i hate road bike's... BUT!

joshtp

Ok, so being a extremely avid MTB'er, and a bit of a road bike basher, i dont really want a road bike. BUT, i live in a city, and feel a old crapped out roadie could be a good option for getting around, i really want it to be brown, and as desirable as a turd. i dont want it knicked.....
so the plan is to go and check out some of the bike recycle-ing shops, the thing is, while i can spot a bargain MTB at 100 paces, i havent got a clue what im looking for in a Roadie!
i want it to look rough, but pref to ride pretty well if posible. so, what is good/bad, what should i lok out for, what is easy to maintain/hard, what is light/heavy, basicly, what am i looking for in a sub £25 rust bucket?
any makes to avoid? and if it was your bike, what would you be looking for..? im prety experianced with mtb's, infact im positively geeky when it coms to big tyres and off road bounce. but skinny wheels, and drop bars baffle me!
also, whats worth upgrading on a beast of an old bike to make it ride better without making it look desirable? bling wheels are out for e.g.
thanks in advance...!

softlad

I can't believe you're asking for buying advice on a junk-bike worth £25.....

Heckler1974

For £25 it's going to be both old and gash and potentially fatal.

You might be able to salvage something out of a skip and rebuild it, but for your budget the most you'll be able to rebuild is the bell on the front and some tassles for the handlebars.

Headhuunter

For £25 you're not going to get much! If you do find something it will doubtless need a lot of work/bits replacing. Look out for old Reynolds steel frames bikes - 501, 531, 653 etc tubing, with old Campag and Shimano gear, however with the current craze for steel framed fixies has bumped up the price of these.

rake

campagnolo will be fine here.

joshtp

SWEET! so, thats sound advice... the most important bits to look at are the bell and tassles....
thanks guy's... thats great advice.....






seriously, lighten up! i dont like roadie's for this reason, they have to be all stuck up, all high and mighty, at least in MTB, they might have had some ideas, or a joke or 2....
with all your carbon wonderbikes, youv forgotten that the humble bike is a the transport of choice for many students and skint people, and you can pick up a rust bucket for 25 quid, it may be crap, but i hardly want to race, tour, or do anything more than a bit of bombin to the shops and the ocasional fitness ride on the seafront......
get back down to earth! we dont all have carbon pinarelo's, or ti litespeeds..... and i dont care about lycra.... or but cream, i ride in jeans... or baggies, if im riding hard.....



has no one got any proper advice....?
and i dont care if its dangerous, it will add some exitment to the otherwise extremely boring world of road bikes......

joshtp

Headhuunter wrote:

For £25 you're not going to get much! If you do find something it will doubtless need a lot of work/bits replacing. Look out for old Reynolds steel frames bikes - 501, 531, 653 etc tubing, with old Campag and Shimano gear, however with the current craze for steel framed fixies has bumped up the price of these.

thanks for some proper advice......
i know it aint gonna be much.... i dont care.... if it works, it works....

ExeterSimon

You're not going to get much advice by sounding off like that!

Relax man...it is legal, acceptable and fun to be a roadie and an MTBer.

Monkeypump

Why not get a cheapo rigid mtb and put skinny tyres on it?

You probably already have a bunch of spare parts you can use, and it'll be much closer to what you're used to.

I don't think anyone who has commented is being negative - getting a rideable old roadie for £25 just doesn't seem very feasible.

Monkeypump

ExeterSimon wrote:

Relax man...it is legal, acceptable and fun to be a roadie and an MTBer.

+1 (despite my comment above!)

Headhuunter

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

SWEET! so, thats sound advice... the most important bits to look at are the bell and tassles....
thanks guy's... thats great advice.....






seriously, lighten up! i dont like roadie's for this reason, they have to be all stuck up, all high and mighty, at least in MTB, they might have had some ideas, or a joke or 2....
with all your carbon wonderbikes, youv forgotten that the humble bike is a the transport of choice for many students and skint people, and you can pick up a rust bucket for 25 quid, it may be crap, but i hardly want to race, tour, or do anything more than a bit of bombin to the shops and the ocasional fitness ride on the seafront......
get back down to earth! we dont all have carbon pinarelo's, or ti litespeeds..... and i dont care about lycra.... or but cream, i ride in jeans... or baggies, if im riding hard.....



has no one got any proper advice....?
and i dont care if its dangerous, it will add some exitment to the otherwise extremely boring world of road bikes......

