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8 comments
Another thumbs up for Evans here (you don't have to agree to buy first - although in my case I certainly did buy afterwards!). I've also tested bikes with 1 other chain and 3 other independent LBS (and bought two of those bikes, but only after test rides).
The only problems I've had are the city locations of the stores. Although they were all happy for me to go out for an hour, I was certainly held back by my lack of local knowledge of safe or sensible routes, meaning I spent as much time thinking about where I should be going on unfamiliar, potholed roads (as well as negotiating city traffic), as thinking about the bike during the test. Im lucky enough to mainly ride quiet country roads, so think if I was a relative newbie the test rides could actually have put me off for life, let alone help me choose the right bike.
Unless the stores are local to you, I'd certainly suggest pre-planning a route, or even travelling further to a store in a quieter location to get the most from a test ride.
TBF, my last purchase was a single speed Adventure/cross/gravel bike. The fat tyres dealt with the potholes with aplomb, the hydro discs helped me negotiate the stop start city traffic, and I was able to get up a couple of Bristol hills with the 38x17 gearing, so ended up not thinking about what bike I was riding at all. Put another way, the bike fit well and functioned superbly so no flaws or issues were distracting from the "visceral" experience of city riding for this country bumpkin! Happily, the bike has gone on to exceed expectations since purchase, so I'm glad I tested first...
If you've any sort of relationship with your local bike shop then I'm sure they'll oblige. The big manufacturers have a pool of demonstrators. Can't tell from your posting if your other half is male / female. If the latter you will have a far more restricted choice (based upon my wife's recent experiences) and this tend towards the top end. As an alternative, find a shop who also hire bikes - I'm sure the cost of the hire could be factored into the deal.
giant do some sort of day long ride thing.
Give Evans a call and ask them how long you can trial it for. Definitely don't have to buy; I tried one at their Brighton store and on a separate occasion a different one at the main outlet near Crawley. I bought a Giant in the end! I think it's plenty of time to get an idea of what the bikes are like; one shop would only let me scoot around their gravelly car park, although to be fair that bike was about to go off to a show.
Interesting replies - thanks.
Evans:
Looks like you're saying I'd have to buy before I try with Evans or only have it for an hour. Both not what I'm looking for.
Maybe there's a gap in the market between bike hire and purchasing a bike. I want her to get a feel for the bike for a decent time.
Evans was the best place for actually trying bikes you could buy when I was looking. You need to book it, and you need to pay a deposit, but you can pretty much trial anything they have or can get from their warehouse. Not sure how long you are allowed, I had an hour or so each time, which is enough to give you a good idea on how it rides.
Lots of lbs have demo fleets, but they tend to be higher end - my lbs demo bikes started at £2.5k, which was a lot more than I could afford!
Evans are great for this - they'll even order a specific bike in to store if they don't have it in stock.
Evans have a 30 day returns policy for bikes, even if they've been ridden (https://www.evanscycles.com/help/right-bike-guarantee). Wiggle do something similar but you obviously have to deal with postage, assembly, dismantling and collection.