Ball-park advice on second hand road bike

markread

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, but my googling indicates there's a lot of know-how amongst its members! I need some rough advice or opinion, fast if possible...

I've been thinking about getting a basic road bike for getting around my city on, I have a mountain bike but I'm looking for something with more speed, and I like the idea of road bikes. I dont think I'm going to be doing anything particularly long distance.

I spent a year working part time in halfords when I was younger and know a bit about bikes, but I'm no expert. I came across a second hand Merlin road bike today. Its not a new model, shifters are on the bottom tube of the frame, not STIs, but its had some modifications. Weight seemed ok, and its had some modifications. The break calipers were double pivot and looked like quality new stuff. The wheels were mavics, and again looked reasonable and newish. The drop bars had been replaced with a narrow (getting through traffic?) angled bar. No front derailer (fine with me, never use it on my mountain bike anyway), and the back was not new. They're going to replace the cassette, and I'm considering asking them to place a decent quality close-radio road version on it. I'll go test ride it on Monday, but would like some opinion from the community, if possible.

Asking price is £200. I think this is probably slightly high, there are some new components but its not a new bike. I dont know how good the brand actually is, its made in leeds. Is a crappy new bike frame (ie, £200-300 worth) roughly equivalent to the better quality steel frames of 20 years ago (assuming this is...)? I recon I'll try to get the price down to 160, and might seriously consider that, but what does everyone else think?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Best,

Mark

FSR_XC

Personally, I'd put some road tyres on the mtb. Then maybe put on 46/36/24 chainrings on if you need bigger gears.

mikebikemike

£200 sounds reasonable for a decent older bike as long as you're not having to spend cash on replacing the consumables - tyres, pads, chain or cassette.
Down tube shifters are functional and simple but they can be a bit faff for city riding

unixnerd

200 sounds a bit much for something with downtube shifters. I'd keep looking. Try ebay and gumtree.

seanoconn

Agree with above, you'd find a better bike which doesn't need any work for £200/300. A Good bike to look out for is the specialized allez, plenty knocking about second hand in your price range.

STEFANOS4784

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/carrera-virtu ... 1c1dabccca


A quick search on ebay revealed this. At 150 quid it leaves money for shorts or lights or something.

Price for an old bike with dolwntube shifters seems a rip off but all depends on the frame material etc. Can't you post the exact model?

markread

Hi All,

Thanks very much for the speedy advice, its hugely appreciated. I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop, I've always wanted a road bike but have been putting it off for ages. Running into that thing by chance in the shop peeked my interest again.

I think that at £200 it might well be overpriced, and it seems most of you concur. I'll go and have a look at it again today and check out the actual quality of the frame and the components, and see how much I really like it.

Best, and thanks again,

Mark

markread

Hi All,

Ok I've just been to see the bike again, and have a few more details and pics. If any of you have any last min advice then please let me know.

Frame made by Merlin, in Leeds. Its 531 steel, which the salesman says is double butted. I took it out for a spin, it seemed pretty fast, but its hard to tell, the cassette is horrible and skips all over. They're going to replace it with an 8 speed racer. The wheels are Mavic Cosmos, but don't look new. The tyres are new but I dont know what they are. Brakes look in good condition though the bolts attaching them to the frame are a bit rusty. They're side pull not double pivot though. The flat bar is horrible, and they're going to replace it with drop bars, however they won't put STI gear shifters on it. It weights pretty little, perhaps not as light as modern aluminium frames, but pretty light all the same! A lot lighter than my mountain bike.

My feeling is that its a nice bike, and that the guy will get 200 for it from someone. With the drop bars on it i'd be more tempted. However as many of you have said, 200 for a steel frame seems a lot, and the gears by me knees, though I might get used to them, is a bit disconcerting in traffic. I'm seeing other modern aluminium racing bikes with good specs going for not far off this price on ebay. I'll try it again with cassette changed, but I recon I'll probably skip this one...

Pics bellow, if I'm missing a complete steal, please let me know! Again, any advice welcome, thanks very much,

Mark

Some photos (if I can get my webhosting to respond today?!):

merak

I can't see the photo but from your description this is overpriced. A 20+ year old bike built on a Merlin 531 lugged frame might be worth £200 if it's been loved and has original equipment but this sounds like a kludge.

PeeDee

You can get much better than this for £200 on ebay.

This isn't a museum peice,nor is it a cheap hack, its expensive and a bit of a bodge job.

nochekmate

PeeDee wrote:

You can get much better than this for £200 on ebay.

This isn't a museum peice,nor is it a cheap hack, its expensive and a bit of a bodge job.

Agree with above - there are some useful buys on eBay at £200 occasionally - see this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carrera-Valou ... 415c1ae656

Fulcrum 7 wheels on a bike for £200!! The wheels are not fantastic but at that price point they are useful as they are £100+ for the wheels alone!.

Just bought an older Bianchi Via Nirone for £99 off eBay myself

markread

Hi Everyone,

Thanks very much for all the useful advice, its been really invaluable. I eventually found a bike going on ebay, very close to where I live. I've bidded for and won that instead )

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI. ... 782wt_1141

cheers,

Mark

unixnerd

Well done :-) Tiagra groupset for 200 quid can't be bad!

Pross

Steel bikes are relatively highly priced due to their retro fashion status (the Merlin in those pics looks like it has belonged to someone who may have bought it for just that reason).

Speedmenace

I was wondering how much money would it cost to convert my SS road bike (was originally a geared bike) into a 7 speed like the one in the pics?

STEFANOS4784

Speedmenace


About £196.59p

Seriously though, how long's a piece of string? Start a new thread and ask away, no hi-jacking permitted here pal

Good job OP, seems like a good buy, enjoy

PeeDee

Congratulations, hope you enjoy your new steed. I reckon you might find the triple chainset use on those steep hills around your way.

sloppyschleckonds

Hi- Is this still for sale?

markread

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Hi- Is this still for sale?

Which one? The red Merlin photographed above - yes I believe so, at the York Bike rescue centre,

http://www.bikerescueproject.org.uk/

The others, probably not, they're ebay auctions that have now finished.