[Closed] When do you stop testing bikes?!

Never tested a bike. Know what I want so just buy it.

Wot he said

Is it a good colour?

When there's a deal which is too good to ignore.

when your brain turns to mush

And what ever you do don't test ride a Geometron ..

There is a good deal. It comes in black which is the best colour. 30% mush at the moment. Wanted carbon but that's meant to be coming next year and do I want to wait a year?

I have never tested a bike and thought I knew what I wanted until I got a ride on one and it kind of sucked! So testing wins!

Stop once you've ridden them all. Alternatively, it's all about arbitrarily deciding that the best bike you've ridden is <the> best bike, or, just being happy with it and not stressing that there might be better.

Probably something like .1% of all mountain bikers is on The Ideal Bike For Them and even they only did it through chance so, no point worrying about it.

When you run out of budget or storage space.

Though as above, most bikes i've shortlisted and then tested have been utterly dire. As in too poor to even entertain trying to upgrade/chop and change to get them right.

So i've just bought on spec/geo/price, not made too many mistakes, never finished significantly out of pocket either.

24-7 bike testing, never have to buy another bike!

Never stop testing your bike.

Do you need the best or do you need a bike that fits well & rides amazing?

I went for the latter and stopped testing when Found one that I loved. I'm not worried that another one might have been a smidge better; i know this one was a lot better than the others I tested.

i don't need the best necessarily but i want something that feels right and make me want to push and ride harder. i have found one i love, the waiting for the carbon one or buying the alloy one is my biggest dilemma. would like carbon but don't want to wait a year!

i sort of looked at geo when lining up options, if i had just bought based on that i would have bought a bike that on paper was the right size but in reality felt too small when i was on it!

think I'm putting too much thought into it!

But next year, when the carbon one comes out, there’ll be something new on the horizon anyway and you’ll have missed out on a year’s riding of a bike you love.

When we were testing bikes recently, how easy they were to test was a significant factor in the decision.

The Ibis UK importer was really helpful in sorting out some test bikes, we really liked them, so ended up with those.

Conversely, Transition was such a ball ache to try and organise that we ended up taking them off the sort list before throwing a leg over them.

Our theory is, if I company doesn't seem to care before they get the money, how much help are they going to be after they have it? Few people make bad bikes now so quality customer service and warranty is important to us.

You definitely need to test mkre than one! Even if it validates the first one was ace especially If you've not ridden a modern fs before. A friend test rode 2 nearly didnt test ride the second becuase the 1st was so good, but it was also the 1st fs she'd ridden, she bought the second which was also awesome but better suited. I test rode loads a year or so ago, you get kindmof blase about them but you also know when you've found 'the one'. For me that wasnt the carbon joy machine i expected.

Incidently i have found transition the easiest to test! Guess it depends on what local shops distributors there are near you? The transition is also the favourite. Quite lucky that a good friend works for saddleback so intense are easy to get too. I have a very clear idea of the bike I want and how it should ride. Pretty sure I would be happy on the alloy frame!

you're onto a win:win already

i have found one i love, the waiting for the carbon one or buying the alloy one is my biggest dilemma. would like carbon but don’t want to wait a year!

if you buy now you'll have a great bike for you.  If you wait and keep testing you might find a better bike or you might kill enough time to consider a carbon version of the first

I'd buy it now

With n+1 as a guide surely you don't ever?

Test riding is interesting but it takes more than one ride to assess wether a bike is for you or not and at least 50% of it is the rider adapting themselves to the bike and you can't do that over one ride, it takes a bit of time.

The only time I think bike testing is useful is if you have more than one bike at your disposal so can do back to back testing, same day, same trail, same weather and conditions etc. Testing one bike in isolation is useless as a method to assess it. But even then you might have the issue of well that bike felt better but it has Fox forks, and the other bike had Rockshox forks, I wonder what the other bike would have ridden like it it had Fox forks, and the brakes and drivetrain was different, and one had carbon wheels and one had alloy rims. There are so many elements that come together to create a feel of a bike so what are you testing at the end of the day - the frame? the bike as a whole at a specific build standard?

