[Closed] How to buy a boutique brand bike?

I start with the geometry of the bike I currently ride. It's a good starting point and factor in its intended use.

Yes.
I've only test ridden 2 bikes since 1990.

are them brands above classed as boutique 😯

Exotic?

What area are you in I'd be surprised if there's not a dealer of a least one of those brands as they've fairly common.

Portsmouth,
Cycleworks claims to do Yeti, but none in the shop and assistant claims they don't do them any more. Somewhere in Poole (1hr) but neve seen anything in stock....

Pedal & Spoke in Peaslake for Santa Cruz

P&S also do Yeti now.

Ventana Mountain Bikes USA hand built in California. There are only four people in the factory. www.riversidecyclecentre.co.uk

Try emailing the distributors of the brands. They'll be able to recommend a shop/demo day etc...

Oneplanetadventure at Llandegla sell all 3 of those and have there own demo fleet for some of then. Also have demo days with all manufactures on the same day.

Job done 🙂

BW Cycling in Bristol do Santa Cruz and have demos.

They're all made in Taiwan. 😀
Just like On-One & Boardman.

The higher prices charged are due to the greed of the manufacturers and the gullibility of the customers

Rusty Spanner speaks the truth 🙂

Nothing quite like riding a boutique bikes says your a sucker for marketing !

But hey, dont let that stop you spending money and kickstarting the economy 😉

Nothing quite like riding a boutique bikes says your a sucker for marketing !

Really? Is that the case with anything more than a £50 Apollo? 🙄

Mountain Trax near Reading do all of those brands and currently have all as demo bikes

http://www.mountain-trax.com/page/6/Demo_Bikes

It'll probably take about an hour and a half from Pompey to get there.

There are many shops that have all those as demo bikes - they aren't really boutique any more - maybe 5 years ago but not any more.

I bought my Yeti 5 years ago and the LBS arranged for Stu the Yeti rep to drop on one Friday and we went for a short ride.

I wouldn't buy any of these without a test ride - you might have to travel to get one but I see that as a good excuse to ride more. Any shop that sells them should be able to able to get a demo for you. If they can't/won't then find somewhere else. Many rent them for the day and refund the rental if you buy.

You need to move somewhere posher 😀 Lots of places do SC in particular. I guess most people buy Yeti's and so on as frames only so LBS's will probably be reluctant to have a few built up on the off chance someone actually wants that spec. Most LBS's should be able to get a test bike in as others have suggested

I think most people would call them overpriced rather than boutique. Secondhand is a great way to get a decent frame for much more reasonable value. You can always just mail order a frame for a fondle then return it if it doesn't light your fire.

I've never test ridden a bike before buying either. Test rides can be a bit misleading with how someone has set up the suspension/ positioning on contact points/ spec variation etc. The same frame might ride very differently with you own preferred parts and slight adjustments to bar position/ saddle position/ suspension set up over a period of weeks for example. I have a rough idea what geometry I'd like, what practicalities I could or couldn't live with on a frame, ride characteristics that keep cropping up on reviews, price, weight, etc I'm looking for and usually that only gives a few options.

What frames were you thinking about?

I bet there is someone on here with the type of bike you are interested in who would meet up for a ride if you ask.

Some people seem to be able ride anything, others are really sensitive to set-up, geometery etc.

I would test ride and bear in mind that you really need to ensure the geometry and size is correct for you and the type of riding you want.

Things like bars, stem, saddle, tyres etc will make a difference but they are cheap to swop. Unlike finding you have the wrong size frame, or its shite at climbs for example.

Why do you want a boutique bike ? Why not just buy a bike that rides really well, after all thats what they are for. Or do you just want to look cool in the car park 🙂

Swinnertons at Cannock Chase do Yeti & Santa Cruz. They have a hire fleet. My mates hired out Yeti's, & one went on to buy the SB66 he hired, the other hired & then bought a Bronson.
Me, I hired a Krampus. 🙂
And I was a very happy bunny.

Ventana might be [i]boutique[/i] but try selling one on afterwards...
The two I've had took a while to sell & went for half what a ropey old Halifax Cabinet d' File goes for.

Or do you just want to look cool in the car park

to look cool in the car park you would have the latest hyped bike, not something where people wonder what it is...

But another advantage is that you are out of the mainstream, so if you are susceptible to peer group pressure you will be less affected with one of these rarer bikes.

