Buying a Bike Online

With the world still grappling with a pandemic, people are both turning to their local bike shop and diving into sight-unseen purchases online. At Mike’s Bikes, we encourage you to do both — we may be Marin County’s beloved local shop, but extend that hospitality to riders across the country.

We go above and beyond for online customers with our Wheelsmith Gold Label Assembly. That means our experts unpack your bike, assemble and fine-tune it, then carefully repackage and send it your way.

Our stellar offering of bikes by Specialized, Santa Cruz, Juliana, and more brings all the joys of road, gravel, XC, trail, downhill, electric, commuter, and other types of biking to our customers. 

If you plan on making your next two-wheeled purchase online, here are the steps you need to follow: 

Figure Out What You Want

Honestly, there’s never been a better time to purchase a bike online. There’s plenty of opinions all over the internet for practically every bike on the market. That means you’ll have a much better time figuring out whether a bike is right for you.

Compare models, price tags, and features between brands and bikes. You can contact us whenever you want to ask all the questions you can think of: 

• Is the FOX Float fork the best choice for the trails I like to ride?
• Am I better off with 27.5” or 29” wheels?
• What are the pros and cons of this bike vs. that bike?

Chatting with an expert is the best way to figure out if the bike you’re looking at is the bike you’re after. We’re not salesy chatbots — we’re just bike nerds who love to talk shop. 

Figure Out Your Size

Take a moment to figure out your size, and you’ve tackled a common pain point for bike purchasers. 

Remember that your individual anatomy could cause some variation from this chart, so don’t expect it to be as cut-and-dry as the numbers suggest. For instance, if you are at a liminal value between sizes but have unusually long legs, you may want to choose the size smaller and raise your seat height since it’s easier to adjust the seat-to-pedals distance than the seat-to-handlebars distance.

In reality, though, it’s extremely rare that online customers order the wrong size based on this chart. You can feel confident that the bike you get is going to be awesome.

Prioritize Customer Service

When you go to online ordering, customer service is everything. Buying a bike is a very human-centric activity, and the more human the company, the better off you’ll be. 

If your bike gets damaged during shipping or you find out you need a different size, you’ll want to deal with a caring, empathetic company that puts the customer first. Like us, for instance.

We stand behind our products. Our generous 30-day return policy window gives you time to get your bike and inspect it. If it turns out it’s not right for you or there is damage, we've got you covered. We apply the same level of generosity to our online returns as we do to our in-store returns. Read more about our policies here.

Take Advantage of Our Wheelsmith Gold Label Assembly 

Most bikes purchased online arrive unbuilt, but not everyone is a bike technician. That is why we offer Wheelsmith Gold Label Assembly on almost every bike we sell.

Listen, it’s just way more fun to receive a bike that’s been assembled and tuned to perfection. With our industry-leading Wheelsmith Gold Label Assembly, we take care of the expert work for you. That means you don’t have to be a rocket surgeon or lose a precious day of riding while your local bike mechanic puts it together.

Our professional bike technicians unpack and assemble your bike, tune it to perfection, then carefully package and ship it to your front door. All the hard work is already done — all you have to do is put a few parts back together. When you receive it, simply follow the instructions in this short video and take it outside for that magical first bonding moment. 

We get that online shopping can be nerve-wracking for a purchase as big and tactile as a bike. That’s why we do ours the right way. Contact us today to chat about bikes and find the perfect one for you.

 

About Mike’s Bikes: Mike’s Bikes is a growing family of local bike shops, all with a singular purpose — to get as many people on bikes as possible. We locally own and operate twelve wildly successful stores in Northern California. In addition to our brick-and-mortar shops, mikesbikes.com is one of the top online bicycle retail sites in the country.