Commuting - Commuter: best deal you ever got.

Tell me, what was the best deal you ever got on a commuter? Post picture if you can. I will be building a foul-weather friend for up-coming winter.

Cheers

Tell me, what was the best deal you ever got on a commuter? Post picture if you can. I will be building a foul-weather friend for up-coming winter.

Cheers

$ 528.00 for my Volpe 2003, last December.
Corsaire

I'm pretty sure it was the mid-70s Trek 10-sp I found on someone's trashpile a couple of years ago. It is now my faithful fixie and secondary commuter. Or it could be the early 80s Schwinn Voyageur touring bike that is now my primary commuter. Or it could be the mid 80s, practically unused Bianchi Brava I bought for $95. Or it could be the lightweight Tange tubing steel frame I got NOS for $45 and built up myself. I can't decide. Each is a favorite in its own way.

Come to think of it, I am not sure if any were actually good "deals" considering the money I have spent playing with each one. :D

I'm commuting on a bike I found by the side of the road with no brakes, a seat that was gushing gel, rear wheel missing, front wheel skewer missing, one brake cable missing.

Well, I spent $1000 on my Trek 520 for commuting, which I still consider a bargain. 4000 miles and counting. Eventually (a few years from now), it will pay its self off in gas saving alone.

Corsaire,

I know this has been asked before, but are those plastic fenders that you painted? They look just like mine (except mine are still black). I would love to paint them, but am unsure if it would look like crap afterward... What kind of spray paint did you use?

Thanks.

Lets see...

My commuter:
1978 Raleigh Rampar R1027 27" 10 speed. US$15.95
http://www.qsl.net/n7cz/images/rampar.jpg

My HEAVY commuter:
Raleigh Mustang SIS ATB. US$21.95
http://www.qsl.net/n7cz/images/TANK.jpg

Wife's commuter:
1996 Specialized Hardrock GX Sport. US$70.00
http://www.qsl.net/n7cz/images/hardrockGX.jpg

I think the Rampar was the best deal. If I would have been there the previous Friday, I could have gotten it for half off! :eek:

Hi 520Commuter,

Yeah, those are the Freddy ones by Planetbike. About the paint, no sweat: just go to any Auto Parts store/paint section and grab one of those touch-up spray cans (the big one) of the color you like or better match the color of your bike, etc. Don't forget to get a big can primer (gray color) also, and some fine sand paper.
First, mask tape all the metal parts leaving the plastic exposed . Sand the plastic slightly, enough to give it some "teeth" for the paint to grab. Take it outside or an open area, ventilated (no windy) and spray it first with the gray primer, a few times until is completely gray. Then, let it air dry, then it's ready for the color spray, just spray uniformly from about 1 1/2 feet with a passing motion until is covered fully and looking glossy.
It's very simple really. Good luck

Corsaire :)

Corsaire,

I know this has been asked before, but are those plastic fenders that you painted? They look just like mine (except mine are still black). I would love to paint them, but am unsure if it would look like crap afterward... What kind of spray paint did you use?

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Cool, I'll give it a shot. I don't have the same fenders though, I think mine are SKS, but they look identical. I wasn't sure if the plastic was too soft to hold the paint well when the plastic flexes (going over bumps) or the temperature changes considerably. It's good to know that it worked for you. I have recently painted my stem and seatpost a metallic copper (using the primer and method you mentioned)- painting fenders to match would look great.

Mid 80s Nashbar Sport RX $10.75 with tax at the GoodWill, appeared to be unridden: Chromoly frame, SunTour Arx Derailleurs, Araya 27x1 1/8 alloy rims, even had a cateye computer. Added a used Brooks saddle $26.00 & Cycle Pro fenders $6.00 at swap meet. Total $42.75, Has about 1500 miles on it in two seasons as a rain bike & I have replaced the chain & will soon need to replace the original IRC tires, this is my "good" commuter

Early 90s Bianchi Trofeo frame $100 at swap meet with following used or NOS parts: Campy NR derailleurs $80, Campy Victory crankset $35, Campy Victory wheelset $40, Nitto stem $5, Sakae bar $7, Shimano 600 brakeset $15, SunTour barcon shift levers $12, aero seatpost $9, Gipiemme leather saddle $12, Stronglight Delta headset $18, 2 Clement sewup tires $33, bottle holder $4, bar tape $8, misc cable & sheaths $7.
Total $385.00, my "bad" commuter, only ridden in great weather. Celeste really looks good with the gold pearl clearcoat.

