Hey folks,

I'm new to the folding bike world. I biked casually but regularly for about 5 years, but have now been away from it for another five. After having read a fair bit through the sticky threads in this forum I settled on a D7 or a P8 if I didn't like the ride of the D7, and was planning on doing some test drives and looking for good deals on Craiglist (going rate for these seems to be $300-$500). I had considered the Downtubes as well, but there aren't too many bike shops in NYC that carry them.

Then something kind of unique fell into my lap - an old (late 90s, not sure of exact year) Brompton T5. The owner is asking $600 minus whatever the costs are to get it back in working order (it hasn't really had any attention paid to it in probably 8 years).

Being new to the folding market I have no idea how to evaluate a current folding bike, never mind one that's this old. My general understanding is Bromptons really hold their value, so $600 - while definitely at the top end of my price range -is probably reasonable. Other folks have said they don't understand why used Bromptons go for quite so much, and any newer bike is likely to have better technology.

Requisite use data:
* Be using it to commute work as much as I can - this is about a 10 mile ride in each direction. So quick fold/unfold would be nice.
* Riding on the streets and bike paths of NYC, no offroading, though the pavement here can be challenging.
* I'm 6' tall, ~200 lbs
* Elevator on both sides of my commute, so won't have to carry it much
* Not really looking to "geek out" on the bike in the near-future - won't be planning on doing any upgrades, would rather not spend a lot of time on maintenance. Want something that just works for now.
* Fitting into a space-challenged apartment

So, what do you think? Is the Brompton too good a deal to pass up, or as a folding newbie am I better off going with something newer and likely cheaper?