If you’re shopping for a new bike, the choices can be overwhelming. Even knowledgeable bikers can get tangled up trying to call up different bike manufacturers’ websites. There always seems to be one nifty model that gets missed — and it might have been just the one you were looking for.
There is a tool that can help. It’s a website called “Find the Best,” which describes itself as “an objective, socially curated comparison engine that allows you to find a topic, compare your options and decide what’s best for you.” It’s not solely limited to bicycle comparisons — you can compare all manner of things, from universities, to laptop computers, to investments. So I was somewhat skeptical when I clicked on the link to their road bike tool.
Just a sample of the comparison page for entry-level bikes.
I was pleasantly surprised. Users can customize their search to match some broad criteria. Under road bikes, you can search for “Racing,” “Sport,” “Entry-level,” “Triathlon/TT,” “Track,” “Fixie/Single Speed,” “Touring/Commuting,” “Women’s,” and “Kids.” Let’s say you want to compare entry-level road bikes. You can specify frame material — carbon, steel, or aluminum. You can limit the price range, the gearing, the manufacturer — and even limit the finds to those top-rated by either Bicycling magazine or Bike Radar, the British biking website.
If we limit the entry-level price to a top of $2,000, the tool still turns up 53 different makes and models. From there, you can select specific models and run a comparison on them — similar to the kind of comparison available on some bike retailers’ websites. The difference is that on those sites, you’re stuck with just the brands the store carries. Here, you’ve got them all.
I’m not in the market for a new bike now, but it’s still a fun way to kill a little time late in the evening. You can find the road bike comparison tool at http://road-bikes.findthebest.com/. Oh, and if you’re interested in mountain bikes, there’s a tool for those, too: http://mountain-bikes.findthebest.com/
Wow, that’s a very slick tool. Thanks for the tip.
Darn you, now I want more bikes…
That’s brilliant!
Nothing like this in the UK. eBay is probably the closest thing we have. Now there’s an opportunity for someone!
This looks like a pretty useful tool. Thanks.
I’ve done a list myself of some good entry level road bikes.
I helped to build a bike comparison tool. We’ll be constantly striving to improve it. You can check it out here: http://compare.velocompare.com
It’s geared towards the UK at the moment and road bikes but we’ll be expanding on the type of bikes as we progress. Hopefully some people will find it useful.
-Barry
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Anyone ever hear of a Tank mountain bike?
I’m trying to decide between an SE bikes palisade 21 comfort bike and a 700c northrock sc7 the palisade is from performance cycles and will be professionals put together the northrock is from Walmart and has a protection plan what should I pick I’m 6 ft even and 205 lbs and typically carry 15 pounds of gear in a pack
The site linked to in the original post is no longer working. I’m working on a similar site https://99spokes.com/ which provides a comparison tool for all different types of bikes and brands.