My "Ugly" commuter: Spaulding Mountain Bike $10.75 at the Goodwill, added a generator set taken off a Schwinn Suburban that was given to me & later sold (minus generator set) for $25, then added a used triple crank that I got on e-Bay for $16 with shipping and a pair of mountain slick tires $26. Total cost $27.75, I since added a red blinkie for the rear & a green blinkie to replace the front reflector. Don

Early 90s Bianchi Trofeo frame $100 at swap meet with following used or NOS parts: Campy NR derailleurs $80, Campy Victory crankset $35, Campy Victory wheelset $40, Nitto stem $5, Sakae bar $7, Shimano 600 brakeset $15, SunTour barcon shift levers $12, aero seatpost $9, Gipiemme leather saddle $12, Stronglight Delta headset $18, 2 Clement sewup tires $33, bottle holder $4, bar tape $8, misc cable & sheaths $7.
Total $385.00, my "bad" commuter, only ridden in great weather. Celeste really looks good with the gold pearl clearcoat.


Wow.. I really like the look of that! Very sharp ride ollo_ollo!

Casati Ellisse Genius is the brand and model. the frame is about 12 years old.
Here is my bike I got it for a trade of the tools I make. The fellow only wanted one tool but I gave him three. This bike really is not a commuter bike but the price was right. A very nice steel bike with campy dropouts. Parts vary it had sachs ergo shifters and the parts are a combo of campy and shimano.

I'm so jealous I'm having heart palpitations over here. Damn my all-thumbs mechanical aptitude! :mad:

$25 - New Jamis Nova frame w/ bb, seatpost, and headset. I had everything else in the parts bin. It is now my wife's faithful SS commuter.

These are all great examples of money well-spent. "When we are young, we brag about the money we spend. When we are older and wiser, it's about the money we save."

Cheers

Mid 80's Trek, $2.07 at thrift store. I rarely ride it though, I keep it around for for when I can con visiters into taking a quick ride with me.

$ 528.00 for my Volpe 2003, last December.
Corsaire

Corsaire,

Do you ride this in the most miserable of conditions, too? This is a really nice bike. Is this the all arounder, everydayer, single player?

Urbanmonk

Thanks darrencope, It took me about 6 months to gather up all the components for the Bianchi. It was almost as much fun searching out the parts deals as building up the bike. Don

I found a Schwinn Collegate 10-speed next to a dumpster. The tires and tubes were original so I replaced them with a set of 27" tires I had in the garage. Cleaned the chain and oiled the cables. Total output = $8 for tubes.

Nice bike. I ride it several times a week and will use it this winter.

Fuji S12-3 - $35 from the local police auction. I was prepared to spend $100 for it. A guy next to me was going to bid but couldn't find his number fast and the auction was over in a matter of seconds. I've added Planet Bike fenders and a bell and front and rear lights, swapped out the seat, put on my old set of Speedplay X2s (big improvement over the heavy pedals & toe clips), and changed tires to kevlar belted Serfas Seca brand (love these tires for this bike).

Man I sure wish I could find some deals... I can NEVER find anything decent at the thrift stores here!

Mongoose Crossway about a year old, $30 at the police auction. Tires still had the "nubs" on 'em. Back wheel was WAY out of true; fixed up in an hour or so while watching CSI or whatnot. Sold it to a friend of mine who uses it as his main commuter.

My wife found a '69 Robin Hood in the trash. Black oil finish. Tires were shot, chain guard was missing, three-speed cable was kinda hinky at the lever end. Some fresh tires, clipped off a little cable housing, oiled up the hub, oiled up the finish. LBS owner found me a Raleigh chain guard of the right vintage and just gave it to me. Kind of a head-turner now, but my holy grail is getting an honest-to-goodness Robin Hood chain guard. Even has the original valve caps, which can be inverted to use as a tool to remove the valve stem (if you ever wanna mess up somebody's day...).

Got a GT Arette step-thru hybrid at a garage sale for $50. Looked like it had about 10 miles on it. Buncha stuff was loose on it for some reason. Tuned it up and set it up for my wife for a while, but she didn't like it compared to her Trek 720. Sold it for $150.

Mongoose Crossway about a year old, $30 at the police auction. Tires still had the "nubs" on 'em. Back wheel was WAY out of true; fixed up in an hour or so while watching CSI or whatnot. Sold it to a friend of mine who uses it as his main commuter.

My wife found a '69 Robin Hood in the trash. Black oil finish. Tires were shot, chain guard was missing, three-speed cable was kinda hinky at the lever end. Some fresh tires, clipped off a little cable housing, oiled up the hub, oiled up the finish. LBS owner found me a Raleigh chain guard of the right vintage and just gave it to me. Kind of a head-turner now, but my holy grail is getting an honest-to-goodness Robin Hood chain guard. Even has the original valve caps, which can be inverted to use as a tool to remove the valve stem (if you ever wanna mess up somebody's day...).

Post it! Post it!

Paid $450 for a 2008 Specialized Allez double in my exact size(actually had the same EXACT bike on order at the LBS due to arrive in a couple of days)...2 weeks old still had the overflash on the center part of the tires. Basically new. Guy was going through a divorce and was selling everything including the ex's beach cruiser which he was selling at a steal too.

