New Bike Day

2024-06-23

After a much longer than expected odyssey, I got my new bike this week. Pure coincidence - Jan-Lukas just wrote about his new bike, so I thought this is something I should do, too.

Like Jan-Lukas, I bought a Cube Bike, and it has been a journey. Since April, my employer allows the usage of a “JobBike”. This allows employees to “lease” a bike through the employer. It comes with tax benefits, making the bike roughly 30% cheaper (that at least is what the providers claim) than buying it directly.

I wanted to have an eBike since we moved to the Stuttgart area. I love biking and biked a lot in my youth. But, living at the lowest point of the valley meant that every bike tour started with a hill. More often than I like to admit this meant that I didn’t start biking at all.

Having support by a motor, I hoped, will overcome this and allow me larger radius of bike tours in this beautiful region.

“Let’s get a new bike” is what naïve me thought.

Most recently, I was riding a “Fitness Bike”. It has a sporty position, narrow tires, but a “normal” bar. No fancy suspension or anything else increasing its weight. Having a motor on board shouldn’t change this significantly. For me, this meant that all bikes heavier than 15kg were out of scope, which left me with the new eGravel category.

I looked at the Rose Backroad+. I wanted to buy a Rose Bike already in the past, but they had more than 20 weeks delivery time. The summer would be over by then …

Lucky me, Cube released a new bike. The Nuroad Hybrid that I liked it immediately.

I contacted the store, asking if I can try it out. No response. I contacted another store and got an automated email that the bike would be waiting for me the next working day. Nice. Two days later, I drove there, 30min by car - just to learn that the bike was not there (yet) and that I cannot trust their automated emails. They told me to come back, only after they call me.

Anoter two days later, I received a call and went on the journey again. 30min car drive. This time, the bike was there, yes, but a few screws were broken, making it unsafe to go on a test drive. I drove back the second time.

On the third try, I was lucky. Bike was there and ready to be tested. After a quick ride, I decided to go with it. I discussed the details with the dealer, went back home and waited for email from the leasing company.

About two weeks later, I received a call form the dealer, which I couldn’t take because I was in a work meeting - and an email from the leasing company telling me that the bike was ready to be picked up. Again, naïve me, assuming that this is what they wanted to tell me on the phone, I drove to the store - just to learn that again I should not trust their automated emails. The bike is not yet ready.

Meanwhile, I was not so happy with my decision, the shop and especially their processes.

Another four weeks later, the store calls me again. The bike is still not ready. A part is missing that is needed to power the light from the bike’s battery. They ordered it, but don’t know when it will be delivered.

I asked them - knowing that it’s summer and that I probably won’t need light on the bike in the near future - if I could pick up the blank bike and come back to the shop once the part is delivered to get it installed. They agreed.

So this week, I finally picked up the bike and rode the 30km back home. Great feeling.