sidjameson

Would you say buying a used bike (on ebay) is a good deal for a newbie to touring. There seems to be plenty of "nearly unused" bikes out there. I was just wandering if it was considered a good idea to buy this way. My idea is to buy say a lightly used Trek 520 or cannondale T800. Some of the older models that are said to have hung in the garage for years seem a real bargain.
What price for example would a Trek in this kind of condition have to be for you to consider it a steal? (but hopefully not stolen:-)

Oh and talking of which I would never buy this way if I thought I was in anyway contributing to the theft of bikes. Any thoughts on this?

Cheers

sidjameson

Oh and is there anything I should be aware of when considering an almost unridden bike but one thats 15 years old?

robertsdvd

My amateur two cents that comes to mind quickly - being a "newbie" (newbie to the site or cycling in general?) - are you positive you know what size bike you need? You can't hop on this one and try it out first, obviously yeah yeah. Otherwise - 15 years old - might have some old parts need replacing and depending on make might have some odd size bits? Probably need new brakes? Other people can probably field this one better, but I was kinda bored, so I hopped in.

tom cotter

I don't think ebay is a good idea for a newbie. Most likely you'd be buying a bike sight unseen and possibly relying on an equally unknowledgeable person to describe the bike to you. Your inability to know what questions to ask is complicated by not knowing the significance of the answers you'd receive. You'd be unable in most cases to test ride the bike and would have no idea how it would fit. How important is fit? It's everything.
Then there's this. While in the market for a used 5 series BMW last year I located a beautiful car on ebay. It was exactly what I was looking for. The car was offered with a car fax report to assure me or any other buyer that all was well with this car. The car was only a couple of years old, had low mileage. The seller was the car's second owner having bought the car from a BMW dealer. The car's owner needed to raise some cash which was the reason the car was for sale. I asked the owner if he could take some more pictures and send them to me. He readily agreed. I then asked him to email me a picture of the vin number stamped into every body panel. That would total 9 pictures. I had to tell him where to locate the numbers. He called me back a little while later to tell me he couldn't find the numbers on any of the parts. But he found a number stamped into the B post starting with R. This poor man didn't know that his car had been rebuilt. BMW brands all replacement parts with an R. Worse yet the missing vin numbers on the rest of the car's body panels indicated that the car was rebuilt using non BMW aftermarket parts. The car was probably a stolen recovery, rebuilt and sold in a state that doesn't brand salvage vehicles. Scarey? You betcha! The only thing that saved me was my knowledge of this make and model. A bike would be alot less costly of a mistake. But it's still money lost. With ebay it's truley buyer beware.
A good bike shop would be a better way to go. At least start there an figure out what size you'd need. Be aware that Trek changed the sizing and geometry on these bikes around 92-94. An 88 model isn't going to fit the same way as a 98 model. Also Trek equipped the late 80's model with something called a BIO-PACE elliptical chain ring. Very weird.
Any 15 year old bike you buy is going to need upgrading. Many of the parts in the drivetrain may not be available today or may not be compatible with what is available. If you have to completely switch out the drivetrain and some other major components you'd be better off buying a significantly newer bike or new.

Miyataphile

Go for the ebay, IT's cheap. the most important thing about the size for ebay is the standover height and the top tube. Make sure you have about a inch of clearance. The top tube is a tad bit more trickier, but I would suggest you go into a bike shop and try out bikes. Measure the top tube of the bikes that feels comfortable. You can always change the stem, so don't make that an issue when buying from ebay.

Good luck.

Some older models that I would suggest other than the same old same old Trek 520 is the Miyata 1000 from the mid 80s & Schwinn LeTour from the 80s & Novara touring bike & Nashbar 5000 touring bike(tange 2) & cannondale st800. You can get great deals on these older bikes. IF you don't mind doing some upgrades. These bikes are absolute steals.

MIyataphile

ronyex

Old bikes require more maintenance and special care.
Ebay has great bargains on top of the line racing bikes usually sold by pro racers who buy a new bike every 2 years or so.this is not the case with touring bikes.not too many of them on the market and when 1 comes up its very likely to be heavily used so the money you saved will be spent on replacing old parts and you will still have an old bike with no warranty.
touring bikes are not equiped with the high-end components anyways so IMO it would be best to just buy a new bike.they start at only 600$( Jamis Aurora).
note that even top of the line components have their limited lifespan.new tiagra shifters might work better than 5 y/o durace.

sidjameson

thanks for the advice. I can see clearly both sides of the arguement now. I don't think an older bike is a good bet for me. I can see that a bargain can be had as Miyataphile says but I know I would procastinate on any upgrading to the extent that sooner or later it would land me in trouble.
But getting my hands on a bike that some one bought, rode a few times and then didn't touch for a couple of years, umm well it's still tempting if the price is right.
Can't I get the bike shop to adjust it for me(fitting right?) while I buy my panniers etc?

frankerk

I originally had a trek - 510 - 1979 which I had riden for years, but never loaded. Last summer got a great deal on a trek 720 - 1984, and with just a few changes is set up for loaded touring. Changed out the freewheel/hub (was a maillard heliomatic) for a 13-34 shimano hg, kept my leather saddle. What you will find is that the older bikes - especially touring, have 27 in wheels (wich I have kept - but would probably not tour in Europe with them), older stile freewheels - that may have seriously weakened axel, standard 170mm cranks - OK for the average height person, and worn hubs and bottom brackets. Frames are probably in great shape.

tom cotter

All bikes are adjustable within limits. The 520 is a quirky bike when it comes to sizing. The bike has a short top tube and a lower standover height when compared to race geometry bikes of the same frame size. Most bike shops aren't aware of this. Any shop sizing you using the popular standover top tube clearance method will most likely sell you bike that's too small. Likewise if you have a long torso, or short arms and/or lack flexibility.