120 dollars for a 6 year old K2 mountain bike converted to singlespeed. No sketchy parts either, and it wasn't stolen. Decent hubs, after market surly fork, and street tires. Very solid. This was a few weeks ago.

The guy who sold it (to my friend actually, though I went with him to look at it) was moving and his wife was making him sell some of his bikes.

In addition to the bike with platform pedals he threw in:
-Nashbar SPD pedals
-Shimano sport-level cycling shoes with lots of life left in them
-An extra (15t) rear BMX cog and two extra chainrings.

Yes, that was a freaking smokin' deal. If my friend hadn't bought the bike, I would have There were no sketchy parts, and everything checked out when I gave the bike a going over afterwards. He needed the bike more than me though, as he had just given away his car.

Feb 2006, I paid $9 (NINE DOLLARS!!!!) for 3 (THREE) bikes. All of them just needed new tires.
* An early 1980's Schwin World Sport (I gave it to a buddy). He has since repainted it.
* An early 1980's Peugeut Road Bike (I gave it to my dad, I loved it so much I found another for $40 and bought it for myself). My dad and I go for rides together on them all the time.
* An early 1980's Raliegh Marathon (stripped the BRAND NEW specailized SPD pedals and gave it to a buddy who turned it into a sweet fixed gear).

I will never see another deal like that again.

$40 at a yard sale for a late 80s-early 90s Specialized Rock Hopper. The rack and panniers cost me more than the bike itself.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/CalOso/August06048.jpg

This one started out to be a steal ($50 for the frame on eBay), but after $140 for the wheels, $25 for the fixed cog and lock ring, $50 for the brake levers, $75 for the saddle, $30 for the bottom bracket, $30 for the crankset, $30 for the fenders (not seen here), $60 for tires, $50 to have it powdercoated, and $200 for the light (not seen here), and various other doodads like bar tape, cables, tubes, it's started to run into some money.

But don't tell the wife. As far as she's concerned, it's still only a $50 bike.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/CalOso/DSC02408.jpg

My Univega was $50. Of course, I've spent a little on it since then. :o

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/lamplightsg/Univega/IMG_0929_filteredsmall.jpg

God, where to start....I have had so many good, free bikes pass through my fingers, and quite a few others for $20 or so. I'm always looking :)

I've only ever had the bike I'm riding now, except for stuff I got hand-me-down from my brothers, so I guess this is it, but I bought it new at list price $325 (Giant Cypress). It's been a good bike, I'm about to roll 14000 miles on it.

Has to be this:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2742/56200813403pmps7.jpg

Paid $20 for an old craigslisted Specialized Hardrock Comp (complete bike), then had the frame media-blasted and powder-coated, then built this Xtracycle using the "new" frame. (The components that came with the $20 bike weren't great, so I have either sold them or given them away--this Xtracycle is mostly brand new bits.)

$40 at a yard sale for a late 80s-early 90s Specialized Rock Hopper. The rack and panniers cost me more than the bike itself.

This one started out to be a steal ($50 for the frame on eBay), but after $140 for the wheels, $25 for the fixed cog and lock ring, $50 for the brake levers, $75 for the saddle, $30 for the bottom bracket, $30 for the crankset, $30 for the fenders (not seen here), $60 for tires, $50 to have it powdercoated, and $200 for the light (not seen here), and various other doodads like bar tape, cables, tubes, it's started to run into some money.

But don't tell the wife. As far as she's concerned, it's still only a $50 bike.

I like the brake levers; sharp bike overall. (Cane Creek levers?)

Are you sitting down? Panasonic Team with Tange 2 tubing, full shimano mountech components, dia-comp brakes, shimano half step triple crankset, brooks professional saddle, and a mint Trek 1984 720 touring bike with dura ace wheels, mountech front and rear derailers, shimano half step triple, and a brooks professional saddle. $20.00 for both at a thrift store.

Mid '80s sport touring bike (Japanese made), $5 at a church bazaar with no chain and two flat tires :) Replaced tires, replaced chain, then spent too much money at the LBS getting the brake levers, bar tape, & rear cassette (freewheel?) replaced. I'm kicking myself over that a bit, because I've since learned how to do all of those things myself. Plus, the store gave the bike back to me with the brakes badly adjusted and the front derailleur refusing to shift into the granny ring (fixed now).

I like the brake levers; sharp bike overall. (Cane Creek levers?)

Thank you. Yes, they're Cane Creeks. At the time I bought them they were only available in black, but now I'd get them in silver with gum hoods. Those are very nice.

1970's-80's Raleigh Professional, full Campy bits, Brooks Saddle, free from grandpa.
Plus his Santana Tandem with Brooks
Plus Granny's U.S. Masi Grand Critereum #740

I kept 4 saddles and the Raleigh, ride it daily. Sold the other two to handle a financial matter.

