How to find a decent used bike on a limited budget?

badboybennyg

Hi Guys

I am desperate to get on the road following a few years MTB’ing where have I got fed up being chased by dogs and riding round creepy deserted woods. Anyway I am on a very small budget of £200 and know that at that price 2nd hand is my only route for a semi-decent road bike.

Can anybody please tell me any classic road bikes names (I am guessing mass produced in order to be able find one!) that I can search for on Ebay. I know from experience that for example putting in “Raleigh Road Bike” will result in a broad range of bikes in term of quality and price. The trouble is I cant pick out a genuine bargain bike from a cheaply made bike that someone had as a kid and is making room in their shed by shifting for a few quid.

Are there tell tale things to look for e.g. frame material, types of gears, other components and as I said are there some keywords I can bang in to bring back some decent used bikes?

Thanks a bunch

Ben

majormantra

You by shop by frame material. Look for things like Reynolds 531, 631, 653, 753, 853 and 953 steel tubing. There are lots of really nice road bikes from the 80s and 90s made of this stuff, with 531 probably being the most plentiful.

Thousands of custom frame builders and mainstream manufacturers used good quality steel like this and you can pick up really nice bikes made of it for under £150. Peugeot for example did some really nice ones - just make sure it's definitely the good stuff and not 'carbolite' or one of the other gas-pipe materials.

Whereabouts are you? You could try posting a wanted in the classifieds. Also, it's worth looking for a local bike charity as they often have nice frames lying around.

Matthew

badboybennyg

Thanks Matthew.

I'll take your advice and hop on over to the Bay now. I'm in Milton Keynes.

Thanks again

Ben

volvine

hi mate ebay is a good place to look just make sure you get the correct size is all take a look at my second hand job managed to pick it up for £20 in a little bike shop i love it.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj11 ... BAY032.jpg


hope you find one

badboybennyg

No way!! £20...Nice one mate.

Hopefully I'll be half as lucky!

markos1963

£33 off Ebay




£100 Local cyclist clearing out garage





The bargains are out there its just a question of patience and luck.

badboybennyg

Seen a Raleigh Olympus on the Bay. Anyone know anything about these, or are they toot?

Cheers

badboybennyg

Hmmm Guess I will give the Raleigh Olympus a miss. There seems to be a lot of references on Google to people riding these to do their paper rounds in the 70's/80's!!