You ride in baggies and JEANS?? Get the f*ck outta here. No one's gonna talk to you now... But in all seriousness and I'm trying to be constructive here, for £25 you ain't gonna get much, you probably won't have much to choose from really. Best keep your eyes on the small ads/classifieds and you may just may spot a bargain if you're lucky. I wouldn't bother with ebay, prices there rocket to stupid levels most of the time. My dad sometimes picks up amazing bargains at car boot sales, but he goes every week, week in week year after year out and he only spots a decent bike at that sort of price once a year perhaps.

I think everyone here realises that the "humble" bike is great to get around cheaply etc, but to be honest, there's cheap and there's dirt cheap... At £25 just buy the 1st old banger you come across and do it up and hope that it stays together...

Homer J

Take your mummy and daddy along with you so you don't get ripped off.

Heckler1974

Wow you're such a dude, I wish I was so laid back, sigh

Oddly you may find that roadies might actually own MTBs as well, cycling is a broad church and most people don't stick people into Roadie/MTB/Fixie boxes because that's narrow minded and a little immature.

Personally I wouldn't ride an MTB or a roadie or a pair of bloody roller skates that cost me £25, not because I am a snob, but because a bike that costs £25 is going to be gash and will likely as not fall apart and kill me.

Dude, sweet, gnarley......etc etc

Anonymous

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

SWEET! so, thats sound advice... the most important bits to look at are the bell and tassles....
thanks guy's... thats great advice.....






seriously, lighten up! i dont like roadie's for this reason, they have to be all stuck up, all high and mighty, at least in MTB, they might have had some ideas, or a joke or 2....
with all your carbon wonderbikes, youv forgotten that the humble bike is a the transport of choice for many students and skint people, and you can pick up a rust bucket for 25 quid, it may be crap, but i hardly want to race, tour, or do anything more than a bit of bombin to the shops and the ocasional fitness ride on the seafront......
get back down to earth! we dont all have carbon pinarelo's, or ti litespeeds..... and i dont care about lycra.... or but cream, i ride in jeans... or baggies, if im riding hard.....



has no one got any proper advice....?
and i dont care if its dangerous, it will add some exitment to the otherwise extremely boring world of road bikes......

Before you invest in a £25 road bike, I suggest you invest in a spell checker and a grammar lesson.

itchieritchie

I'm a roadie, and like you MTB'ers we DO all have a sense of humour too. Besides we're all cyclists and on the same side in my opinion...

Anyway, I don't mind a bit of lycra for the serious stuff, races, triathlons etc but I mainly just wear cycling shorts under a pair of jeans on my daily commute.

I got a Genesis Flyer singlespeed for £140 on gumtree. It's a nice, white design, rides well and is relatively maintenance free. It came without a front wheel though so I had to source this separately.

And I gaffa-taped it so it looks horrible. So far the tactic seems to have worked. All in all, it was a bargain. If you spend any less than £150 I'd say that the ride would be so disappointing you just wouldn't use the thing. It'll be clunky, heavy and the parts will feel cheap and nasty. And that defeats the object, surely?

My advice? Wait a little longer, save up a bit more, take a piggy bank even and throw your cappucino money into it instead, and watch the funds build up. In the meantime you can look for something worthwhile and it'll actually make for a nicer experience in the end. Maybe a SS like mine or a Dawes job.

Whatever you do, please avoid Brick Lane and their ilk. Those places should make any true cyclist vomit with revulsion.

And btw...I used to be a MTB'er myself...!!

Alibran

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

i dont care if its dangerous, it will add some exitment to the otherwise extremely boring world of road bikes......

Sorry, just have to comment on this.

I'm not sure what's boring about hurtling down a twisty mountain road, doing somewhere over 45mph, but you don't know how much because you're not looking at the speedo any more. You're too busy staring at the road ahead, hanging onto the drops for dear life, hoping you really did put the front wheel on nice and tight after you fixed that puncture a couple of days ago, and wondering how you're going to lose enough speed to make it round the next hairpin.

Road bikes boring? Er .... no.