So basically make sure you buy a 26 inch wheeled bike then 🙂

A lot of the 'boutique' bikes around at the moment have quite particular quirks, I'm thinking:
Yeti ASR-5 - very aggressive geometry on a shortish travel frame, firm ride, low BB
SB66 - Quite a firm start of stroke (I.e. it apparently feels very firm unless you're riding hard)
Santa Cruz Bronson - sounds like it has quite quirky geometry. No one seems to admit they don't like the £8k superbike they just bought but there are enough mumblings on forums to worry me.
Santa Cruz *Anything VPP* - the suspension is very effective but some people don't like the "magic carpet" ride.
Ibis Mojo - Again, slightly weird geometry

Whereas big-name brands are, sensibly, much more middle-of-road from what I can see. Of course, choice is good and if you know what 'quirks' you want then there's probably a bike out there for you. Anyway, I wouldn't buy one of the above bikes without testing first.

Kind of agree, hence why I started by saying I was curious about them. The no brainer option is a T129 works, but will it be 'special'?

Based on personal experience I wouldn't buy Santa Cruz again. They are far more common and mainstream than they used to be and it seemed to attract random people taking the piss 😀

The recurrent classic was "oh look there's another one... I wonder where they are giving them away". It's a good way to get chatting to people you bump in to mid ride 😀

One guy stopped me around Afan and said with all sincerity "Oh, is that one of those new Saracen's? I've heard they are starting to make some really great bikes and they seem pretty popular and good value! I replied "erm, it's a Santa Cruz"... "Oh, well that's not quite so interesting" was his reply 😀 His genuine disappointment it wasn't a Saracen was worth every hard earned penny

If you want something rare buy a Marin. They've gone the opposite way to SC from every man and his dog having one to now hardly any seeming to sell.

+1 Superficial.

Big brands have more money to spend on R&D getting it right.

Let your riding do the talking, not your bike.

Show me the Knolly.... I've asked the distributor, but in case anyone in Surrey has an Endorphin or Chilcotin can I have a go please ?

Trimix- recommends big brand, rides a Transition 😉

If you want something boutique it has to be titanium... But then you can't get a decent ti full sus bike... Money no object I'd have a Moots but that doesn't help you!

There seem to be an awful lot of broken full sus frames around and a a lot of those seem to be Santa Cruz. If I was buying a full sus, which will inevitably break, it'd be from a brand like Specialized with excellent warranty support.

GB

The no brainer option is a T129 works, but will it be 'special'?

It's all about perception innit. Rock up at a UK trail centre on a Whyte and it's just another nice, capable, mainstream bike. I suspect if you turned up to a ride in Southern California on the same bike you would be niche-tastic.

I reckon Whyte, Saracen et al. sell substantially less bikes globally than Yeti and Santa Cruz.

+1 Superficial.

Big brands have more money to spend on R&D getting it right.

FWIW I wasn't suggesting that boutique bikes are bad by any stretch - I love my Yeti ASR-5 and I genuinely can't think of a bike I'd rather ride. But it's quite an unusual frame and I'm sure there are people who don't like or "get" it at all. My frame has a lot of nice finishing touches which make it lovely to look at and to work on. Someone has thought about every detail - which is worth it to me as I ride a lot and do all my own meching.

Having said all of that - a Spesh / Giant / Trek is a much safer buy for sure, especially if you're buying without testing.

I suspect if you turned up to a ride in Southern California on [a Whyte] you would be niche-tastic.

So true. In 2009, I owned a Commencal meta - at this time they were EVERYWHERE in the UK, and had started getting a reputation for breaking - I.e. not particularly desirable. I went to Canada that year and whenever I told people what I rode, everyone commented on how rare / boutique / cool they thought it was! They had no importer then, and a few people had ordered them from overseas at great expense - I guess a small Euro brand seems exotic to Canadians. IIRC my Meta frame (In Canada) would have cost approximately twice as much as a Santa Cruz Blur 😆

If you want something boutique it has to be titanium... But then you can't get a decent ti full sus bike...

Don't tell me this isn't awesome. I think this is probably my money no object dream bike and plenty boutique 😀 [url= http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=113898&hilit=funk+la+ruta ]Funk La Ruta[/url]

[img] [/img]

Hi Timwillows

We, at Silverfish, are the UK distributor of Yeti (as well as a few other brands you might also want to take a look at 🙂 )
We have a network of dealers all across the country who should be able to look after you - they can be viewed on our website at www.silverfish-uk.com
Most of these dealers run their own demo bikes however if they don't have what you're after we have a comprehensive fleet of bikes that we can supply to them as well as a dedicated demo / tech guy who attends around 20 demo events a year in our purpose built Zombie demo truck.

