Discount Store Bike

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Discount Store Bikes vs Bike Shop Bikes
General Quality
Bicycles come in various levels of quality. You can buy a cheap bike from a discount store that is fairly well-made and reliable, but built with the lowest-cost and heaviest materials. This is because it is now possible to build things with little or no human interaction. Any bike can now be cloned for very little more than the cost of materials.
Brake Quality
The brakes are the biggest issue of quality between a bike at a discount store and one selling in a bike shop. Some of the cheapest bikes have brakes that barely work. It is amazing how bad they can be! The good news is that you can improve almost all bikes with bad brakes by buying and installing better quality brake pads. You …show more content…

When shopping at a bike shop, you will be provided with factual answers to your questions backed with experience and enthusiasm for the sport. In contrast, imagine asking a clerk in a discount store a technical question about your bike. You will get their opinion, but probably not fact.
Your warranty: If the bike you bought has problems, a bicycle shop has the facilities to fix almost anything. At a discount store the only thing they can do is to give you a refund or another bike. You may have already become accustomed to your bike, like it, and not want to give it up. If you accept another just like it, it may even have the same or other problems.
The Weight of a Bike
The weight of a bike is a common concern amongst bike enthusiasts. The truth of the matter is though, that your own fitness is more important than the weight. Once you start riding your new bike, your fitness will naturally improve. You can feel the difference in handling with a bike that’s 1-2kg lighter, but it’s not terribly important.

Gear …show more content…

• The shifting is reasonably quiet and clean (if the bike you test shifts badly, ask that it be adjusted, since it may be only an adjustment problem, not something in the design).
• The braking is smooth, not jerky (sometimes indicating badly made wheel rims in the case of caliper brakes), and not squeaky.
• The brake levers don’t feel spongy when you squeeze them.
• The handlebar position and grips feel comfortable.
• The shifters are be easy to reach and operate.
You will need to test ride more than one bike to be sure you find the right one. Quite often, when a bike feels strange it will be because of a characteristic of that type of bike. In some cases, though, you will find that a bike that feels better than ones that are similar to it.

How to Test Ride a Bike
• Starting out: Ask to have the seat height set properly unless you can do it yourself. Stay within easy walking distance of the shop - you would be amazed how often something goes wrong with a new bike.
• Bike up and down hills: If possible, ride the bike up and down a hill as steep as you are likely to encounter on a regular basis. Going up, look for how the bike handles at low speeds, how it shifts into low gears, and whether the gearing is low enough. Going down, feel the brakes, handling, and mild cornering

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