Is this OLMA bike worth it?

Qazym
Qazym Posts: 2
edited September 2014 in Road buying advice
I'm pretty new to the world of cycling and am looking to buy a bike.
My friend offered to sell me the bike below for about £250.
I was just wondering what your thoughts are and whether this is a good price.

Apologies if I have posted inappropriately or in the wrong sub-forum.
Both me and my friend don't know much about this bike so sorry for the lack of information to go on.



Comments

  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Shimano RX100 was discontinued in 1999 - so you're paying £250 for a 15 year-old bike of no great intrinsic value. You'd then probably want to upgrade to combined brake levers/ gear shifters and given that the transmission is 7-speed, you're looking at an entire transmission plus hubs and cassette in the region of £300+ labour by which you have spent £600 on a 15-year-old steel-framed bike that still rides and handles the same? For £600 you could buy a year-old carbon-framed bike with 10-speed transmission which will be about 5lbs lighter and have a gear range more suited to a beginner.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • team47b
    team47b Posts: 6,425
    His name was Olmo :D

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Olmo
    my isetta is a 300cc bike
  • type:epyt
    type:epyt Posts: 766
    Your 'friend' should be giving you that bike for free. If he feels the frame is worth something then he should be selling it to someone who wants it for a project rather than a first road bike.

    You'll get a second hand Allez or Trek for that money.
    Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Not worth the money.
  • nochekmate
    nochekmate Posts: 3,460
    type:epyt wrote:
    Your 'friend' should be giving you that bike for free. If he feels the frame is worth something then he should be selling it to someone who wants it for a project rather than a first road bike.

    You'll get a second hand Allez or Trek for that money.

    Whilst I agree that it is not worth £250 it's far from just something to pass on free of charge to someone who wants it for a project - even if he's meant to be a 'friend'. The market for old steel bikes is quite strong at the moment.

    Just because it's not made of carbon fibre or even aluminium and just because it does not run a 10 speed groupset does not make it a pile of rubbish. It may well give as much enjoyment (or even more) than a secondhand Allez or Trek.

    I do not totally share Monty's financial assessment in that there is no real need to upgrade the transmission to 10 speed (nothing wrong with my old steel bike that runs Dura-Ace 8 speed I can tell you - lovely bike to ride and shifting is great) but I do agree with his statement that the chainset and cassette might nmot make for easy riding for a beginner.

    So how much is it worth - you could probably expect to sell it on eBay for approx £100 - £150 as Olmo bikes are not totally without interest, depending on quality of frame etc. Assuming it's not totally shot then it may be of interest to somebody. Whether it is suitable for you as a first road bike is open to question and the valuation from your 'friend' is not a great one for you as the potential buyer.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    A 'strong' market for retro-bikes is for models that predate this one - unicrown forks and base-level Shimano are hardly retro-classic. £100-150 is a fair price but it's not really suitable as a platform for upgrades.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Monty Dog wrote:
    A 'strong' market for retro-bikes is for models that predate this one - unicrown forks and base-level Shimano are hardly retro-classic. £100-150 is a fair price but it's not really suitable as a platform for upgrades.

    I think you are right about the price but not about this bike being outside the retro era. It presumably dates from the early 1990s making it probably more like 20-25 years old rather than 15 years old. RX100 is apparently one below 105 so hardly base level.

    The strong market for retro bikes isn't that discerning anyway; I've seen tatty gas pipe Peugeots go for £100. The main problem this one seems to have is a lack of frame tubing stickers. It's got a decent sealed headset, possibly short of a front mech but those are cheap - but why would you upgrade anyway? I wouldn't be bothering putting combined shifters/brakes on it if it was a Colnago Master! As long as I could get the gearing sorted out, I'd be fine with that.

    Ugh about the unicrown fork though! :lol:
    Faster than a tent.......
  • mattsccm
    mattsccm Posts: 409
    Some one would buy it because they want an oldish steel bike, not because it was especially good value. If it was immaculate maybe but you can buy some thing up to date from Merlin for 300 quid ish.
    Buy it for possible future classic material and that's all. Its just an old bike, and will need another 20 years to become anything vaguely classic. Nowt wrong with it nothing special.
  • keezx
    keezx Posts: 1,323
    [quote="Rolf F" The main problem this one seems to have is a lack of frame tubing stickers. [/quote]

    Looks like repainted with a Olmo headbadge sticker so no indication of Frame quality indeed.

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