Original subtitles

this is a uh a really good question this

this uh probably if I fit 10 or 15

people in a week probably around four or

five of them are in this exact situation

so they've gotten into riding they're

one or two years in they they have an

older bike that they they they dip their

toe in the water with this bike and

they're not sure if it's right so they

come to me to get recommendations for

the next frame and they they ask all the

right questions a lot of the time but

sometimes stuff that they didn't really

consider and this this topic this video

will try and address some of the the

critical things um so what should you

look for in your next bike now the the

first thing the overarching kind of

ethos of of the answer is that your next

bike should be fit for purpose you

should question yourself and say what am

I going to do with this thing am I go do

I want a bike which I can chuck a

different set of wheels on and go riding

on gravel on the weekend do I want a

bike which I can race at the local

criteriums on the weekend do I want a

commuting bike which I can also ride on

the weekend for longer Bunch rides do I

just want to ride out in the hills with

my at slow pace for hours on end where

we want to choose something which is fit

for purpose I want a bike that looks

good at the cafe Neil an aob bik with

integrated bars get out I want to see

again yeah so I want something which

doesn't suit me at all but looks really

cool is what you say so this is the Trap

that people fall into is they go to the

local bike shop they look around online

and they go far out that uh that looks

795 blade looks awesome what are you

going to do with it ah 40K rides twice a

week no no

no don't do it so you want something

that is fit for purpose now endurance

bikes uh crossover gravel bikes road

bikes they all have their fores and

their drawbacks right so they have good

and bad things about them things like

compliance in the back end rigidity tire

size tire clearance the adjustability of

the cockpit so looking at things like an

integrated cockpit and stuff like that

versus a standard stem these are things

which you really want to consider if

you're riding around doing a lot of

endurance stuff in on coarse chip seal

in the back country look for something

with a fairly big tire a 30 or a 32 and

drop the pressures down so it's more

compliant that sort of thing you you

don't want to potentially go for

something that's too harsh and too stiff

and too rigid or too long and low in the

front end so look for a race bike versus

an endurance bike versus a crossover

sort of bike if we're talking about road

bikes um look for those things and don't

be sucked into oh my gosh that one looks

awesome I'll have that before you

consider these other things so Endurance

by tend to have more compliance they

sometimes have things like slacker head

angles for more stable steering that

sort of stuff slightly longer wheelbases

so they feel very smooth and and and

stable at high speed that sort of stuff

at the expense of a tiny bit of agility

look for something that is fit for

purpose so an endurance bike for most

people is often a good way to go if

you're racing and you really want to go

fast or you're super flexible and you

need a really long low bike look at look

into the race bikes you know your TX and

your your Scot foils and you that sort

of stuff the chapter 2 the Coco that's

behind me for example if you're doing

that sort of riding look for a race bike

but if you're not try and stay away from

them you'll often end up with something

which is just a bit harsher than you

want a little bit like it's Nimble but

it's almost too sharp in the steering

because it's designed for riding at

really High Speed and Agility and it'll

be unnecessarily stiff so look for

something that's fit for purpose number

two geometry and this is where the

people they're coming to me this is what

they really want to know is what sort of

geometry should I look for in the new

bike the best way to do this is to

obviously go and see someone like me if

you if you've got the the funds and the

ability get some recommendations on the

next bike's geometry so that you can

then go shopping with confidence and

looking at the reach the stack the C

tube angle the the the layback on the

clamp on the seat post that sort of

stuff if you've got someone like me

around it's money well spent if not and

you're fairly comfortable in your old

position reference off that position

look up the geometry of the frame and

then look at the reach the stack and if

you can delve into other YouTube videos

explaining what these numbers all mean

and I would highly recommend that you do

so look into these things the seat tube

angle the layback on the seat post and

look at where it's all set up and then

reference back to the video that we did

about where looking at like geometry

considerations for next frame and we'll

put a link to that up here how to

replicate your position across onto the

new bike as well this sort of stuff will

enable you to not buy the wrong bike

geometrically speaking so some Goods for

this as well like geometry Geeks you can

compare like 10 bikes against one

specific geometry and and see how it

aligns y y so if you're for example

you've got a 54 cm tarmac at the moment

and you've had to put an enormous spacer

stack under the front of it like a 40

mil spacer to get the bars high enough

and it's got quite a long reach out at

like 390 mm or something and you have to

run a 70 mm stem on it you're going to

want to look for something that is both

taller in the front end so with a higher

stack Dimension but also a shorter reach

so that you can run a longer stem so

reference off the geometry of your old

bike and try and extrapolate to what you

want and ideally for for really small

frames a 90 mil stem or longer is no

problem for larger frames a 100 or

longer is good right so if you can

change the reach dimension of the frame

