jjiggajouncer

https://raleigh.craigslist.org/bik/459900043.html

i have the urge to buy a road bike (my first) and i was just wondering if any of you have an opinion on this bike. i'm going to go have a look at it tomorrow to check out the ride and whatnot. does $645 seem like a fair deal if there aren't any flaws/cracks in the carbon? i'm not too sure what year it is, but it looks to be at least 8 years old to me. thanks for any insight.

JayC

It looks like its older stuff to me just judging by the picture. Probably 9 speed at best.

yellowjeep

its 7400 series dura ace meaning its 8sp, still an excelent group. The light on dark logo on the RD is a dead give away. i am not an expert on kestrel but id say offer 600 and go from there.

Mr Pantani

That's 8-speed Dura-Ace, an annoyingly proprietary but oh-so-cool groupset. Its shifters are probably some of my favorite ever made in terms of style, and if I were in your area I'd probably snap that bike up right away. But that's just me.

The reason why 8-speed Dura-Ace is annoying is because its parts are not interchangeable with parts from other groupsets. I think it even has proprietary hub splining.. if a part broke, it'd be a pain to replace from what I'd assume.

Still, that bike is SLEEK. Put a new stem on that, maybe some white or black bar tape, and you've got a killer machine. If you're looking for style points, buy it. If you're looking for practicality, you'd probably do better with a used Giant OCR or something.

yellowjeep

The only 2 things proprietary with 8sp DA are the lenth of cable pull... meaning you have to use the 8sp DA shifters with the 8sp DA derailluer. And the way the freehub body attatches to the hub, the splines are the same though.

ref: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html

Mr Pantani

Ah, good call. I see.

jjiggajouncer

thanks for the info, folks.

JayC, always helping out the fellow north cackalackian, lovin' it. thanks.

i'm off to meet up with the owner and take a test ride. a cycling friend is coming with me to put in his two cents about the bike.

maybe i'll return with a new toy in hand...

yellowjeep

let us know, im really interested to hear about the bike

zacster

I'd say its a good deal if there isn't anything super wrong with it like a cracked frame.

jjiggajouncer

well, i guess it wasn't meant to be.

it was, in fact, outfitted with 8 speed dura ace. the test ride felt pretty good to me and shifting seemed precise and i didn't notice any terrible noises from the bike.

but the frame was in fairly rough shape, not exactly "pretty" in person, plenty of scars and nicks here and there, some having been touched up with paint and others not.

i didn't see any gaping cracks or anything, but there was a pretty crusty/crunchy looking spot near the bottom bracket. the guy said it happened when he threw the chain and it got caught up between the drivetrain and frame.

i did make him a fairly low offer and he literally chortled at it. he said he had an offer of $575 already and that he would be willing to take that. that seemed a bit much to me so i headed home.

oh well, in the meantime, i have my buddy's fuji track to ride and so far it's been a blast. i will more than likely end up buying it from him.

but the quest continues for road bike

JayC

CSH Cary had some nice sales going on over the weekend. You should head over there and see what they have. They had a BMC Street Fire that should be in your budget.