Taking this question perhaps a bit more seriously than intended, it appears similar to me to how to choose a partner on a dating site. Apparently the way to do that is:

Decide how many bikes you potentially would consider. Test 10% of that amount. Then choose the next bike that is better than any of these.

Testing bikes is very much like.........

Just wanted to add a counter point to this

"Transition was such a ball ache to try and organise"

I asked at my local transition dealer for a demo and they called me back within 3 days and said When did i want it. There were some stipulations about length of hire - i think it's 48 hours weekday/ 36 weekend (or similar)

I collected it Saturday midday had it set up etc, took it for a quick ride in the afternoon, had it all day Sunday, dropped it back Monday 9 am. No charge either.

And ordered one.

The process couldn't have been simpler.

Curious. We tried every transition dealer in a 30 mile radius and the idea of selling two carbon patrols didn't seem to be worth the effort to any of them.

Ibis were as you described though. Here, have two bikes, drop them off after the weekend! The dealer even opened the shop late on the Sunday for us to return them.

The 7 year warranty vs 2 year warranty was the icing on the cake!

No harm in testing the few more that you have lined up ..just to confirm that your first choice was all you thought it was ..

Another thought: Is the metal bike you tested particularly heavy? If not, don't bother waiting for the carbon one.

But still useful to test the other bikes, even if just to validate your decision on the first one.

Well I have heard the carbon would save 2lb, which is a fair bit. The patrol isn't light but then again my kona process isn't light either and the patrol peddles way better. Must just be a location thing, there appear to be quite a few transition dealers near bristol.

For what it's worth I have ridden all the bikes on the same trails in very similar conditions. As well as my own bike and several of the test bikes back to back so differences were very clear immediatly.

Patrol is a phenominal bike, thinking of trying a sentinal and possibly an intense carbine. Although the tracer was the bike I really didn't like

<p style="padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;">"Though as above, most bikes i’ve shortlisted and then tested have been utterly dire. As in too poor to even entertain trying to upgrade/chop and change to get them right.</p>
<p style="padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;">So i’ve just bought on spec/geo/price, not made too many mistakes, never finished significantly out of pocket either."</p>

^ But isn't it usual look at spec, geo and price while shortlisting?  Whether to purchase outright or to test first?  Otherwise how differently do you compile a 'test shortlist' vs a 'buy outright shortlist'?

*edit - sorry I just pressed 'quote' and things got weird

Part of the problem is I'm likely buying frame and forks and building a bike from there. Which granted means it's not a fair test as I will be running different shock and fork. But I have got a fair idea of what bike does what and fit even though it will a different build

I test rode one, having not bothered previously and ended up with a bike that didn't fit/suit me that well at all.

The bike was amazing (Whyte T130) and i was able to borrow it for two days and ride it on all my local trails. I then went and bought a completely different bike i'd never ridden instead because it was the one i really wanted, fortunately it turned out that the 5010 is also an amazing bike (no great surprise) and even more perfect for me!

I'm not sure what the moral is here, except maybe just to buy the bike you want (especially if you've ridden and enjoyed it) rather than continue looking for something that might be incrementally 'better' or have better spec's, components, geometry numbers.

I couldn't buy one of those new alu Trannies myself, from a weight POV. Would be making a cross for my own back when it came to hike-a-bike time.

Always fancied an airdrop edit, part of me is tempted to buy that and see how i go for a year until the carbon patrol comes out. Cheaper option gets me brownie points with the wife!

The last bike I tested I'd waited ages to be released. Rode it, loved it, thought why test anything else as it was perfect for my needs. Still got and love my transition scout 3 yrs later.

Am I weird for being someone who just goes for a quick loop of the car park on something I like aesthetically that ticks the main boxes of travel and components and if it fits/feels instantly good will buy it?

I appreciate I'm no riding god here so maybe it's just every bit of kit is so much better than me that I don't notice!

Nah that's not weird. I have never put this much thought into buying A bike before. I think what started it all is that I thought the wrong size bike last time and don't want to buy something too small again. That thought has got me looking at all the numbers and options way too much making me massively over think the whole thing!