that you're looking at based upon the

stem length that you want so don't try

not to go much shorter than a 90 or an

80 if you really have to 80s are no

problem on a smallish bike but on a big

bike an 80 does make the stem make the

steering a little bit too sharp for a

lot of people looks weird as well

aesthetically is not good deal that's

very true that is very true and we're

all about Aesthetics oh 100% so your

reach and your stack are probably the

two most critical things to get right

and then have a look at where the seat

post is clamped and if your seat post is

if your your seat is shoved all the way

forward for example on the post you

might want to look for a bike with a

slightly steeper seat tube angle to

allow you to clamp that seat more in the

center of the Rails or you might look

for a bike which has the ability to to

you have the ability to purchase a zero

offset seat poost so that you're not

maxed out on your saddle travel yeah so

look at the geometry of the bikes that's

your second consideration and try and

delve into this a bit and if it's still

just too much go and see someone like me

if possible CU they will hopefully steer

you down the right path of the next

frame so the bike should be fit for

purpose it should have the right

geometry crank length this is one that a

lot of people never really think about

if you're buying a bike from a local

bike shop a lot of the time you can say

to the guys or the girls at the bike

shop hey uh can can you swap out the

172s for say 165s for example read into

crank length have a look at our videos

about crank length if you think you need

to deviate from what the bike stand

comes from from the factory tell the

guys or girls at the shop and they they

can often say oh yeah yeah we'll just

build it with whatever crank length you

want for no extra cost a lot of the

direct to Consumer Brands you can't do

this you can't say to Canyon for example

hey can you put 165s on it you sort of

get what you get right but if you're

buying it from a local shop often they

can change the crank length for you and

if you've got really short legs or hip

impingement issues or something which

you've identified from looking at our

crank length videos consider the crank

length and consider asking the shop to

actually change them for you before you

buy it um number four don't buy an

integrated cockpit bike unless you know

exactly what you want so the one behind

me the Beautiful chapter 2 it's got an

integrated 110x 400 MM bar and we knew

exactly what we wanted and we were able

to tell that to the guys who were

supplying it so we know we're not going

to have a problem because we've looked

at the reach and we know that it's going

to all work out but for the average

person adjustability is kink right so

having the ability to get the bike and

oh it's totally different to my old bike

and the reach just feels a bit long so

I'm just going to change the stem which

might be a $150 job no problem to change

the stem on that or any of the

integrated cockpit bikes your bmc's your

TRS anything you're looking at sometimes

up nearly $1,000 to change the cockpit

length or the width even just the width

of the bar you know if you if you've got

a bar that's way too wide or too narrow

and you want to change it it can be a

$1,000 job you know by the time you buy

the new materials and get them all

fitted up with the internal cable

routing so my advice is unless you know

exactly what you need and you're all

over the geometry of this sort of stuff

get a bike with a non-integrated cockpit

so that you can change the stem length

after the fact if you feel like it's too

long or Too Short really really highly

advisable um and the last one look at

the bar width and this is one that most

people never really think about they

just the bike comes with a 42 and that's

what you get again the bike shop might

be able to if it's a good local bike

shop and I always advise people if

possible to purchase from their local

bike shop if they can if it's a good

shop they might say here oh yeah we just

we order the bike from the manufacturer

we'll spec whichever group set you want

and we'll put whichever bar width on it

that you want so look into the bar width

and if you want a 38 and it comes with a

42 ask the guys at the shop if they can

build it with that if you don't ask

you'll never know most of the shops most

of the local bike shops are quite happy

to source that stuff and sometimes

there's a small change over cost they

have to absorb the cost of like moving

the components over to another bike or

something but a lot of the time they'll

just do it for you yeah so try and go

for the bar width that you want the

crank length that you want and and then

have the ability to change the stem

because a bike that doesn't fit you once

you've purchased it is a is a terrible

thing you know you spend all this money

and think oh this thing just doesn't

feel right cuz the cranks are too long

and da da da da yeah and and is highly

advisable to try and figure this stuff

out before you purchase it and then all

the other stuff Beyond this is stuff

that you don't need to worry about most

of the time what color is the bike how

aerodynamic is it D these are things

which we viscerally buy bikes based upon

how they look a lot of the time but you

should consider this other stuff more

than the appearance of the B in my

opinion so we're all slaves to Fashion

at some level mate but try not to let

that be your only purchasing metric yes

the number of times I've had someone

come in on a fantastic top speec pinell

Dogma or something and it's just it's

got a 50 mm spaces stack under the stem

and the the stem is 70 mil long instead

of 110 and it handles too sharp and it's

just completely the wrong bike for them

but they love the way it looked try not

to get roped into that uh impulse

purchasing sort of stuff too much yes

yeah use use your

forebrain plan ahead plan ahead well

said it shouldn't just be about the

looks of the BL