Buying, or thinking about buying, a new bike can be a daunting process at the best of times! There are many different types of bike to choose from, component preferences, custom paintwork, riding style suitability. The list could certainly go on. At Curve, we want your dream bike purchase experience to be as easy and hassle free as possible! Buying a new bike can be stressful, but we like to make the process as interactive and fun as possible. Wondering what it's like to purchase a dream bike here at Curve? Read on for an overview of what could be your very own journey toward New Bike Day!
Step 1: I'd Like a Bike
So, you're in the market for a new bike. Great! We can help! The first big decision you have to make is what style of bike best fits your style of riding. Would you like to tear up the tarmac on a slick road machine, munch away at endless gravel tracks in bliss or load up the bags for an epic outback adventure? Some important decisions, indeed!
Luckily, we have Bec and Liege, our seasoned sales duo, to lend a hand with all those important choices. You can reach them by the sales email or, better yet, by dropping into Curve HQ if you are in the area. They would be more than happy to answer all your important queries about our range of bikes over the phone, by email or even a video call to walk you through a virtual version of our showroom.
Step 2: I'd Like to Ride Here
Once you've made initial contact with our sales team, they can launch into a personalised, in-depth run through of the bikes that best suit your needs, riding style and possible future adventures. We will take you through the benefits and nuances of each model and how they best apply to their suited terrain. Casual road rides or racing the Tour Divide - we have a bike for you. Do you want to ride solely on the road? Our Belgie DISC would be a perfect choice, or perhaps the Belgie ULTRA if you want something a little less aggressive. Maybe a little light gravel is your thing? The Belgie ULTRA with some narrow gravel tyres suits that to a tee. Want to go totally off-road onto the gravel, perhaps with a bit of single track, around your local area and beyond? Our GXR can handle it all! In titanium or steel variations! Heading into the outback? Maybe the GMX+ is for you?
Once these matters have been ironed out, the sales team can recommend one of our models to best suit you, with all the necessary components to match. Further to this, we will also ask some questions about you. Ominous. Well, not really! We will ask you general questions about your height, current bike setup, style of riding and most importantly any bike fit details from a previous session with a bike fit professional or from your current bike. We do this so that we can narrow down the correct frame size to match your measurements and spec up a bike to suit your budget, too.
Step 3: I'd Like to Try One Out
If you are in the Melbourne area, one of the best ways to make sure you have selected the right bike is to take a test ride. Here at Curve HQ, we have a whole fleet of demo bikes for you to test out. We have a range of different sizes and groupset options so that you can get to grips with the ride feel, handling and sizing options before you commit to a purchase.
There are ample terrain options around the HQ area to test out our range and get a taste for how your new bike will feel. The famous Yarra Boulevard, Yarra Bend Park and Yarra Trails are just moments from Curve. There you will find quiet roads, cobbles, gravel trails, single track and even gnarly rock climbs to put both our road and off-road demo fleets through their paces. You can take a bike out for a couple of hours, or even attend one of our regular social ride events to really get a handle on how the bike feels and what works best for you. If we have time, and you're up for it, we can sometimes join you on your demo ride, too - that way we can answer any question you have on the fly, and tweak the bike set up. If you'd like to demo a bike from our range, you can either email our sales team to arrange a time or book online through our "Demo a Curve" booking page.
If you're not in Melbourne, feel free to check out our list of excellent stockists around the world. Each of these stores can help you through the purchase process in a similar way.
Step 4: I'd Like This Set Up
We all have preferences for what our dream bike should be. From components to accessories to custom paint. There are a number of different groupset options that we can provide for your dream bike, all with various tiers and variations based on your budget and needs. On the road front, we have both SRAM and Shimano groupset options, whilst on the gravel/off-road side we generally deal with SRAM-based componentry. Also, don't forget that we can build up a frameset with any parts that you may already have from an old bike or have pre-purchased for a build.
Like the look of raw titanium, but really want a bit of extra colour and unique pizazz for your new bike? Well, all our titanium frames can be custom painted to your hearts desire! We have a longstanding relationship with one of the best custom bike painters in the business and can work with you to make almost any imaginable custom paint scheme a reality.
Step 5: I'd Like it Now!
If you can't wait and want to get out on the road/trail/all-of-the-above as soon as possible, you're in luck! We are in the very fortunate position to have floor stock ready to roll out the door right now. If we have your size in stock, you could have a new bike in your hands faster than a unfavourable Melbourne weather front can set in! If we don't happen to have your frame size in our Melbourne HQ, most bikes in our range can be turned around within a matter of weeks with custom component / paint builds taking a little longer depending on availability.
We also have a great Stockist network across Australia and the world who can help you through the entire process from start to finish, too. Our dealers can help you to spec and build your dream bike and can sometimes even offer different component variations that we can't fulfil ourselves, such as Shimano gravel builds etc.
Hopefully this overview of the Curve purchase process puts your mind at ease. Buying a new bike can be a stressful experience, but we like to make it as interactive and fun as possible*. If you are interested in starting the journey of adventure with a bike from Curve why not pop into our Melbourne showroom, email our sales team or take a peek at our website for more details!
Step 6: I'd Like a NBD Photo
Note: All new bikes that are collected from our Melbourne HQ come with the unique opportunity for a New Bike Day photo! We love to share the fun of "new bike day" - for us, it's as close as we come to that Christmas-as-a-kid feeling. Fancy dress is mandatory. Please don't be alarmed!