Classic & Vintage - Free Spirit bike

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boron81
03-25-08, 01:59 PM
Hi- this bike was posted on sale on craigslist. I was wondering if its a good price for $120?

Striking Blue Free Spirit Women's Road Bike (12 speed) + Cable Lock - $120
-19 Inch Pristine Cobalt Blue frame, 12 speeds, Falcon front and rear derailleurs, Polygon Dual action brakes, Dual Reflector set, Fully inflated Sheng Shin 27 x 1 1/4 Tires, Kick stand.

[url][URL="http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/bik/617893656.html"]

Thanks!


redneckwes
03-25-08, 02:10 PM
Not really no, free-spirits are fine if you can get them for $20 or so.

cyclotoine
03-25-08, 02:12 PM
You must be in Vancouver.:rolleyes:

Yeah it's pretty much a rip-off. Good thing you asked.


ricohman
03-25-08, 02:13 PM
Sears bikes are $120 in Vancouver?
I should bring a truckload out.

cyclotoine
03-25-08, 02:14 PM
Sears bikes are $120 in Vancouver?
I should bring a truckload out.

You could undermine the current market and sell them for $99.99 and make a fortune. :roflmao:

boron81
03-25-08, 02:18 PM
i got a reply from the seller and he said its the Korean Freespirit from the late 80s?

cyclotoine
03-25-08, 02:22 PM
I see your location now... the plague is everywhere. Seriously the fact that it is mint makes it worth maybe $40-50 for someone who can use it. If it has been completely overhauled and tuned then I'd day it's worth $80.

Seriously that bike is the lowest of the low bike boom garbage it makes a UO-8 look like a rolls royce. Seriously I have worked on these bike boom Asian produced bikes and they were just getting things up and running the quality is piss poor. At least the european ones had years of experience and although heavy were pretty well built.

boron81
03-25-08, 02:33 PM
I really appreciate the replies. as you can tell- I have no knowledge of bikes but I don't want to buy a ****ty one like last time that is rotting somewhere locked on a fence.

Otto Rax
03-25-08, 03:38 PM
alot of places wont even work on them. they arent worth the cost of an hour labor at a BS, and thats about how long it takes just to break the bolts free

redneckwes
03-25-08, 03:53 PM
The Korean FS's I have seen make the Murry ones look good. If you have to find a Free Spirit go for the Austrian made ones from the 70's at least..

Artkansas
03-25-08, 04:27 PM
Hi- this bike was posted on sale on craigslist. I was wondering if its a good price for $120?

Striking Blue Free Spirit Women's Road Bike (12 speed) + Cable Lock - $120
-19 Inch Pristine Cobalt Blue frame, 12 speeds, Falcon front and rear derailleurs, Polygon Dual action brakes, Dual Reflector set, Fully inflated Sheng Shin 27 x 1 1/4 Tires, Kick stand.

[url][URL="http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/bik/617893656.html"]

Thanks!

Fully inflated tires, oh my!

I bought one, probably 80's vintage for $10. It had a rear rack and a gel pad on the seat. It was in good shape except for a few small scrapes on the frame. After a year of not needing it as a beater bike when all the others were out of service, I gave it to the local bike coop.

graywolf
03-25-08, 04:59 PM
I agree that it is probably not worth the asking price on a purely value per dollar basis. I also agree about the general poor quality of that era Sears bike.

However, depending upon where you are it could be a fair price. The fact that does not seem to get across to some is that old bicycles can be easy, or hard, to come by in different areas. For example people are buying those junk bikes off ebay, plus paying maybe $65 shipping. Some of them are dumb, some of them want it really bad because it is just like the one they had as a kid, and some pay that because they can not get such a bike at the local Good Will at all, much less get it for $20.

frankstoneline
03-25-08, 05:21 PM
I had a late 70's Freespirit, it was basically garbage. No-name steel, boat anchor heavy etc. I payed $5 for mine, I'm sure with a bit of adventureing and hunting you could get a similar snag on an old pugeut or schwinn and have a much nicer bike on your hands.

East Hill
03-25-08, 05:22 PM
Hi boron81, better luck next time. There's sure to be something more up your alley at the same price on the DC Craigslist in the near future. In the meantime, though,

Welcome to BikeForums!

East Hill

bigbossman
03-25-08, 06:32 PM
I bought one that looked real clean for $10 once, and ended up junking it. They might make nice crab traps, but that's about it.

robtown
03-25-08, 06:44 PM
You'd be better off with http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/618357088.html for $30.

The D.C. Craigslist isn't cheap but you can find women's bikes in the $50 - $100 range that are better quality. I'll probably list some mid May once I hit the community yard sales and refurbish a few.

boron81
03-25-08, 07:07 PM
i'm going to hold out and please let me know when you. Thanks! :) boramlee@hotmail.com

Bottomfeeder
03-25-08, 07:21 PM
Lately I am amazed, and a little frightened for the uninitiated, at what people are pricing relatively junk bicycles on Craig's List. Sometimes it's $100+ for what should be going for $20 or $30. Down here in L.A. it's $200-$300 for any frame with semi-horizontal dropouts - regardless of what kind of junk, gas pipe tubing it's made of - because it's FIXED GEAR READY! Please, don't insult our intelligence or emarrass yourself. Then again, they have no shame... they're shammers. You can spend your entire day flagging flagrantly scamming ads. It's definitely BUYER BEWARE.

DanO

ong
03-25-08, 07:28 PM
Same in Portland. If it's got lugs, it's $200 and SWEET VINTAGE RIDE PERFECT FOR FIXIE. There is also an epidemic of people taking perfectly nice frames, sawing off the derailleur hangers and posting about how "they have too many projects" and they'd like someone to "take it off their hands" now that they've got it "ready for fixed gear." A quill stem is COMPLETE YOUR WHIP WITH SWEET OLD SCHOOL STEM. People are mugging each other for their Oury grips and 12 inch wide riser bars. OK, I might have made that last part up.

bonechilling
03-25-08, 07:54 PM
Free Spirit bikes are the equivalent to today's Magna or Next bikes. Absolute garbage, not worth picking up out of the garbage, unless you feel like recycling it.

sailorbenjamin
03-25-08, 08:02 PM
There's a really shiny one at the dump here in maine. I had to leave it behind cause I really wanted the rusty Raleighs and my station wagon was full. Couldn't say how much air was in the tires.

2manybikes
03-25-08, 08:02 PM
If it works perfectly and needs nothing it might be worth $10. Maybe not. You can easily do a lot better.

AHemp
03-25-08, 08:04 PM
There was a Ted Williams model that featured Reynolds 531. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the only good model...

redneckwes
03-25-08, 08:30 PM
There is also a rebadged Styer Clubman, as a "Ted Williams" It almost reaches UO-8 level. Not 531, but it is Austrian at least.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/cubtime100/bikestuff/DSCN1812.jpg

ricohman
03-25-08, 09:37 PM
Here is my $5 Sears Suteki 12 speed.
It is still sitting in the shed wondering about its future.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b400/fj40/DSC01744.jpg