Recommendations: Best Road Bike Under $600

[baiskeli]

@DismalScientist 58076 wrote:

BikesDirect has these things called secret sales where if you put the bike in your “cart” you can get a lower price than is advertised. (Putting the bike in the cart does not obligate you to buy.) What bikes are on secret sale are advertised on BikeDirect’s facebook page. Currently the Liberty 1 and Liberty 3 are on secret sale.

I have no idea why they do this, but they do.

It sounds like they are operating under a rule where they can’t advertise the lower price because the distributor has an agreement with other retailers (in this case, probably brick-and-mortar local bike shops) that it won’t allow competitors to advertise prices that undercut theirs. By putting it in the cart, you’re technically offering to buy it, so they can then tell you the price. I’ve seen this happen with other on-line stores.

[jabberwocky]

@baiskeli 58114 wrote:

I have a BikesDirect bike. It was a really great deal and worked out well for me.

You’re absolutely right – it’s best to know what you want, and what will fit you, before buying a bike this way. If you look closely at some of their models, you can see that they are clones of other well-known brands.

You don’t have to assemble the whole bike yourself though. Mine arrived almost fully built. I only had to attach the fork and front brake, and then adjust the brakes and derailers (yes, I spelled that in English).

Yar. I realize they come mostly assembled (I’ve worked in a shop and assembled many bikes that come that way). For someone with some wrenching experience its no big deal, but I’d be nervous turning someone with little/no experience loose on one (not because its super difficult, more because they might miss loose bolts/cracked frame/parts/faulty bits; bikes aren’t always perfect from the factory and shipping damage does occur).

The size thing is my big worry. Especially for a road bike. Small differences in frame geometry can make a big difference over a multi-hour ride. I mean, once you’ve gone through several bikes and done lots of test rides you get a pretty good feel for the geometry you like, but the OP sounds like they’ve owned one bike (a hybrid), which isn’t going to help much when it comes to sizing road bikes.

[baiskeli]

@jabberwocky 58117 wrote:

Yar. I realize they come mostly assembled (I’ve worked in a shop and assembled many bikes that come that way). For someone with some wrenching experience its no big deal, but I’d be nervous turning someone with little/no experience loose on one (not because its super difficult, more because they might miss loose bolts/cracked frame/parts/faulty bits; bikes aren’t always perfect from the factory and shipping damage does occur).

I agree with that; I just wanted to make it clear that you don’t have to put the thing together from scratch.

The size thing is my big worry. Especially for a road bike. Small differences in frame geometry can make a big difference over a multi-hour ride. I mean, once you’ve gone through several bikes and done lots of test rides you get a pretty good feel for the geometry you like, but the OP sounds like they’ve owned one bike (a hybrid), which isn’t going to help much when it comes to sizing road bikes.

Yes. Definitely the biggest worry when buying a bike like this. I wouldn’t do this to buy a new type of bike, such as going from a hybrid to a road.

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