Hybrid Bicycles - (Craigslist ad) How much do you think this hybrid is worth?

Someone I know needs a bike and knows nothing about them. I'm a novice, so I don't trust my own judgments on value yet. :)

Here's the ad:
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/3431688652.html

Here's the newer version of this bike:
http://www.target.com/p/schwinn-men-s-700c-tourist-28-road-bike-red/-/A-13241183

I've heard it weighs about 26 or 27 pounds. 8 speed freewheel, which is a bit unusual. Assuming all of the parts seem to be in good working order, what's a fair selling/buying point for this bike? $100? Like many dept. store bikes, it looks from the photos like it hasn't got many miles on it. That makes it extra weird that he said the rear brake needed to be replaced, and the front too. I'm wondering if by "brakes" he meant "brake pads", and they just wore down cuz they dragging on the rim or something... :lol:

Any opinions welcome. Explanations or other info welcome too. I know a lot of people on this forum are all like, "GET A USED TREK FX IN PERFECT CONDITION FOR $30, BRO"... maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see incredible Craigslist deals just falling into people's laps left and right. I'm really looking for opinions on the value of this particular bike. The rider will not be particularly picky, and I can tune it for him.

howdy, ive seen those around at target and they look pretty decent. im not an expert on bikes and maybe even less than you but i think if you can get the seller down to like 120 or 100 it would be a pretty good deal. i think with a bit of tuning it would be a decent bike.

yeah, I'm sure he means the break pads. they don't look very well adjusted in that front end shot

and yeah, $100-ish is about what I'd consider.

those are pretty skinny wheels for a hybrid, and with that sort of minimal spoking, I'd pass on it if the rider is at all heavy (say, 200lbs+)

Must be a misprint on Target....says weight 39.7 lbs

27 lbs for that schiwnn sounds too light, not with that crankset, steel fork, etc.

Must be a misprint on Target....says weight 39.7 lbs

Shipping weight maybe? What I'm leery of is the claim that it will hold 300 pounds, but with that spoke pattern, I dunno about that...

Thanks guys, good to hear that my $100 estimate seems to be somewhere in the ballpark.



Must be a misprint on Target....says weight 39.7 lbs
The weights listed on the Walmart/Target sites are always way too high for whatever reason(s). I don't know if those are shipping weight plus whatever, but they're wrong.



27 lbs for that schiwnn sounds too light, not with that crankset, steel fork, etc.
That's what I thought at first too! But I keep reading reviews of the newer-generation Schwinn store bikes in the $200-$300 range. And upper-middle 20's, in pounds, is what I keep hearing for their speedy hybrids. I've even heard reports that the latest FBRB's and dropbar road bikes weigh 25-26 with kickstands! Not sure I can swallow that.

But I know for a fact that the mountain bike-y hybrid Schwinn Trailway (http://www.target.com/p/schwinn-men-s-trailway-28-road-bike-gray/-/A-13241180) is about 32.5 lbs. I tuned one for a friend, and I weighed it myself. And that's with its kickstand, suspension fork, suspension seatpost, chunky seat, etc. So upper 20's for the new Schwinn hybrid performance bikes doesn't seem impossible. I want to believe!



those are pretty skinny wheels for a hybrid, and with that sort of minimal spoking, I'd pass on it if the rider is at all heavy (say, 200lbs+)
That was the main thing that gave me pause too. There are only 24 spokes on that Tourist... luckily, the rider is light. Actually the newer Tourist has 28 spokes, so that's a bit better... seems like the new midlevel Schwinns are improving fast!

indeed. thats a bizarro-world spoking pattern, although I count 28 spokes (7 groups of 4)

and WTF, 2" tires? thats 50mm, and those sure don't look like 700x50's to me, more like 700x28's.

hmmm, this guy says his weighs 22 lbs before accessorizing. \
http://wnyprogressive.blogspot.com/2011/09/schwinn-tourist-review-post-honeymoon.html

also says there's no front fender mounts, and the rear stays are missing upper mounts for a rack. only one hard point for a bottle, which makes a pump challenging. cheap "suntour" front derailleur and crankset, the rear derailleur is a shimano altus. 28c tires.

whack, http://www.schwinnbikes.com/ doesn't even list this model.

ok, those wheels apparently come from this company.
http://www.stars-rim.com/

I think these sold for $200-250 when Target was still selling them. I used to see a lot of them on CL for $100 so that seems like a fair price. They only came in one frame size (18 or 18.5") so you need to make sure it fits you. It's an aluminum frame 700C performance hybrid so I doubt it weighs more than the upper 20lbs. range.

