| Re: Recommendations for a road bike newbie
8 Mar 2005 10:38:20 -0800,
<1110307100.743934.250900@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>, "Bill H."
<billjitsu@charter.net> wrote, in part:
>As a personal example, I bought a new mountain bike last year. I went
>to a few different shops (3, to be exact) and told them basically what
>I was looking for and what I had to spend. The first shop I went to
>let me take a couple Gary Fishers for a test drive. I ended up getting
>the Marlin, even though the Tassajara had better components. The
>problem with the Tass, even though it was still in my budget, was that
>it was just a little too uncomfortable to ride. Had I done my primary
>research over the Internet, I would probably have gotten more
>recommendations for the Tass because of the components, but would have
>still had the comfort problem. So trying out the bikes in person told
>me a lot more than I would have learned online.
Now that's weird. The forks, handle bars, stems, rims, spokes, tires,
saddles, seat posts, grips, frame sizes, geometry and material is
identical on both bikes. IOW, anything that would affect comfort.
I'm guessing the shop didn't set-up both bikes the same when you did
your test rides. It could have been something as subtle as tire
pressures or saddle tilt. Unless there's an as yet unknown factor
about different colours being more comfortable for some people than
others.
>
>I'm not dismissing Usenet as a resource. It's great for a lot of
>things, but I think trying out something in person is the only way
>you'll really decide on a bike.
Bingo. You found your bike
--
zk
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