2nd hand or new on a budget

timboellis

I am looking for a sub £280 bike I have a mountain bike the the moment that is fine

However would like a Racing bike for fun and to keep fit noting more.

Becuase of my location it is difficult to get bikes delivered unless they are a company so limited to what i can get and also have fund in my paypal account so seller needs to accept paypal.

So looking at the following

Halfords Carrera Virtuoso Large Road Bike £280

Ebay 2010 COYOTE BIG SUR ROAD RACING BIKE RACER £230

Ebay 2010 VIKING ROMA £250

Ebay 2011 VIKING GIRO D'ITALIA £220

Or can someone suggest anything else?

Cheers

TIm

Anonymous

Hi - I know I have posted this elsewhere, but my boring story of blowing 300 on a beautiful bike:

Go used. be patient. be wary of stolen bikes. prepare to travel out of London to get the best deals.

....at least that's what I did anyway, and when I started looking, I had no real idea about bikes.

With a bit of research on parts, (and some patience) you can get some great deals on eBay. Unless you plan of giving your bike a thrashing, then a well looked after 2nd hand bike can represent fantastic value for money. (obviously no warrenty being the issue)

I wanted Alu frame, carbon forks, tiagra (or equivalent) gears and a name I recognised (specialised, trek, giant etc). Or a vintage alu/steel racer (some of those older colagnos are just beautiful). I have to say that the more i looked up what the bikes were, the more I learned about what I wanted

I pretty much added everything in my size (56cm) in MyEbay and was watching everything, removing it once I went over budget. If you aren't sure about it, then you can usually google most modern bikes to get an idea of the retail value anyway.

I also had posts in the BikeRadar forums on the Road Wanted and kept a close eye on the Road For Sale threads

I ended up with a 2001 Fasuto Coppi San Remo (I had heard nothing about it, and still no idea if I was ripped off) in showroom - yes, showroom condition - with carbon forks, brand new saddle, cleaned up immactulately (it looked unridden) full Ultegra throughout (and a dura-ace rear cassette), and the guy even threw in the old ultegra cassette and spare stem.

All for 250 quid (and another 50 to get the train to Nottingham to get it).

My in-the-know friends say I did damn well for that price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120754300944? ... 1438.l2649.

All I had to do was by some pedals!

was the auction. God I LOVE it!

Good luck!

unixnerd

Used is the way to go, ebay and gumtree. Got my Cannondale second hand, barely used for 400 quid two years ago.

Gizmodo

timboellis wrote:

...have fund in my paypal account so seller needs to accept paypal.

It is a mandatory requirement to sell (almost) anything on eBay that he seller must offer PayPal as a payment method. There are a few exceptions such as cars, but bikes is not one of them.

If the seller wants cash on delivery, point them to http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html

DesB3rd

I've had an '08 SCR2.0 (v. good nick, stolen) & a '09 Trek 1.2 (tidy, still have) over the last couple of years, both on Gumtree, both under £250 & from selling parties who had knowledge that well exceeded an Evans cut-&-paste, including what they'd upgraded etc.

Had to deal with a few characters who "wrote a decent ad" but all were so clearly crims once they were on the phone; no idea what they were selling, no given surnames or addresses. In my experience an unfortunate reinforcer of prejudice as well, home counties or other MC accent equalled a genuine seller, a strong esturine or ethic accent = rogue.

You have to keep on it; set the search page up & take a moment to refresh it at least every half hour, only a handful of bikes may be posted each day and it may take several days, but deals go very fast, if you leave it an hour you're much less likely to get in.

You may get the first round of upgrades thrown in (nicer wheels, some groupo bits) for far less than you'd pay to undertake them - which is nice. On the flipside I can't think of anything new for <£300 that comes with an acceptable spec...