Halebopp

Have a 2001 Schwinn Fastback, nice bike, I like it.

Have a motobecane fantom cx (I built up from the frame).

Obviously neither of these bikes are superbikes, but both are nice and servicible.

I've begun to realize that while I enjoy riding on the road a lot, I really love tearing around on mixed surfaces cyclocross style (going from road, to field, to singletrack, to mud, back to road, etc).

So I'm thinking about selling my road bike and sinking the extra $$ into my cross bike. Additionally, I find it hard to find the time to give both the maintence they deserve.

I still want to do the occaisional road race (so I'm going to keep a 23mm road wheelset for that) , but really am just super excited about racing cross next season.

Should I do it...

Halebopp

I'd go steel fork to carbon fork, old 9 speed 105 to SRAM Rival, (tubular wheelset??)

availpunk9

How much is the Schwinn worth? From googling, I don't think you'll get much out of it. May be enough for a fork upgrade.

Halebopp

There are new components into it, now it has a ritchey stem/seatpost, cinelli bars, 5500 series shimano components (the brifters are actually recent NOS, and have less than 200 miles on them), FSA energy crankset

So I'd hope I could get at least $500 for it. I'd have to let the free market decide I suppose...thanks ebay.

If i could get 500, that would be enough for (used probably) SRAM Rival brifters/derailleurs and a carbon fork. And more for odds and ends like tubes, CO2s, lube, etc.

Alan@TreeFort

Sell road bike to upgrade your cx? That's what I'm doing!

I'm going to be selling my old and upgraded Giant OCR (I'm thinking $350 is about the best I'll get) and some other parts laying around for Thomson stem and seatpost and new wheels - DT 240s to the Stan's CX rims --- Pumped!

Andy_K 

I don't think I'd do it. The upgrades you're talking about are nice bling, but I'm not convinced you'd notice a lot of difference on the course. I think it would be better to keep both bikes. There's very little chance that your bike is going to be worth as much to someone else as it is to you.

Barrettscv 

I'm also in the process of selling my road bike, a 2008 made-by-Lynskey titanium.

I just like my CX bike more overall. My next bike will be a CX bike, probably high-end steel. Maybe a custom build.

Michael

Halebopp

I'm aware that my bike won't be as valuble to someone else as it is to me. But as a college student I'm having trouble scraping together the time and especially money to devote to both bikes. Its attractive having one bike to baby, as opposed to the "well duct tape will hold together this bar tape until i can afford new rolls".

And right now my CX bike has one tire with the casing showing through on the side, housing I stole from an old 70s road bike in the basement, one broken 5500 series left shifter (so I'm effectively running a single chainring setup), and the right shifter gums up when it gets below freezing.

It works pretty well all things considered, but still...

Andy_K 

OK, I can see why you'd do it. You might want to consider moving some the good parts to the CX bike before you sell. Where you see "Schwinn Fastback with lots of upgrades," most potential buyers will see "Schwinn Fastback" and maybe even just "old Schwinn." The upgrades lose a lot of their value as soon as you put them on the bike.

flipdizzys

i sold my road bike and bought a cross about 3 months ago...i don't regret it one bit...just my 2 cents..

bluenote157

make that schwinn into your sscx bike..and the bike that you wont get to upset about if it gets stolen when you ride to the store..

seat_boy

I say keep both. It's nice to have multiple bikes, so when you get ready for a ride and find your bike has a flat or something, you can hop on the other and go. New tires are cheap, spray some WD40 into the shifter, and keep it rolling. I don't think you'll have the opportunity for fun with just one marginally upgraded cross bike.

Halebopp

Hrmmmmmmm. Hrmmmmmm. Hard decision.

Halebopp

My other thought is that one I graduate this semester, I'll probably be moving around a lot over the next few years. I don't know that I'll always have room and ability to take care of an entire stable of bikes. That also makes the idea of one (nice) do-it-all bike attractive.

smailsteve

Know this is an old post, but do you still have your fastback frame?

