HELP - HUGE DILEMA

spoiltdouglas

Boy am i in need of some advice!! Im looking at getting into road biking and am going to purchase my first road bike. I had previously been hoping to spend around 300 on a second hand bike, but im very wary of going off ebay etc incase i buy a dud thats in need of some major work. I strolled to my local bike shop and the assistant (very helpfull) showed me the 2010 cannondale caad8 with the sora triple. Beautiful bike at £550. now here is where i get stuck, do i continue trying to pick up a second hand bike at the 300 mark, or do i try and get the money together to purchase the cannondale (peace of mind that its not a nail) or finally do i try and get a second hand bike at around 500?? :shock:

HELP!!!

father_jack

I'd only buy a second hand bike from someone I know who has looked after it, after all a pushbike can have many problems and you might not know about it until you strip it down (worst case the BB is rusted/seized) Other things like bent deraillers, worn chainset/cassette, seized seatpost, or damaged frame if it's been in a crash)

I saw a £1500 - not sure how much they are nwm carbon Record Kuota, could have got it, second hand looks like done 200 miles, but thought why would he sell it? Perhaps had a crash and wants to get rid of it?

HeatherG

I went to look at a bike as it was local to me, that I 'bought' through ebay. Once I got there and sat on it, it was clear that it had been in an accident and the forks were obv. bent which threw out the whole frame. Needless to say, the cash was not handed over and the seller was actually very reasonable about it all (noticed it was re-listed a couple of days later - god forbit it actually sold that time).

However, I am now the proud owner of a custom built (not for me) Hewitt fame that I did buy off ebay. It took me months of looking to find the right one (short legs, long body), but this one was being sold by someone that clearly deals in bikes and knew his stuff. We checked it out with the Bike Whisperer (West London) to see if they thought it was sound, which they did. Bought it for under £300 and it just needed a bit of fettling (clean up of the chain and a few material adjustments). Best thing I could have done! It's perfect and has done a few hundred miles since I got it in April.

Pross

If you have a realistic chance of getting the extra money together without overstretching your finances I would go with the CAAD as they have excellent reputations. Second hand can be great but you can also end up with something with hidden faults or something stolen which gets recovered leaving you with no bike and no £300. Some shops may have second hand bikes for sale or if you know anyone in a cycling club they will often know someone looking to offload an older bike.

spoiltdouglas

cheers for all of your input, its very much appreciated. having spent the whole afternoon pondering over the canondale im pretty sure that its the bike for me. Now to pass the goodnews on to my accountant im sure its the right thing to do, just going to have to get my moneys worth of riding out of it!!

Anonymous

I'd get the new CAAD8, especially as you are new to road biking, buying from a decent local bike shop (LBS) is worth it's weight in gold in terms of extra support.
Keep popping in to the shop to say hello, buying the odd innertube and such like and you'll soon become a 'regular' and reap the benefits that this begets...

zedders

My first bike was about £550, with sora (a bianchi c2c) from my LBS. Nothing wrong with it whatsoever, and it's still going strong three 3yrs later. In fact its still a great bike.

If your wary of buying second hand, then go for a new bike. The peace of mind you'll have when you get it will be worth the extra pennies. You can make sure you get the right size, and probably get a free service etc, and have somewhere to go if things go wrong? With a 2nd hand bike there's no come back for the seller.

Can you not borrow the extra money? Have it as an early x mas pressie? etc. Look at it like this: If you have £300 pound already? (The amount you said you had for a second hand bike). You just need £250 more to buy a brand new bike? £250 for a brand new bike - nice. Seems like common sense to me? Where there's a will there's a way....

gregster10217

I'd have to agree and go new. It's always tempting to think you'll get a steel buying second hand, and sometimes you do, but if you're new and unsure what to look for/check, then go new and have that peace of mind mentioned above. The help an LBS will give you, knowledge you can gain from them, by becoming a familiar/friendly face will be worth the extra £250 you're looking to spend.
Buy it, and enjoy it.

Buckled_Rims

Go for the CAAD8 at that price.

You should get a free first service, where as if you buy a 2nd hand bike, you'd have to really pay for a full service to settle your mind so it probably works out better buying the CAAD8.

spoiltdouglas

i would again like to thankyou all for your advice. im now the proud owner of a cannondale caad8 (although i am also now skint haha). Just taken it for a quick spin and i am well and truely hooked!!

very very happy

Velonutter

Why not look at the buying it on the cycle to work scheme if your company does it?

Buckled_Rims

Slow-N-Old wrote:

Why not look at the buying it on the cycle to work scheme if your company does it?

Too late, he's bought it.

Berk Bonebonce

"Huge dilema". Huh.