rsbob 

How did it work out? Was a a great fit or did you have to make lots of adjustments to make it work? OR, was it the worst decision ever?

NOT interested in responding saying< “I would never do that”. That is not the question.

Rolla

I bought my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross online, and it was pretty much perfect. Mike Varley sent a detailed geometry diagram, including saddle position and stem length based on my measurements, which took almost all of the guesswork out it. I couldn't be happier.

70sSanO

I don’t know if buying used counts, but I’ve bought a couple bikes and a few frames off eBay.

Obviously the frames probably don’t count, but the bikes fit fine with a few tweaks.

Keep in mind that someone who has experience with bike geometry makes it a lot easier than with someone who has little knowledge.

John

tempocyclist

I've bought three brand new "complete" bikes online over the years, direct from the brand/manufacturer. All ordered with the click of a button and all have worked out extremely well. 🙂

Yes - BUT - a lot of research and measuring was involved each time. With my latest purchase (from Canyon) the only thing I changed when receiving the bike was the saddle, as my rear end just didn't agree with the Fizik one. Some online retailers will let you customise the build or have an "online bike builder" tool to customise before purchase.

Very pleased. I would not hesitate to buy another bike online again in the future.

Bmach

I bought a leftover Cannondale Super Six Evo online and everything was fine. Just had to install the handlebar then adjust seat hight and seat fore and aft and it was good to go.

50PlusCycling

Generally, so long as the frame size is right, you'll be able to make the bike fit you. No bike will be a perfect fit out of the box, one advantage to buying from a shop is they can fit the bike to you, more or less. One thing you cannot know when you buy a bike online are its riding characteristics and its handling. Steeper angles and a shorter wheelbase mean sharper handling at the tradeoff of slow speed stability and vice versa. Geometry, construction material, and the dimensions of that material have their own characteristics. It's not necessarily that important, most people tend to adjust to the characteristics of the bike they buy rather than try to find a bike with the specific characteristics they think they want. I don't mind buying bikes, new or used, off the internet.

Canker

I'm 6 for 9 online sight unseen. I'm 5'10 with pretty normal proportions so it isn't hard to figure out fit. The only one that I did have some fit issues with was the first used road bike I bought and it was 1 of the 3 I bought in person, bit small.

genejockey 

I bought a Canyon Endurace online, in June of 2020. At that point, I had 3 road bikes that I had carefully set up to be within a few mm of each other at all the contact points, and any of them were comfy for as long as I could keep my legs turning. I spent a fair bit of time measuring them very carefully and then determining what size of Endurace would allow me to put the contact points in the same place. For me, that meant a Large.

When it came, I found it to be well packed, with a set of easily understood instructions and all the tools needed to put it together - even carbon assembly paste for the seatpost, and two moderately primitive torque wrenches. I carefully set the saddle to the right height and setback, but I set up the bars with all the spacers underneath the stem. I figured, 'I'm not getting any younger. Maybe I should be more upright.'

I took it out for its first ride. After 10 miles, my ass hurt and my hands kept going numb. I was afraid I'd blown $2400 on a lemon! I replaced the saddle with a spare Avocet O2 Air 40R, the same saddle I had on the other 3 bikes. Then I re-measured handlebar height and reach. Reach was fine, but the bars were an inch higher than my other bikes. So I moved 2.5 mm of spacers from below the stem to above. Took it for a 30 mile ride, and everything fit. Now it, too is comfortable for as long as I can keep my legs turning. It needed some minor adjustments to the derailleurs, which were simple enough to do.

So, if you know how to make sure you can get it to fit before you order it, and you know how to achieve the right fit when you receive it, and you know how to adjust derailleurs and brakes, you should do fine. But I'd be really leery of buying online if I didn't already have a well-fitting bike, and know how to set it up.

EDIT: Be prepared to throw out the saddle it comes with. IME, they're usually crap.

delbiker1 

I have purchased numerous bikes online. In 2016, I purchased a new 2014 Orbea Avant. I liked the frameset and the fit was good from the beginning. However, I had a lot of issues with getting the shifting right and a noisy bb. I wound up having to redo the interior cable routing to get the shifting working properly, and also wound up replacing both the bb and crank set, FSA Omega and mega exo bb. After doing those things, I have the shifting working properly and the crank set/bb, 6750 crank set and BBR-60, are smooth and quiet. I did not ride the bike much when I was having the issues. Once I did the work it became the bike I was expecting when I purchased it.
I have acquired numerous used bikes from online sources, only had one that was a disappointment when I received it. It is a Lemond Tourmalet that was in pretty poor shape, worse than I could tell from the pictures and description. I really considered returning it, but stuck with it, pretty much totally rebuilding it. I spent considerably more dollars than I wanted to, but in the end, it is now one of my favorite rides, and my favorite build that I have done.

mtbikerjohn 

[QUOTE=Rolla;22457703]I bought my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross online, and it was pretty much perfect. Mike Varley sent a detailed geometry diagram, including saddle position and stem length based on my measurements, which took almost all of the guesswork out it. I couldn't be happier.

[/QUOT

Looks like you ride a 54cm like I do. I was in-between a 54 & a 56,and Mike put me on a 54 with a 110mm stem. It is honestly the best riding bike I own and the one I tend to grab most often for rides. Mike Varley nailed it with his design. john

AlgarveCycling

I bought my Wilier Zero6 with Sram Red in 2019 from one of Europe's largest online-only retailers in their annual sale. It was a 2018 bike in 52cm and one of 3 they were trying to shift. All black, no paint, these bikes were launched by Wilier as lightweight specials at 6.2kg. RRP was 10,999 GBP and I got mine for 4.599 GBP.