SurlyLaika

aint that a ***** about selling nice used bikes? they just aren't worth as much to others as they are to you.

For example, I was trying to sell my 2011 56cm CC frame set for $300, to size down to a 54cm CC for about $140 more but I kept getting low ****** offers of $200. If I saw a slightly too large CC for $200, you bet I'd jump right on. Point is that my 56cm worth more to me than it is to anyone else. I just have to live with the discomfort. It's less than ideal but I guess a shorter stem could help make it better.

I might do this with my CC, too.


Next dream bike is a Vaya, built from the ground up!


to the OP: frankenstein the best of both bikes onto your Motobecane. Then, make your Schwinn into a scrapper you can leave outside the bus-station like Bluenote suggested. Upgrade your Motobecane, slowly. Eventually, you could even upgrade the frame...in any case, selling your Schwinn won't pan out for you. Just keep it and make the best of things.

Halebopp

This thread is almost a year old...so this ship sailed a while ago.

smailsteve - I sold the frame a while back. Thanks for asking though.

SurlyLaika - thanks for the advice, but its too late!

If anyone is interested, heres a before + after:

tonyjaja

looks great, beautiful bike

Amesja

Nice.

It seems it is almost better to break down a bike and sell it as parts rather than as a complete bike. You raise more money this way and end up with spare parts for yourself to boot (like an extra wheelset and various other bits that you are going to need anyhow.)

Once you sell the frame the room saved in a small apartment is huge if you can't find the room for that extra bike.

It isn't nearly as hard taking a bike apart as it is building it back up. Sure, you need some special tools like crank pullers and BB tools but you need those anyhow for basic maintenance unless you are a slave to your LBS wrench.

Halebopp

Honestly, I'd agree with that. I was able to get around 250 (I think) for my road frame, and 200 for the old 105 shifters. I bet you I wouldn't have gotten more than 500 for the complete bike...and this way I have a bunch of spare parts lying around.

Though it probably depends on the model/year.

The cross bike now has SRAM rival shifters, too.

dddave

the best thing i did in the last year was sell my road bike and buy a cross bike. as much as i loved my road bike, i have so much more fun on this thing than i ever did on that one.

mahijiru

Interesting thread, sounds like you made the decision that worked best for your situation.

Since I have the money, time and desire to have more than one bike, I like having a road and a cyclocross bike. In rainy Seattle, having the crosser for lousier weather is great, and I like the roadie for faster and distance riding. The road bike is more fun, the cross more versatile.

WickedThump

I have a road bike and a mountain bike. A cross bike should give me the sliding scale between the two, depending on gearing and tires selected.

thenomad

That would equal 3 bikes which leaves options open for a Touring bike, Single speed MTB, Single Speed Road, and rainy day variants of each of them. N+1

jan nikolajsen 

Risking to beat the proverbial horse beyond reason I will add my experience in the cross vs road bike debate.

I have one of each, a C'dale SuperSix (16lbs) and a C'dale SuperX (19lbs), and they are very different beasts. Both are 58cm frames with Campagnolo drivetrains and road wheels (23mm tires vs 28mm), but that's definitely where the similarities end.

Briefly this is what I've found for use strictly on pavement: The roadbike is a faster climber and accelerator, is easier to hold it's place in a paceline and beats into a headwind with much less effort. The crossbike is comfortable and plush, descends with a lot more confidence, thus faster downhill and it absorbs road chatter with efficiency.

Due to geometry (and a flipped stem) the cross bike handle bars are almost level with the saddle. To achieve this with the roadie I would have to go up 2 sizes. Such a seemingly small detail makes a lot of difference in comfort but also in performance. The wheel base is longer and the head angle slacker on the crosser, again adding to stability and comfort but subtracting from pure road performance.

For road use they compliment each other very well: Solo rides and 'training' is easier on the body when using the crosser, while group rides are more fun on the roadie.