Originally Posted by
sillygolem
Are these bikes bad? No. They're more low end bike shop than department store, but they carry department store prices. I paid $20 for mine and had it ready to ride with some new tires and brake cables.
The three or four I've come across were heavy and the components were low-end, but one beautiful mustard yellow ladies frame surprised me in how well it shifted considering the drive-train. I'd say they're more like 70's low-end bike shop bikes than 2000's low-end, but still much better than the "Schwinns" and "Raleighs" at Tar-Mart.
IMHO the $150 asking price for a Dynasty model is about $100 too much unless it has been recently tuned-up and has new tires/wheels.
If you're looking for a good first bike from craigslist, try to ignore flashy bikes as they are typically hiding the fact that they are low performance. There are good Japanese and Taiwanese-built bikes under names like Fuji, Shogun, Nishiki, Univega, Miyata, etc that are a better value than Free Spirit.