It fit perfectly straight out of the box after some tinkering at a bike fit. I have since upgraded the wheels and added a power meter. It is a joy to ride, especially on long steep climbs.

While I do prefer to support my local bike shops and have since only purchased bikes from them, I am no stranger to sight-unseen online buying for cars and electronics. Never had a problem.

wolfchild

I would never purchase a bike on internet. I need to see it, go over it, sit on it and test ride it before I purchase it.

Bald Paul

I bought a bike from Fezzari online. I would recommend getting a professional bike fit first. Fezzari recommended a frameset that I later found out during my pro fitting was too large for me.

jon c. 

I bought a bike online for my wife and it worked out great. However, she had already taken a test ride on the same model, which was the personal ride of someone at the shop. We ordered one from them and they called back a few weeks later and said the bike had gone out of production and they couldn't get one. So I found the one of the few remaining in her size that I was able to order online. She did change the saddle when we got it, but not because the stock saddle was uncomfortable. She just wanted a Brooks.

datlas 

I bought a SS tank from BikesDirect several years back. I knew what I wanted and it was fine. Buying on the internet makes more sense if you are confident in sizing and assembly/maintenance.

Probably not a good idea for a novice.

YMMV.

pdlamb

I bought a used bike for my wife on-line. No problems with the bike, problem with the wife who told me that after trying it, she really really didn't like drop bars, so the price went up 50% to get my LBS to adapt flat bars.

My custom Bilenky was perfect straight out of the box. Aside from sporadic problems repacking the S&S coupled bike to get it back into its shipping case (user error in each event), I've had no problems. Fit, function, ride, shifting -- all were perfectly dialed in. Literally the first problem I had with the bike was when I put it together a couple hundred miles from home for an "away" century and found the rear tire was bald after a few thousand miles. I chickened slightly and rode the metric the next day.

dedhed

https://www.google.com/search?q=buyi...client=gws-wiz

10 Wheels

Perfect.
Then they Offered a 2nd one. Last one in my size. 60cm.

mstateglfr 

All my bikes started as frames and I built them up.
If you know stack, reach, bottom bracket drop, chainstay length, and trail then you will know how the bike will fit and handle.

My modern frames were easier to confirm fit than older frames since geometry charts are more complete now.
Black Mountain MC and Fairlight Secan are a couple of my modern frames that have complete geometry charges and it was easy to know I would like the fit and feel once built.

genejockey 

Now I think about it, I realize I've bought more bikes online than I realized. Back in 2007 I bought a 2006 Bianchi 928 that was on sale with a steep discount. At that time I had one bike, which I'd had professionally fitted 10 years before, so I measured it carefully and figured out what size would allow me to replicate that fit. It worked!

Then I bought a used steel frame online, based on the measurements, and I set it up the same. Then, 12 years later, the Canyon.

And back in December, I bought a well-used 1995 Litespeed, a 59cm Ultimate, having spent enough time with the geometry table to confirm that this was the size I wanted. And it fits, too!

None of these bikes has disappointed.

Rolla

Then you'll never enjoy the sublime perfection of a custom frame.

Razorrock

I ordered a Litespeed in 2020 during Covid. My last bike that i bought came with a bike fit so I had paperwork with general measurements, nothing crazy. I sent it over and they recommended the size that matched the closest.

Bike came in a box probably like most online bikes. I had planned to have a shop complete the assembly but shops in 2020 were running a month behind so I assembled it my self. I'm just an average dude with a set of allen wrenches but nothing was too hard. For the first couple of rides I would bring extra tools and adjust the seat height, tilt then work on the bars until it "Felt Right".

I would buy online again with no worries.

rdecredico

I bought a car on the internet and the company allowed us a 7 day/400 mile grace period in which we could test drive the vehicle and return it no questions asked. No money down so there was nothing they could even claw back on the possible return.

Best car buying experience ever.

Buying a bike on the internet with a credit card affords the buyer a lot of power in the purchase process and once one is familiar with bike sizing and geometries there is no longer a reason to need to see a bike 'in person.' As far as a test ride? All modern big name brand bikes ride great if the fit is reasonable. Buying online opens up a lot more shopping opportunities and chances to find exactly what one wants and this is why it is becoming so ubiquitous.

I recently purchase a Specialized Diverge Expert online that no store within 500 miles could get. They could not order it and cannot swap out with another store. It bubbled up online on the Spesh dtc and it showed up at the house 7 days after I clicked 'buy.' The bike world/marketplace is changing and online buying is where it is going. One must adapt to change or be crushed by it.

I very much prefer the online purchasing experience for standard purchasing. The only downside is not being able to immediately satisfy compulsive urges and having to wait for delivery.

Ubie

I've bought three online:

2004 Ibex Vantage 4400
Now defunct online only retailer. It was ok, but sizing was S/M/L and I was on the cusp, probably should have gone for the larger size.

2021 Cannondale Topstone 1
From REI so I was able to give it a thorough once over before actually paying money on it. Cannondale's sizing chart was very helpful.

2001 Trek 2200
Ebay listing, size was 52cm and I had ridden a similar vintage Trek frame before so I knew it would be good.

RidingMatthew

I bought cyclocross style bike from bikes direct. I rode it for close to 20,000 miles. Before I donated it to a guy who passes bikes on to lower once people in need of transportation.