Any queries just drop me a line richie @ silverfish-uk . com (take out all of the spaces).

Cheers

Dan - yes that's pretty but I imagine rather flexy... Plus it has a Crackandfail fork.

@The op . Mountain trax aren't a million miles from you. They do santa cruz and ibis brands with their own demo fleet. If you go to their website you can see what demo bikes they have and book your time. Swinley is akso close by

Surely a "boutique" brand is one that doesn't have a distributer. Don't get me wrong, Santa Cruz, Yeti and Ibis make some cracking bikes, but are they boutique? I would say boutique is something like my Soul. Yeti, Santa Cruz, and Ibis are medium-sized brands IMO.

I don't believe big big companies lke Specialized and Giant neccessarily make great bikes. They have big R&D budgets, but they also have big marketing budgets. They make bikes to sell in volume, not to push the envelope.

Ultimately do you want a bike to [i]look[/i] boutique. Or simply be better than the off-the-shelf brands?

A Soul is boutique? I don't think any bike brand is 'boutique'. Just bikes. Some cheaper, some more expensive.

Fair point.

Perhaps, rather than boutique why not buy British (not Raleigh). Since buying a Cotic and a Genesis I've realised who really do get what you pay for. OK, both made in Taiwain but money goes to British companies. In addition in both cases the bikes stand out whereever I ride them in the UK - does that make them boutique? What ever it makes them I love riding them. Which is surely the important bit.

I mentioned a slightly rare brand I was considering to my LBS who immediately responded that they could get them in. So it's worth asking, just because a shop doesn't hold stock doesn't mean they don't already have a business relationship with the distributor - and most distributors cover many brands and may have demo bikes which their dealers can borrow.

Find a local bike shop which stocks them and has a demo bike, try it out and if you it buy it from them.

Join a local club, and see if anyone will let you have a spin on their less well known bike.

What ever it makes them I love riding them. Which is surely the important bit.

There you go. That's my approach to it.

Ride bikes in Poole stock both Yeti and Santa Cruz, they've always been helpful and friendly too.

+1 for using your local bike shop. At least your money would be going to your local economy and not lining the already full pockets of some shareholders somewhere. I always try my lbs before anywhere else. I'd rather pay more for stuff and keep small shops open (not just bike shops).

DanW - That La Ruta belongs to a friend of mine and it is an awesome bike. We did Porcupine rim last summer and he rode the hell out of it. It is light but no way is it a weight weenie toy. It is stiff and pedals perfectly. So much so I am hoping to buy it off him and bring it back to England...

If you're buying boutique, empty your wallet properly and get exactly the right build for you. Go to your LBS (the proper one) and get to know them. Get some test rides. Set a realistic budget then spend time with the builder eating biscuits and working out the build and taking their advice. Then get them to build it.

+1 for building it yourself...

-1 for a LBS that spouts BS every time you go in there...

The OP's list is hardly "exotic" or "boutique"...

So which brands/bikes (I'm thinking hardtails here) are not made in the far east and i mean inc the frame??

Show me the Knolly.... I've asked the distributor, but in case anyone in Surrey has an Endorphin or Chilcotin can I have a go please ?

Go see John is Sheffield (Shoreline) - it'll be worth it!

I am very disappointed in STW.

This thread is full of ridiculous advice about functional choices on buying a boutique brand.

You've all got it wrong. Function is irrelevant (unless accompanied by dubious pseudo-scientific 'data' to back it up and ideally several TLAs)

1. Decide what group of niche cyclist you want to fit into, be it the fatbikers, the beards, the eye-wateringly expensive bike group or whatever. If you don't fit into one then there's no point having a boutique bike after all...

2. Do lots of research to make sure you understand the niche and then start narrowing down the choice of bike accordingly. Make sure that you're likely to be able to look down on more common brands and ideally even the cheaper/more common end of the boutique spectrum.

3. Make sure you tell everyone on fb/twitter/instagram/here/everywhere what you're doing. Ideally leave it a little crypic so that people feel compelled to ask for more about it so that you can tell them.

4. Finally, order the product. Ignore the end price being more than you expected becuase, well, you just have to have a matching platinum headbadge/etc, don't you? Don't forget to let everyone know that you've completed this step.

5. Get the bike, build it as though it was an F1 car with precision and tools that cost more than most peoples' bikes because, well you know, there's no point scrimping. Again, post plenty of pics of fb,etc.

