Metieval

Am I the only one that judges bikes by the the pain in the rear, or the ease of the online shopping experience while shopping online for bikes?

Example Trek , specialized, I find shopping them on a phone tiresome. On a computer I would just open multiple browser tabs. But on a phone its click this wait on reload, for geometry. The scroll scroll scroll to go look at components, then more hassle to see other offerings.

To top it off, either trek or specialized copied the other or they hired same company to create their web page.

Anyways I find the lack of ease to navigate manufactures website a turn off from their products in general.
Then there is trek, buy online and they'll ship to my local bike shop, but they push trek store fronts and cut out the small local shops. I don't need a trek bike that badly.... lol

Now Giant brand. I like their website. And generally I like the LBS that carry Giant. So I'm more apt to desire to buy a Giant bike.

Wildwood 

I thought fit mattered most.
Followed by price, then price,
Followed by the quality of the wheelset.

getting a bike that fits, at a good price (or better) and really nice wheels = worth a tiny bit of learning the internet. Or even waiting a few weeks.

MarcusT

I find that many bike manufacturers do not have the best websites, many do not offer online sales.They usually depend on their vendors' sites to offer ease and content. As a matter of fact, some manufacturers do not even accept tech questions via phone/email, they reply to contact a dealer. I am more concerned with the quality/price of a bike rather than their website. It also depends on where the head office is located. In this respect the USA is quite lucky in that even if the head office is in Japan,China,Taiwan or even Europe, the USA many times has a well set up distributor and even their own offices. While most other countries have a third party distributor who does not put much effort into marketing.

Metieval

yes, But if I have to jump through hoops, to get to the info that matters the most. Then apparently what matters the most is of no concern to the maker?
As for learning the internet. It takes more than that, to make a worthy web page!

dedhed

Doing internet on a phone makes everything suck

shelbyfv

Yep. I don't buy bikes often enough that I can't spend a few minutes at home on the laptop. Every five or ten years....

Chuck M 

Buying a new bike is something I still prefer a brick and mortar store for so I will do my research on the computer and then visit a shop for a hands on. About the only things I find my phone the best use for is texting, calling and taking photos. There are probably a few other things, but buying a bike isn't one of them. However I understand the younger generation is using cell phones to find random strangers to hook up with which doesn't seem like a good idea to me either.

Metieval

Some websites work great on a phone.

Some don't.

Some websites suck on a computer also, specialized and trek specifically. Its just more bearable on a computer.

Its already bad enough my bike has to come as a billboard. Debage it!

Maelochs

I don't buy bikes frequently but when I do .... I buy bikes, not websites.

Obviously the easier a site is to use, the easier it is to use, but if I really want a bike I will figure out the website. The shopping experience is over fairly quickly and the bike will last for (hopefully) decades, so I focus on the bike, not the site.

JohnDThompson 

Shopping on a phone is tiresome, period. And I refuse to keep financial information on my phone, for security reasons.

FWIW, Firefox on android does tabs.

mstateglfr 

I don't think twice about looking at Trek geometry on my phone.

If a brand sells in a physical store, I really don't care if their website isn't the easiest to use.
Now if a brand is DTC only and has a wonky or less than fully informative website?...well that is indefensible.

^ but this is website focused and not phone/computer based. I haven't ever been upset at my phone's lack of screen size when it comes to a website. If it's tough to view something, I don't get upset because it's like a 5" screen so of course some things are tough to view.

Metieval

My android reloads tabs when switching between them. Not all web sites but trek does. So tabs don't help much. It does same thing so main page has their sales bullop, then you have to open specs, then on opening geo it reloads. Probably no big deal for those sitting on 5g in the city. For rural, its just using up data (albeit unlimited), its just data that doesn't need to reload and reload and reload. Use my laptop, and Hotspot. Now a web page that insist on reloading data is just going to be very irritating. Like trying to pump up a punctured tube then putting the patch on. 😆 🤣

Anyways trek doesn't have any options for me. 68.5 HA is more steep than I want, and the roscoe is too much of a trail bike.

At the same time, it was frustrating enough that in the future I don't even want to browse their web page, which would be the door opener for me to even walk into one of their stores. Then again lots of mom an pop stores to walk into. If any of them carry trek. Then I'll see trek bikes. But trek is elbowing the mom and pop stores out. Sad..

Metieval

I'm just speedily (trying to) bouncing between different brands hardtails. I know what I want, just a matter of finding it.

Trek and Specialized websites was just off putting.

I was curious if a bad website experience drives anyone else away from certain brands.

Maelochs

We all keep coming back here .......

mstateglfr 

Phone reloads a website every time the user switches between tabs.
User complains that it's the fault of the websites.

wheelreason

This reminds me of the old days when some guys (it was always guys) would "know what they want" and would come in and take one of each of the glossy catalogs (we carried like 9 brands back then) and utterly confuse themselves, InterWeb just makes it easier....

KerryIrons

I can't imagine living in a world where I buy bikes so often that I find myself complaining about different manufacturers' web sites that makes the frequent shopping experience difficult.

Metieval

Considering not all websites do this.... yea its the website.
Giant doesn't do this. Cannondakexdiesnt, bombtrack doesn't, kona doesn't, niner doesn't Only trek/specialized which share much of the sane format.

Nice try.....

Metieval

Let me know what shop you work at, I'd like to avoid it. I'll add it to my anti trek anti specialized list.
I like to spend money, I like nice bikes, (bigger profit margins for the shops too.) But I can also be very stingy with my money.

I also like switching my stable up, which is usually dictated by the geographical area I'm in and the terrain I ride.