DD, it strikes me that a condensation of this thread would be very useful to noobies. One reason is that there is a lot of stuff here. Another is that some of the stuff here contains qualifications which can get lost. For example, cottered cranks, older Peugeots or Fench in general, mid-level bikes, those with turkey levers, etc. A BF member will post pics in another thread of a bike that by this thread's standards should be tossed in the garbage.

The real problem for noobies is a lack of sense of perspective. A noobie may ask "Is this bike any good?" without realizing the extent of the question! Of course that question can't be answered without knowledge of what the asker is expecting to use the bike for. Likewise the great/okay/marginal/junk qualifications here need to consider the intent.