rassilon256
Cannon Fodder
Hi there,
I bought a Giant Talon 3 in late 2020. I'd wanted to get a bike for a few years (hadn't ridden in ~20 years) but in the pandemic I had time to research and money to buy the bike. I went to a few LBS and my most local was the best - friendly and knowledgeable staff, good price range, trying the bikes out, etc.
I got the Talon 3 because my main interest was light trail riding (partly for it's own sake, partly for geocaching), but I felt I'd often end up just riding to the local shops or on concrete bike paths spending time with friends. It seemed ideal to survive the trail terrain and let me survive the road terrain.
In the end, I've hardly used the bike. Partly because my circumstances (and those of my cycling friends) have changed. But also because I don't have capacity to do some simple things. I've ridden to the shops occasionally but groceries in a backpack is a nuisance. I have a little dog who loves outings and would encourage me to go places but she can't ride the bike. Stuff like that.
So I thought I could encourage myself by equipping for those things with a rear rack and accessories for it. This is where I've gotten stuck. I did some research and liked a particular Topeak rack, bag for solo rides and rear basket suitable for dog transport (with a few modifications). My LBS sells Topeak gear so that seemed perfect. They assured me that the rack would suit my bike and they'd have stock of it in a few weeks. This turned into about a year of "It's been delayed"/"They didn't send us any this month"/"No we can't order one specifically"/"Just keep checking"/"No we can't ask a rep" and so on.
Before that "in a month" promise they also sold me some fenders they said were right for my bike (the bike they'd sold me, from their major brand). They weren't right; they wouldn't fit at all and wouldn't have mounted properly anyway, so I had to take them back.
I've given up on the LBS now. Nice enough people, and when I'm using the bike more and need a service or basic products I'll probably still go back to them. But I think maybe they've marked me down as not a serious every day cyclist like them and not worth the effort.
My next idea for advice was to go to Topeak directly. Their website sent me to Cassons. Cassons seemed more worried about my experience with the LBS being A+ rather than A++ but did say that most accessories should fit most bikes. They then asked follow-up questions and never responded to my answers. They also haven't responded to subsequent emails about their products.
So after all that I have a bike in the shed so rarely used that I need to thoroughly dust it off every time and no idea how to find accessories suitable for my bike. The things I think I want are available online but I'm concerned about buying something with no real-world support and paying for expensive shipping, then finding it's not right and paying even more to send it back without learning anything.
So there's all my context. Main question: how do I work out whether accessories are right for my bike before I buy them?
Additional questions: where do you recommend I go to buy online, and what do you think of Topeak gear?
I bought a Giant Talon 3 in late 2020. I'd wanted to get a bike for a few years (hadn't ridden in ~20 years) but in the pandemic I had time to research and money to buy the bike. I went to a few LBS and my most local was the best - friendly and knowledgeable staff, good price range, trying the bikes out, etc.
I got the Talon 3 because my main interest was light trail riding (partly for it's own sake, partly for geocaching), but I felt I'd often end up just riding to the local shops or on concrete bike paths spending time with friends. It seemed ideal to survive the trail terrain and let me survive the road terrain.
In the end, I've hardly used the bike. Partly because my circumstances (and those of my cycling friends) have changed. But also because I don't have capacity to do some simple things. I've ridden to the shops occasionally but groceries in a backpack is a nuisance. I have a little dog who loves outings and would encourage me to go places but she can't ride the bike. Stuff like that.
So I thought I could encourage myself by equipping for those things with a rear rack and accessories for it. This is where I've gotten stuck. I did some research and liked a particular Topeak rack, bag for solo rides and rear basket suitable for dog transport (with a few modifications). My LBS sells Topeak gear so that seemed perfect. They assured me that the rack would suit my bike and they'd have stock of it in a few weeks. This turned into about a year of "It's been delayed"/"They didn't send us any this month"/"No we can't order one specifically"/"Just keep checking"/"No we can't ask a rep" and so on.
Before that "in a month" promise they also sold me some fenders they said were right for my bike (the bike they'd sold me, from their major brand). They weren't right; they wouldn't fit at all and wouldn't have mounted properly anyway, so I had to take them back.
I've given up on the LBS now. Nice enough people, and when I'm using the bike more and need a service or basic products I'll probably still go back to them. But I think maybe they've marked me down as not a serious every day cyclist like them and not worth the effort.
My next idea for advice was to go to Topeak directly. Their website sent me to Cassons. Cassons seemed more worried about my experience with the LBS being A+ rather than A++ but did say that most accessories should fit most bikes. They then asked follow-up questions and never responded to my answers. They also haven't responded to subsequent emails about their products.
So after all that I have a bike in the shed so rarely used that I need to thoroughly dust it off every time and no idea how to find accessories suitable for my bike. The things I think I want are available online but I'm concerned about buying something with no real-world support and paying for expensive shipping, then finding it's not right and paying even more to send it back without learning anything.
So there's all my context. Main question: how do I work out whether accessories are right for my bike before I buy them?
Additional questions: where do you recommend I go to buy online, and what do you think of Topeak gear?
