Team-BHP - The Bicycles thread

Hi all,

Has anybody bought bicycles from Online stores like Snapdeal, flipkart, Amazon, etc.? I have a few questions regarding the same:

Is the bicycle fully assembled at delivery? Do we need to get it assembled elsewhere?
What was the general condition of the cycle at delivery? Anything bent/broken?
If anything was damagedm has anyone tried the return/refun/repair policy from these sellers?
Anything else I should worry about?

I'm asking because I'm looking at a single speed cycle and none of the stores near my place seem to have that in stock. I dont want to spend mega bucks on the cycle as I don't know if I will be using it or not. All the stores around have cycles starting at 8-9K which is overkill for my requirements.

Eddy

Bought a Hercules Roadeo Hardliner bicycle for my 10 year old son, WE both use it comfortably without any seat adjustment, I am 5 10 and my son is 4 5.
Has 18 gears even though we use the middle ones as the roads are flat in my area, Sonny learnt the gear system in a couple of minutes..

It costed around 10500 in a shop in Dr. Rajkumar Road, Its the same price online, but the shop guy threw in a few freebie.

DoNotHorn

Stay away from buying online
1) The bike is not fully assembled
2) Sis had ordered a bike from snapdeal & the quick release skewer was missing & took a good 10 ten days to get it.
4) The main worry I would say is bike fit,in the stores at least you can get a general bike fit done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoNotHorn (Post 3973638)

Thanks for the recommendation. Is this the one that you bought ?

http://myroadeo.com/hardliner/

Quote:

Originally Posted by amitoj (Post 3972437)

Does anyone have access to Expresso bikes in their gym? http://expresso.com/Home
The YMCA gym that I go to has a few of them and I love getting a good workout on them....
....It is of course not the same as actually riding a bike. For example, there is no coasting on the downhills. You have to keep pushing but the effort will be lesser, of course. Also, you can adjust the seat height and fore-aft positioning of the seat and that's about it. But it does serve as a nice alternative when the weather doesn't allow you to ride your bike outside.

I do have both a trainer and a set of rollers at home. The trainer attaches to the rear wheel of the bicycle and you pedal along. This has magnetic resistance control so that you can increase or decrease your effort. The rollers simply allow you to ride your bicycle on them. You need to ride very steadily and any sudden handlebar movement can throw you off balance. You can find many workouts on youtube or the net, which you can watch and copy on your trainer. You can even find some workouts for the rollers.

However, nothing beats riding on the road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddy (Post 3973664)

Thanks for the recommendation. Is this the one that you bought ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by phamilyman (Post 3973690)

Not any Roadeo. Consider BTWin MyBike IMHO. Lots of discussion on this earlier.

Or MyBike 7s. It is same as mybike, but has some goodies (forgot which) and has 7 gears. It is more futureproof. I bought it from PayTM (seller was sports365) and the cycle was received in Pune in good packing. The assembly is simple if you have the spanners, or else you have to purchase the spanners. Both the bikes are very easy to assemble. Make sure you buy correct size. I am 5'8-5'9, and I had purchased L size, assuming it was same as clothes! But then I had to send it back and get Medium size, as L was too large.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ani_meher (Post 3974705)

It is reassuring to read your comment on frame size! I read comments on the Indian amazon site where a 5'7" person said the L frame was too small. His comments suggested that since a lot of seat post was sticking out, the frame had to be too small. Comfort was a word conspicuous by its absence in the discussion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ani_meher (Post 3975375)

Refer this cycle chart for sizing:

Ani,

Which company's size chart have you shared above? The models mentioned in the list are not the same as Decathlon's. This is what their Ireland/UK site has. Sizing varies by company, sometimes even from year to year.

PS: I see you picked up that chart from here - http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb...ke-like-a-pro/ with all due respect, your chart is misleading since it doesn't correspond exactly to any bike sold in India. So it is misleading and of no real value. Please delete it.

A bike chart does not need to really correspond exactly to any specific bike or frame. In fact, even if a chart matches a specific bike, these measurements are indicative rather than cast in stone.

In fact, when I started riding, there were no such charts available but bike sizing was still pretty well organised. Unless your body is unusually proportioned, if you follow the following, you will get pretty close to a comfortable fit on a road bike.

1. Frame size, i.e. length of the seat tube = inside leg minus 10 inches.
2. Seat height i.e. top of saddle to bottom bracket = Shoulder joint to extended finger tips.
3. Fore aft set up of saddle is using the Knee over pedal method
4. Distance of handlebars from saddle = place elbow on front tip of saddle and extend forearm and fingertips. Handlebars should be at finger tips.

Ride the bicycle with these settings and after some time you will be able to make out what changes you need to specifically suit you.

^^^ In the chart you shown, 173cm = 5'8" shows L size to be best fitting, which I had ordered. However after I rode it, I found it a size too big and then referred this chart to find that my optimum size is M. So as per my positive experience, I have shared this chart. I took it from some biking forum.

Users are of course advised to use their own best judgement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ani_meher (Post 3975587)

Decathlon has sizing charts on its website. Here's the one for mountain bikes.