Originally Posted by
ThatDamnCyclist
Yea chicago's pretty flat. If I haggle with the guy what would be the magic pricepoint? And woman's frames are really uncomfortable for me, and since i'm pretty damn far from skokie being in Lincoln Park without a car ( which is why I need the bike) because i'm sick of the 5$ train ride every day.
I'll try to haggle with the guy to sell the bike to me for 40$ on the pretense of the steel rims? I feel like i'll miss this deal and won't be able to buy one until the prices are jacked up in the spring. It's hard for my to save up money as a student, but will be working at a target in the summer that I plan to ride a bike to save the 5$ train fare. Where do you guys find great bikes for low prices besides Craigslist?
Since you asked here goes;
> Word of Mouth; Talk to anyone you know and ask if they or anyone they know has a decent bike they need to sell. I have done well there. Easy to haggle on price too.
> Trash; Figure out when the trash trucks run in the subdivisions near you. Then walk those streets about an hour before trash run and you will find discarded bikes out with the trashcans for the trashman to dispose of. Often they only need a tire replaced or the owners kid just outgrew it, etc. Lots of Sears, Schwinns, Giants, etc., out there. I scored a dirty but mint Colnago once!
> Recycle Yards: Check the phone book for any local metal recycle yards nearby. I have visited many and have never failed to find a huge pile of bikes (like a pile the size of a house). Ask permission to scrounge and they always say ok. Look for a nice branded bike. If it has a bent rear wheel, then just grab another one with a good wheel. When you check out they just weigh them and charge you what they would get for the metal content if they sold it... so maybe 25 pounds x $0.13/pound per bike; so not much. Then do a bit of clean up and tuning and you are riding well. Note that you are extremely unlikely to find a Colnago there but a lower end Trek is very possible. Anything special would be pulled and and set aside for resell and they will probably want too much for it as they have already labeled it as "special". Some yards actually have a high school kid working commission only who digs through the scrap and puts together sellable bikes that he puts up on craigslist.
> LBS; Most bike shops have a few trade-ins, a few returns, and a few repaired bikes setting in the back room. Often the staff also have bikes of their own that they want to get rid of and will know of others who have one for sell. Just visit, be nice, look at a few tags on the new bikes and then look sad, followed by the big question to the sales guy "wow these are nice, but do you have anything for under $XX dollars that I can afford; even a used one?" It is amazing what will pop out of the woodwork for just a bit more that a craigslist bike.