I don't have anything useful to add, by the way. I haven't been a roadie for long enough to know anything about old bikes, but I hope you find what you're looking for. I know I could have picked up something for around £50 from the local paper a couple of years ago when I bought mine - if I'd been a bloke and over 5ft2, that is.

rake

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

SWEET! so, thats sound advice... the most important bits to look at are the bell and tassles....
thanks guy's... thats great advice.....






seriously, lighten up! i dont like roadie's for this reason, they have to be all stuck up, all high and mighty, at least in MTB, they might have had some ideas, or a joke or 2....
with all your carbon wonderbikes, youv forgotten that the humble bike is a the transport of choice for many students and skint people, and you can pick up a rust bucket for 25 quid, it may be crap, but i hardly want to race, tour, or do anything more than a bit of bombin to the shops and the ocasional fitness ride on the seafront......
get back down to earth! we dont all have carbon pinarelo's, or ti litespeeds..... and i dont care about lycra.... or but cream, i ride in jeans... or baggies, if im riding hard.....



has no one got any proper advice....?
and i dont care if its dangerous, it will add some exitment to the otherwise extremely boring world of road bikes......

i dont see much difference when i turn up at an mtb event on what can only be described as a 'budget' bike. they are just as obsessed with flash gear and then proceed to smash it about over rocks and mud. my road legs still enable me to leave a lot of bikes worth 10x more in my wake . total enjoyment.

skyd0g

:roll: put it another way, could I get a good MTB for £25? ...should I be looking at a full-susser, or am I better looking out for a hard-tail? Will it be okay for some occasional runs at Gisburn?

owenlars

I would suggest that you look at the same stuff you would look at if you were buying a £25 MTB (except the suspension). Otherwise it'll be exactly the same, sound frame and fork, sound and non seized seatpost and saddle, wear on chainset, frayed cables, wear on brakes,hubs and rims, spokes all present and correct, grinding bottom brackets, knackered pedals, worn headsets, operating brake levers and STIs (or more likely downtube shifters at that price. Can't really think of anything else

Monty Dog

If that's your budget, I suggest you're better off making some regular visits to your municipal tip / recycling centre - there's always a pile of bikes at my local which could be reprieved for a few quid. I don't think that snobbery is confined to road riders - I turned up at an enduro on a single speed with moustache bars and got very disparaging looks / comments - despite their 27 gears, the vast majority were incapable of riding them in difficult or technical conditions and it was frustrating being lined-out on singletrack by peoples who's hardware way exceeded their fitness or skills.

daviesee

For £25 all you can expect to get is 2 decent tyres.
Or, a full bike where everything needs work, costing more than £25.
Slick up a current bike would be the way to go.

Good advice is still good advice, even if you don't like it.
Sounds like you need to chill out a little and get real.

northernneil

you can do it if you get a bike from a skip:-

i had a 1993 peugeot, was given to me for nothing but in a bad way

spent £50 on cheap wheels, tyres, some paint, mud guards and new tape, even got a blue saddle for free from a guy in the classified section on here and hey presto:-

Heckler1974

northernneil wrote:

you can do it if you get a bike from a skip:-

i had a 1993 peugeot, was given to me for nothing but in a bad way

spent £50 on cheap wheels, tyres, some paint, mud guards and new tape, even got a blue saddle for free from a guy in the classified section on here and hey presto:-

Pssssst, your bars are on upside down

northernneil

Heckler1974 wrote:

northernneil wrote:

you can do it if you get a bike from a skip:-

i had a 1993 peugeot, was given to me for nothing but in a bad way

spent £50 on cheap wheels, tyres, some paint, mud guards and new tape, even got a blue saddle for free from a guy in the classified section on here and hey presto:-

Pssssst, your bars are on upside down

I know, I think it looks funky

lae

northernneil wrote:

That looks really good!

I got my old Raleigh for £12 off of ebay
Sold the steel wheels for £25, the tyres for a tenner, the gear mechs and cluster for 20
Bought some cheap 700c aluminium wheels and tyres, some bar tape and a BMX freewheel
Painted it with some left over paint from respraying my Datsun
Refurbished all the mechanical bits
Fitted a brooks saddle I had spare

So in total it cost me... ooh... 40-50 quid? I could have just used it as it was, £12 off of ebay, but I like playing about with things and I'm unable to leave anything un-modified for very long.

So it can be done, you just have to keep your eyes peeled.

simonaspinall

Ebay is definitely the way to go for that money

I got a mid-90s giant road bike with 105 hardware and mavic wheels for just over £100

Lovely bike - Nice and light, hard-wearing and is great for a fast commute.

