Advise on a bike
04-14-11, 07:36 AM
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Advise on a bike
I would like to get some advise on a bike, and this catagory seemed like the to try. If not, mods, feel free to move it.
I already have a mountain bike and a stretched cruiser. I need longer chainstays because I sometimes pull a kid trailer, triple cranks for the same reason, faster, as I would like to train and do a few charity centuries ( not race paced), bull horn handle bars with bar end indexed shifters, clamp on aero bars for when I do the longer rides (I heard that thery are comfortable for longer rides), lastly, I have a budget of less than $250. For all of these reasons, I was looking for an older touring bike. I found a list on the touring page, any one have any thoughts or recommendation on the list? I'm having trouble finding one on craigs, just looking for more ideas. Thanks.
The list:
Bridgestone RB-T
Bridgestone T-500
Bridgestone T-700
Centurion Pro Tour
Fuji Touring Series IV
Fuji Touring Series V
FUJI SARATOGA
FUJI GRAN TOURER
FUJI GRAN TOURER SE
Kuwahara Caravan
Lotus Odyssey
Miyata 610
Miyata 1000
Nishiki Continental
Nishiki Cresta GT
Nishiki International
Nishiki Riviera GT
Nishiki Seral
Novara Randonee
Panasonic PT-3500
Panasonic PT-5000
Panasonic Pro Touring
Panasonic Touring Deluxe
Raleigh Alyeska
Raleigh Kodiak
Raleigh Portage
Raleigh Super Tourer
Raleigh Touring 18
Schwinn Paramount P15-9 Tourer
Schwinn Passage
Schwinn Voyageur/Voyageur SP
Specialized Expedition
Takara Overland
Trek 520
Trek 620
Trek 720
Univega Gran Tourismo
Univega Specialisim
I already have a mountain bike and a stretched cruiser. I need longer chainstays because I sometimes pull a kid trailer, triple cranks for the same reason, faster, as I would like to train and do a few charity centuries ( not race paced), bull horn handle bars with bar end indexed shifters, clamp on aero bars for when I do the longer rides (I heard that thery are comfortable for longer rides), lastly, I have a budget of less than $250. For all of these reasons, I was looking for an older touring bike. I found a list on the touring page, any one have any thoughts or recommendation on the list? I'm having trouble finding one on craigs, just looking for more ideas. Thanks.
The list:
Bridgestone RB-T
Bridgestone T-500
Bridgestone T-700
Centurion Pro Tour
Fuji Touring Series IV
Fuji Touring Series V
FUJI SARATOGA
FUJI GRAN TOURER
FUJI GRAN TOURER SE
Kuwahara Caravan
Lotus Odyssey
Miyata 610
Miyata 1000
Nishiki Continental
Nishiki Cresta GT
Nishiki International
Nishiki Riviera GT
Nishiki Seral
Novara Randonee
Panasonic PT-3500
Panasonic PT-5000
Panasonic Pro Touring
Panasonic Touring Deluxe
Raleigh Alyeska
Raleigh Kodiak
Raleigh Portage
Raleigh Super Tourer
Raleigh Touring 18
Schwinn Paramount P15-9 Tourer
Schwinn Passage
Schwinn Voyageur/Voyageur SP
Specialized Expedition
Takara Overland
Trek 520
Trek 620
Trek 720
Univega Gran Tourismo
Univega Specialisim
04-14-11, 08:19 AM
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04-14-11, 08:36 AM
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I live in central FL, between Orlando and Daytona Beach. I'm having a had time finding the list in my price range. Any one have any recommendations for more affordable ones that meet my needs? Thanks.
04-14-11, 10:29 AM
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Used touring bikes are a bit difficult to find in Florida, but I'm not sure you really need one. Can't you pull a trailer with a standard road bike?
04-14-11, 05:06 PM
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Nicer vintage touring bikes bring more quite a bit more than your budget, like 75% more, or even higher. Pretty unrealistic, unless you are super fast, scouring every possible source, garage sales, thrift stores, word of mouth or what ever.
So you have a few options:
1. Raise your budget.
2. Look very aggressively, be able to launch at a moment's notice, drive a distance to get one. I picked up a really sweet vintage touring bike last week for $127, but had to drive 100 miles one way to get it. And it was poorly advertised, lousy pics, ad did not mention it was a touring bike, etc., otherwise it would have been long gone.
3. Convert a rigid frame MTB instead (which I see you already have, so that's not a very good solution).
4. Look beyond C/L. You are really just scratching the surface for finding a bike if you just look at C/L. While I have found deals on C/L, they are rarely my size. None of my current keeper fleet came from C/L. One thrift store, a couple of ebay (local pickup, lousy pics, wrong category, etc.), one garage sale, and a couple from a DKO flipper (the bikes were not advertised, I responded to a "bike tools for sale" ad, bikes needed quite a bit of work). Note, 99% of the bikes I see on ebay are not hot deals, but every once in a while, one slips through (particularly if you are willing to drive a distance to pick up, for local pickup only bikes, or super high shipping charge). My Prologue came off ebay, seller mis-spelled Prologue, even though it is clearly spelled out in large letter on the top tube (I saved a search with the name mis-spelled = DEAL!
It all comes down to budget, your figure is a hefty discount below market value. Not surprising you are not finding one. In my area, if one of the bikes on your list popped up on C/L at the $250 pricepoint, it would be gone in a nanosecond.
My advice if you have a really tight, way below market budget, is to look for anything, any size, any brand, that you can flip, and then use the flip profits to increase your budget. This includes road bikes, racing bikes, touring bikes, or whatever.
So you have a few options:
1. Raise your budget.
2. Look very aggressively, be able to launch at a moment's notice, drive a distance to get one. I picked up a really sweet vintage touring bike last week for $127, but had to drive 100 miles one way to get it. And it was poorly advertised, lousy pics, ad did not mention it was a touring bike, etc., otherwise it would have been long gone.
3. Convert a rigid frame MTB instead (which I see you already have, so that's not a very good solution).
4. Look beyond C/L. You are really just scratching the surface for finding a bike if you just look at C/L. While I have found deals on C/L, they are rarely my size. None of my current keeper fleet came from C/L. One thrift store, a couple of ebay (local pickup, lousy pics, wrong category, etc.), one garage sale, and a couple from a DKO flipper (the bikes were not advertised, I responded to a "bike tools for sale" ad, bikes needed quite a bit of work). Note, 99% of the bikes I see on ebay are not hot deals, but every once in a while, one slips through (particularly if you are willing to drive a distance to pick up, for local pickup only bikes, or super high shipping charge). My Prologue came off ebay, seller mis-spelled Prologue, even though it is clearly spelled out in large letter on the top tube (I saved a search with the name mis-spelled = DEAL!
It all comes down to budget, your figure is a hefty discount below market value. Not surprising you are not finding one. In my area, if one of the bikes on your list popped up on C/L at the $250 pricepoint, it would be gone in a nanosecond.
My advice if you have a really tight, way below market budget, is to look for anything, any size, any brand, that you can flip, and then use the flip profits to increase your budget. This includes road bikes, racing bikes, touring bikes, or whatever.
Last edited by wrk101; 04-15-11 at 05:35 AM.
