Hi there! As the title would suggest, I'm looking for advice in finding myself a very affordable road bike. I currently ride an 80s Ross Adventurer which I purchased from someone on Craigslist for 60 dollars. I am most interested in the following features:
1) Reliability, my current bike fails in one way or another every time I take it out for a ride, whether it be the brakes becoming lodged into the tire due to some not so intuitive brake placement or the chain becoming lodged between gears and completely disabling my ability to continue pedaling.
2) Somewhat Lightweight I suppose, I don't really care too much since I'm a fairly fit individual but I suppose a bit of lightening couldn't do much harm, right? My bike is currently comprised of almost entirely steel so we can call this the high benchmark in terms of weight, it's heavy but not so heavy that I can't deal with it.
3) Comfort - The bike is awkward for me because I'm a pretty big guy (6'3") in terms of height, however, I only weigh ~160 pounds. My seat is currently a not so friendly piece of plastic set right into my derriere.
That's about all I care, my price range is quite slim as a College Student who has no intent to win the Tour De France on my super bike. In fact, the limit of the bike's exposure outside of casual rides would be the Triathlon I intend to participate in this Summer. I currently bike about 20 miles on an average day (assuming no chain failure) through the hilly regions of upstate New York. I normally just pick a road and say "Let's go exploring today, eh?" That said, I don't really need anything special, I just want a cheap bike that is reliable and will serve these purposes with minimal chance for failure. It seems that you guys know your stuff when it comes to Bicycles and I hope that you are knowledgeable about the track record(s) of cheap bikes as well as the thousand dollar masterpiece bikes I picture you all owning.
If you care to help, I could really use suggestions. I don't care if the bike is used, I don't care if it's from the time when dinosaurs walked the earth - so long as the bike works I'll be happy.
Thanks!