If you're looking at £25 then you should be asking family and friends if they wouldn't mind giving you a 'mate's rates' price, looking in a skip or going to free-cycle etc.

Possibly a car-boot sale if you don't mind getting up early on a sunday morning.

Why the hatred of Road-Biking?

amaferanga

itchieritchie wrote:

I'm a roadie, and like you MTB'ers we DO all have a sense of humour too. Besides we're all cyclists and on the same side in my opinion...

Anyway, I don't mind a bit of lycra for the serious stuff, races, triathlons etc but I mainly just wear cycling shorts under a pair of jeans on my daily commute.

I got a Genesis Flyer singlespeed for £140 on gumtree. It's a nice, white design, rides well and is relatively maintenance free. It came without a front wheel though so I had to source this separately.

And I gaffa-taped it so it looks horrible. So far the tactic seems to have worked. All in all, it was a bargain. If you spend any less than £150 I'd say that the ride would be so disappointing you just wouldn't use the thing. It'll be clunky, heavy and the parts will feel cheap and nasty. And that defeats the object, surely?

My advice? Wait a little longer, save up a bit more, take a piggy bank even and throw your cappucino money into it instead, and watch the funds build up. In the meantime you can look for something worthwhile and it'll actually make for a nicer experience in the end. Maybe a SS like mine or a Dawes job.

Whatever you do, please avoid Brick Lane and their ilk. Those places should make any true cyclist vomit with revulsion.

And btw...I used to be a MTB'er myself...!!

Very cheap for a Genesis Flyer. The fact that it was sold on gumtree and the fact that it was missing the front wheel - did it make you wonder where it had been acquired from?

Pross

OP, I think the reason you got so many sarcastic responses is that whilst it is possible with some luck to find a rideable £25 hack it's just a case of buying what you can get but your post made it sound like there are thousands of such bikes hanging around out there and you need to make a decision which to go for. At £25 you are going to get something like an old 80's 'sports' bike or entry level racing bike from the same era. The only thing to look out for is that the frame is intact and true and the same with the wheels.

I've actually got an old training bike taking up space in my parents garage (without wheels) that I may have let go for £25 to stop them nagging me but being a snobby roadie I think I'll hang onto it and maybe convert it for cross

Chip \'oyler

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

SWEET! so, thats sound advice... the most important bits to look at are the bell and tassles....
thanks guy's... thats great advice.....






seriously, lighten up! i dont like roadie's for this reason, they have to be all stuck up, all high and mighty, at least in MTB, they might have had some ideas, or a joke or 2....
with all your carbon wonderbikes, youv forgotten that the humble bike is a the transport of choice for many students and skint people, and you can pick up a rust bucket for 25 quid, it may be crap, but i hardly want to race, tour, or do anything more than a bit of bombin to the shops and the ocasional fitness ride on the seafront......
get back down to earth! we dont all have carbon pinarelo's, or ti litespeeds..... and i dont care about lycra.... or but cream, i ride in jeans... or baggies, if im riding hard.....



has no one got any proper advice....?
and i dont care if its dangerous, it will add some exitment to the otherwise extremely boring world of road bikes......

I've got a bit of advice. Why don't you shove your granny ringed, twiddling 'rad' MTB up yer Howies a r s e

Squillinossett

£25 will buy you a carbon bottle cage.

Start from there and build up more parts over time.

Glad to be of help.

soveda

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

Ok, so being a extremely avid MTB'er, and a bit of a road bike basher, i dont really want a road bike. BUT, i live in a city, and feel a old crapped out roadie could be a good option for getting around, i really want it to be brown, and as desirable as a turd. i dont want it knicked.....
so the plan is to go and check out some of the bike recycle-ing shops, the thing is, while i can spot a bargain MTB at 100 paces, i havent got a clue what im looking for in a Roadie!
i want it to look rough, but pref to ride pretty well if posible. so, what is good/bad, what should i lok out for, what is easy to maintain/hard, what is light/heavy, basicly, what am i looking for in a sub £25 rust bucket?
any makes to avoid? and if it was your bike, what would you be looking for..? im prety experianced with mtb's, infact im positively geeky when it coms to big tyres and off road bounce. but skinny wheels, and drop bars baffle me!
also, whats worth upgrading on a beast of an old bike to make it ride better without making it look desirable? bling wheels are out for e.g.
thanks in advance...!

Just get a cheap steel sit up and beg bike, noone will nick it and the basket on the front is useful for shopping.