6. Finally get the bike to the car park, photograph, admire (post on fb) and if all's well, ride the thing.

7. Wax lyrical about how great/fast/interesting/etc it is, how it's the best bike you've ever even heard of let alone ridden and how it makes you at least x times as fast for y fraction of effort and is z times more fun.

8. Choose a new niche and start again at 1.

Hope that helps.

🙂

As someone said up there ^
Ritch at Ride Cycleworks in Poole stocks Yeti and Santa Cruz and is well worth a call.
Santa Cruz not too boutique/niche down here, they've been crawling all over the Purbecks for years : )

bianchiboy - Member

So which brands/bikes (I'm thinking hardtails here) are not made in the far east and i mean inc the frame??

How about a nice Decathlon road bike?
The (excellent by all accounts) lower end frames are made in Italy.

If you don't fit into one then there's no point having a boutique bike after all...

Fail. What you have actually done is created a new niche...

ndg - Member

Show me the Knolly.... I've asked the distributor, but in case anyone in Surrey has an Endorphin or Chilcotin can I have a go please ?

Go see John is Sheffield (Shoreline) - it'll be worth it!

have already had a mail back from them, Sheffield is a bit of a trek, but will see if I can engineer a "work trip"..

Nah, niche-ist like to have just a little company to validate their choices. Not too much company of course, just a select few. Who ideally they can talk about behind their backs (too straggly a beard, wrong tone of red anodising, etc) 😉

Feather, Demon, TJD, Saffron, Curtis, Rourke ... Get yourself to Bespoked for the day (in that there London this year) and 'go hard or go home' 😉

Ibis have a demo fleet in the uk...I bought one of their ex demos. Bargain!

I would have always defined a boutique brand as one which sells frames not bikes... I think Santa Cruz took a bit of a niche hit as soon as they started selling complete builds... I love my Santa Cruz, and would have another Yeti too.
As far as I'm concerned, the bike industry is too competitive for there to be any complete turds any more (for the most part), so try as many as you can, stick to your choice and don't let haters put you off 🙂

DanW - That La Ruta belongs to a friend of mine and it is an awesome bike. We did Porcupine rim last summer and he rode the hell out of it. It is light but no way is it a weight weenie toy. It is stiff and pedals perfectly. So much so I am hoping to buy it off him and bring it back to England...

Yep, I understand via various forums that he is extremely happy with it. Very jealous too!

When you are creating frame custom modifications on top of custom geometry (like the beautiful and ingenious shock mount) with the frame builder, running hubs only few people like Christoph Sauser can get their hands on and ending up with a stiff and very functional 29 full sus frame lighter than the current 29er Scalpel/ Epic/ etc than that is pretty damn boutique 😀

I *accidentally* googled Funk La Ruta to look it up again and found they are now making a version with a custom CF front triangle 😯 I'd dearly love the Ti version though... just a shame the import taxes and so on add so much to the price!

I thought "Boutique" just meant really expensive, aspirational but still relatively accesible. To my mind SC, Yeti etc kind of qualify in that category, to hear you lot go on You'd think they were like the the Ford Focus's or VW Golf's of the MTBing world and every bugger owned one... But they ain't Yeti's and SC's are pretty pricey aspirational bikes; Specialized, Kona Giant, those lot are run of the mill "Common" bike brands...

"Niche" is the whole limited run, only obtainable if your a mate of a mate of someone in the know, brazed together from unobtanium and kryptonite... not just overpriced but still "Cool" brands...

I reckon you lot are confusing Niche with Boutique...

IMO of course

To answer the OP's title question

How to buy a boutique brand bike?

Choose a brand, go visit them, make friends with the owner/frame builder, watch 'em weld atleast one part of your frame, add them to your christmas card list. That way you're truly buying into your bike and have a smug anecdote to tell admiring strangers.

If you cant do any these then you've not really bought a true boutique bike IMO.

In my view boutique cant be out sourced. What was boutique 5 - 15 years ago isnt necessarily boutique today.

IMO of course 🙂

I'd have to say DEMO!! SC has a great demo program in the UK.

the look at the numbers thing only goes so far, my mate's shop has just picked up Santa Cruz here in Tasmania. He got a 5010 test bike (for himself) both him and his mechanic commented how it looked steep compared to other bikes in the shop and the usual short TT (just means he's top end of med rather than bottom end of large) however once he took it out for a ride he couldn't feel the HA making any difference at all so despite some of the numbers looking off it wasn't and this is a guy who probably rides more bikes than most on here. I'm going to take it out for a spin when I can.

On the OP's point buy a frame in a good colour (yes the colour should not be related to the spec level of the bike) and match the running gear to that 🙂