Road Cycling - affordable used road bikes thread?

I'm looking for an affordable used road bike in the $300-450 range :) I will only be using ocassionally.

My money is tied up in two expensive MTBs, both of which I want to keep. What used road bike would you recommend in my price range?

Regards.

Do you know what size you need? I would definately check ebay if you know the size & type of bike you are wanting. You can get a real decent used bike for 300 to 450.

For your money you can expect to get a steel frame and bottom line components. Ebay is good starting point. Like bman said if you know your size post it. I have two bike that will fit into your budget.

Originally posted by JCM800
I'm looking for an affordable used road bike in the $300-450 range :) I will only be using ocassionally.

My money is tied up in two expensive MTBs, both of which I want to keep. What used road bike would you recommend in my price range?

Regards.
I have a good hybrid for 400 bucks.

The size would be large with a stand-over of 32.5" minimum (58.cm ^)

I've seen some C'dales in the $400 range. The last road bike I owned was a Mercier (many years ago) and it was bullet proof, compared to the Peugeots and Italian bikes, which were on the scene at the time.

Please let me know what "used" models I should be looking for and what to stay away from.

Regards

Check out the "Buy - Sell - Trade" forum on the home page!

Originally posted by kerk
Check out the "Buy - Sell - Trade" forum on the home page!

Most of my riding is MTB oriented mixed in with some touring,so I wouldn't know what to look for with the wide-variety of road bikes available today.

Regards.

JCM, I too was mainly into Mtn bikes and had zero experience in road bikes and I saw many many good deals on ebay. Didn't want to buy on ebay without trying some bikes before I would attempt bidding. I looked in my local paper for southern Cali which has 100's of used bikes. I also used the Colorado Cyclists fitting guide just for size reference. I went and road tested several bikes. The bike that fit me the best was also the same size as Colorado's guide, it ended up being an almost new '99 Specialized Allez Sport (used a few times)..it came all factory Shimano Ultegra that year and the guy had put on the better Specialized Body Geometry seat..I got it for $325 and I'm very happy with it. It's not my dream bike, but it's giving me good training miles so I'll be ready next year for a high end bike. There are also many dealers who specialize in selling only used bikes.

Many LBSs also carry used bikes. I'd hate to buy a bike on Ebay - for one thing you're looking at killing shipping costs (for Fedex anyway) if money is any object, & of course you can't test ride it. And that's not considering the other hazards of online auctions. I'd rather look around my area first.

Well you have good taste in gutar amps JCM. ;)

I bought a nice used bike from my LBS for 800, but there were several there that were in your range. A couple of them looked pretty decent.

cAPS (plays DWs)

Used Trek 1000 is a good commuter bike.

Thanks for the replies.

bman- I'm not familiar with Allez,but I'm open to products I don't know much about and will do some research on it.

Ebro- It seems many sellers on eBay offer vague descriptions of their merchandise,which leads me to believe that they might be dumping it. The LBS went out of business when Walmart moved in ,so I may have to travel to a major hub,which is what I did with my other purchases.

cAPS - If I could find a Marshall half stack equivalent in an affordable road bike,I'll be making some road noise in no time ;)

Long Rider - The Trek 1000s seem reasonably priced and they have some listed on eBay. SunTour doesn't look too promising - or are those just on the older ones?

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Regards

It would really depend on how much you are going to ride the bike, and how hard you are going to ride it. If you are going to be doing alot of hard climbing on it, the suntour and sora equipment might not hold up as well. If it is a commuter bike, and light riding bike, it will probably last for years. You might also look for Giant OCR's on Ebay. They are nice bikes, and very affordable.