Originally Posted by markm109
Great - sounds like it will be a good bike. An older gent down the road fixes up old bikes and sells them in his driveway. My wife and son wanted to try riding road bikes since their mtbs can't keep up with my road bike.
A few weeks ago we picked up a Schwinn Traveler 12 speed for $35 - looks like showroom new condition. I haven't looked up the serial but looking at it and pictures I found on the web, it looks to be a mid-80s bike. One sweet looking bike for my wife (it is a girls style bike).
Last week that guy had another one out there, a Schwinn Caliente 10 speed. This one was very nice looking as well (not showroom, but very clean and no rust). This one was the perfect size for my 13 year old son. He wanted $30 for this one.
Heck, these bikes are ready to go and needed nothing. Tires and tubes alone cost $30, and here were two excellect bikes for the same price as a set of tires and tubes. I couldn't believe my luck. When we saw the Traveler, we were just coming home from a lbs looking at a Trek 7500 for my wife. What a deal, I'm glad we didn't buy the Trek.
Hey, older bikes may not have the look of a fancy new road bike, but they are functional, cheap and RETRO COOL.
Hope your daughter remains excited about it.
Mark
No kidding, a single visit to an lbs for a new part, you start looking at every garage special as a goldmine.
Basically you can find a new old bike for the price of the piece your replacing.
If I broke say an 8 spd derailler, since its old\ not 9, I'd just go find a used mtb all messed but say has a good enough compatible derailler, maybe a nice wheel, brake levers- but the rest is garbage.
Pay $25, drag the dead horse home and start playing
Might not get upgrades, maybe so, but at least replacement and I sell to bro's who need parts.
Just get good parts, keep the pro goodies in the garage. Things like Japanese late 80-90 are mostly compatible as they all came from very few large factory.
The stuff I just got..OMG
. BUT, thanks to me hanging out here and knowing a bit, I grabbed the UGLIEST bike in the thrift store. It was right beside brand new condition department store bikes that only cost $10.00 more.
My kid was wondering why I was hyperventilating. I explained and said this could be the ONE. BIG SCORE>...she had to talk me into the purchase and provided $40 toward the bike
.
She trusts my judgment even though I don't road
Ya, I know high end metal bits well. Frames?
Oh..just a hobby, endlessly studying, restoring and riding them.
Old bikes are cool, and often have really nice detailing that was dropped later in production.
Pennies on the dollar, and if the kids get way into riding and after the growth spurts, a new higher end bike.
I hope your family all has a great summer riding, (light color helmets are cooler in the sun!)
>jef.