Originally Posted by
AlanKHG
I'm in a similar situation.
I guess my big questions are, for reliability's sake, what's worth buying new, and where do old parts do fine? It seems to be best to have a new drivetrain and wheels, since those are where a lot of force goes through and would be bad news trying to hack together a fix for deep into the Great Plains. Used frames, brakes, bars, stems, and so on seem fine though. Is that reasonable?
I have a similar bike situation as you and find that the most important things to take care of with used parts bikes are get a really solid wheel set ($<100), good brakes ($0), good pedals($<20), good seat($<70), real racks($<50) and most important, make sure the bike fits you really well.
If you can get someone to help order parts wholesale price (prices that I quoted) from that co-op shop you will get everything for 1/3 the price you would pay at a for-profit bike shop. Don't worry about having a new BB or shifter parts, as long as what you have is good there are a lot of good used parts laying around that will last a long time.