Pierce, you counted right, the Trailway does have 28 spokes per wheel. It's the older silver Tourist that only has 24. The newer red Tourist has 28, I guess.

The tires on the Trailway aren't 2". Never trust the Target/wallyworld sites, they are awful for bike specs. :lol: The Trailway's tires are actually 700x38c.

The claim of 22 pounds for the red Tourist... man, I don't know if I can believe that. I have an older Trek road bike with some weird frame made out of both carbon & aluminum that weighs 22.5. I can't imagine this bike weighing that much with the cheap Suntour crank that it has. I got to hold the cheap Suntour crank on the Trailway I worked on, and while I didn't weigh it, it felt very heavy.

Crappy long stem Schraders on all these Schwinns, though!

Is anyone with a trained eye able to tell whether the Tourist has double quick release wheels from the photos? I'd be curious to know about either the silver Tourist in the Craigslist ad (http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/3431688652.html) or the newer red Tourist (http://www.target.com/p/schwinn-men-s-700c-tourist-28-road-bike-red/-/A-13241183).

Usually these midlevel Schwinns are nutted back, QR front. But a few of the newer ones have double QR's.

I think I see front and rear quick release levers in the first photo.

indeed, that one on the target ad has them, you can see the rear QR lever peeking out behind the cassette. in the 3rd 3/4 shot, you can see it even more clearly if you zoom.

Ah hah, I didn't see the other photos on the Target site. And I can see the QR lever in the Craigslist ad now too, now that treadtread pointed it out. Thanks!

...

BTW, I was out doing errands (on my bike of course!), and I stopped at the local Target with my bathroom scale for laughs. Wanted to weigh that red Tourist, cuz I didn't believe the 22 pounds thing. And it's nowhere near that light. On my scale, it showed up at 27.2 lbs with the info booklets dangling from it, so I think very close to 27 pounds even. That's with kickstand and some very large, funky, heavy-looking wheel reflectors (which don't show on the Target photos).

There's another big thing that the blog got wrong about the red Tourist, I think, specifically the thing about it not being front fender-ready. I've never installed fenders, and maybe I'm an idiot, but looks good to go to me. At the front, I see holes near the front fork dropout and a hole through the front "brake bridge" area. (Sorry, I don't know the exact term for it.) At the back, there are holes near the rear dropouts, a hole through the rear "brake bridge" area, and a hole through the little bar between the chainstays.

Far as I can tell with my untrained eye, the frame has plenty of clearance for wider tires and fenders. The kickstand seems kinda wimpy, and I don't know how stable it'd be. The bike does have only one set of braze-ons. Front Suntour derailer looks cheap. Pedals are basic stock stuff, but look fine. I actually liked the saddle -- it didn't feel much different than the fancy and popular Cloud 9 seat that I've tried, but I've never been picky about saddles. Needless to say, everything on a dept. store bike would need plenty of adjustment to ride optimally, including brakes, derailers, hubs, BBs, wheel truing, etc. The stock rim tape is presumably garbage and would need replacing ASAP.

BTW, all the above stuff is for the newer, red Tourist. I'm sure the older grey Tourist is very similar. Not sure what its differences are other than that the wheels having 24 spokes instead of 28.

If anyone cares, the bike (and most all of the Target bikes) are 10% off through Dec. 15th. I know that's a "real" sale because I saw the Tourist months ago for $250, and the guy who bought the Trailway said he got it for $250, and I noticed it on sale for $219 now.

the crosspiece on a fork is called the 'crown' (and the rear one is the brake bridge, as you say).

what the red one appears to be missing are the hard points on the sides of the seat stays just above the brake bridge, thats where most modern racks like to attach.

Aha, I gotcha. Thanks for the help.

Does it still have fender potential, as in ready-to-go for fenders, without having to screw around with a bunch of custom modifications to the frame? I doubt the potential owner will ride it enough in bad weather to care, just would be good to know for future reference.

rear fenders usually mount via A) a hole in the seat stay bridge where a caliber brake would have been mounted, B) either bolt holes or clamps at the bottom of the seat stays, and C) the bridge right behind the bottom bracket between the chain stays.

front fenders usually mount on bolt holes on the back of the bottom of the forks, and to the hole through the fork crown where a brake might go.

so as long as the frame has those points, you're good to go.