For those of us that live where there are no good bike shops serviceability, solid construction and a good distributor for a brand becomes really important. Unless you are really nerdy about bikes it can become a bit daunting to buy something very expensive, that when it breaks results in a long turn-around where you are without a bike. An example og this is when Specialized, a few years back, were speccing undersized bearings for weight or packaging reasons. Changing a bearing in a frame is not easy if you don't have the tools or the confidence to do that. So even with the very good CS that Spesh do have here, it still resulted in issues for customers.
The point being that buying a bike from a main brand might seem like a safe bet, but when the whole ecosystem isn't in place it still is a gamble. And if the frame or bike isn't set up for easy servicing at home then you might be without your bike for a long time.
I have friends that ride quite a bit, but aren't as nerdy about bikes, for them to find info on forums and such is really not easy. They don't even know what end to begin asking in.
April 25, 2022, 2:32 a.m. - olaa
For those of us that live where there are no good bike shops serviceability, solid construction and a good distributor for a brand becomes really important. Unless you are really nerdy about bikes it can become a bit daunting to buy something very expensive, that when it breaks results in a long turn-around where you are without a bike. An example og this is when Specialized, a few years back, were speccing undersized bearings for weight or packaging reasons. Changing a bearing in a frame is not easy if you don't have the tools or the confidence to do that. So even with the very good CS that Spesh do have here, it still resulted in issues for customers. The point being that buying a bike from a main brand might seem like a safe bet, but when the whole ecosystem isn't in place it still is a gamble. And if the frame or bike isn't set up for easy servicing at home then you might be without your bike for a long time. I have friends that ride quite a bit, but aren't as nerdy about bikes, for them to find info on forums and such is really not easy. They don't even know what end to begin asking in.