Originally Posted by
StephenH
"If you are competent enough to assemble and tune it properly there is no reason it won't serve its purpose"
That, to me, is the big bugaboo, and also one of the major issues in buying a cheap used bike- specifically, if you know enough to use it well, you're probably not the kind of person who would buy one anyway. It's like saying Car Model XX is great, if you're a mechanic.
If you take a look around C&V you will find a great many people who by used bikes cheap (which I guess is a little different from buying "cheap used bikes") who are clearly competent enough to assemble and tune almost any bike. I buy all my bikes cheap, mostly used but not exclusively. I may not know how to rebuild a IGH or a Headshok, but I would have no problem taking the Denali completely apart and assembling and adjusting everything properly. Most bicycles are pretty simple, and the few specialty tools need aren't that expensive. If you don't like tinkering with things I can't recommend this approach, but it's not like saying don't buy this vehicle if you don't own a ODB 2 scanner and an engine hoist. And a lot of these people probably do buy used cars, do their own oil changes, change their own spark plugs, and do their own brake jobs. It's just a matter of knowing if you're getting in over your head or if it's something you can handle on your own.