
in your shoes and see if they will swap pedals. You might
just ride in flat soled shoes on whatever pedals they have
fitted - depends on how busy the shop is I guess.

Quoted message said:

I just want to feel what a good road bike goes like before
I make the change, and to see if I like it, as I have
never ridden a road bike, its always MTB's.

Explain that to them. Also, do you have any mates with
road bikes? What budget are you looking at and where are
you - people might be able to suggest test-ride-friendly
shops...

hippy

--

Pedals are an issue but most shops will have some crappy
platforms to use. Generally, clipless pedals get scratched
as soon as you use them so don't expect them to let you ride
on some nice new Look pedals.

If you're in Melbourne, Cecil Walker have a couple of
trainers you could jump on. I'm not sure if they'd let you
ride out on the street though.

Freedom Machine have a smallish space out hte back where you
can ride their bikes.

It's a good idea to trawl some bike shops and find one you
like, talk to them about your requirements and budget and
when they know you're serious, your chances of a test ride
will improve.

--
Nick