. . . spent too much money at the LBS getting the brake levers, bar tape, & rear cassette (freewheel?) replaced. I'm kicking myself over that a bit, because I've since learned how to do all of those things myself. Plus, the store gave the bike back to me with the brakes badly adjusted and the front derailleur refusing to shift into the granny ring (fixed now). I worked at an LBS when I was in college (long, long ago), and always cringed when someone would roll in a rusty, worthless bike and ask for an estimate on a "tune up". I knew it was a waste of time to provide an estimate, but I always did it, and the estimate was usually somewhere around 25 to 30 times the value of the bike. (More often I would whisper to them that the bike needed to be retired, unless it had some sentimental value.)

The best deal I ever got on a bike was my titanium Eddy Merckx AX, which I got for $500 with a carbon fork and Campy Record headset. I don't commute on it very much, but it's my baby for long rides. It actually would make a decent commuter because the ti frame is bulletproof and I never have to worry about scratching the paint, but I would hate to bog it down with larger tires, a rack, etc.

I got pretty good deal on the bike I use for commuting, however. The frame is a De Bernardi SL that was probably built in the 1990s but hung in a shop unsold for many years. I bought it for $400 and put a mix of Ultegra and Dura Ace parts on it, for a total cost of about $1,000. It's not a commuting/touring frame, and lacks nice touches like eyelets and mounts for fenders and racks. But I've gotten around that by using a Carradice Barley seatbag for carrying gear and snap-on SK RaceBlade fenders as needed.

$35 for an old rigid gary fisher wahoo that I've turned into a do everything bike.

The best deal I've gotten on a bike was... free. "Free" as in it needed work. I've put about $110 into gearing it up (cycle computer, tail light, rack, DIY pannier) and fixing some things (new tires, tubes, rear shifter, new seat). Its not perfect, but its my commuter and it does what I need it to and more. Came with the dual water bottle cages and some pretty impressive brakes and the bar ends. My dad picked it up on FreeCycle and I've just been tuning it up and fixing it to be a reliable road-worthy machine.

http://workshopwebs.com/steve/pictures/bicycle/051908/newpannier.jpg

Late 80's Sanwa Road bike listed for $150 on Craigslist. It was in perfect working condition (needed to adjust the upper limit on the derailer but that was it). It has older but reliable suntour derailers, dia-compe brakes with new pads, new tires and bar tape. I told the guy that I'd need to take it to the bike shop to get a tune up as it had been sitting for quite a while and that would cost $50. So I offered him $60 bucks, thinking he'd come back at like $120, but he took the $60 and I rode off to tune it up myself! That was a good day. I had a lot of money left over for racks/panniers/blinkies etc. and immediately blew it and then some at the LBS...totally worth it.

Those 80s/90s Specializeds are just great.

$99 for a centurian ironman dave scott edition with full shimano 600 ultegra in 1993 at a yard sale. Probably an $800 bike at the time.
Guy bought the bike, got a flat and never changed it, letting bike sit in garage unused for years. The tires still had those rubber nubins attached. The frame didn't have a single scratch.

$30 garage sale find. Added $100 worth of LBS fred finds and created a fun commuter/grocery getter. Not sure what year she is but she is a Scott Sandoa Adventure Series MTB, mid 90's-ish?

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/twinswin/PICT5873.jpg

Best would be the Campy equipped Trek 600 that a guy gave me after I bought a wheel truing stand from him for $20.00.
Next best deal would be the clearance hard tail I got at Target, marked at $39.99, but with the seniors discount, out the door at $36.30 including tax. I let my buddy have that one, I ride the Trek.

Nashbar Sport RS, double butted Chrome Moly frame, SunTour ARx derailleurs, Sugino crank: Dirty & with flat tires for $9.95 at the Goodwill in Olympia, WA. I cleaned it up, re-lubed, pumped the tires & it was good to go.

Paid 25.00 for my 1987 Kuwahara Cascade in nearly mint condition... when I found it all I had to do was put air in the tires and ride it.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/kuwiecommute5.jpg

Well, my Specialized Hard Rock was a freebie. I appropriated head light and tail light from another bike, and added fenders and a cheap pletcher style rack. Then when the knobbies wore out, I put on street slicks. The bike cost almost nothing and gave me almost flawless performance for 2 years of daily commuting and enabled me to climb out of a huge debt. It's still a stalwart commuter but now I can afford a few accessories.

Then:
http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/SpecializedHardRock.JPG

Now
http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/Bike&Trailer1.jpg

:D

Tell me, what was the best deal you ever got on a commuter? Post picture if you can. I will be building a foul-weather friend for up-coming winter.

Cheers

25 dutch guilders (+/- $12) for a Gazelle Oma Fiets from a junkie.