Originally Posted by
tjspiel
I have a brother that lives in Hawaii and the marine climate seems to destroy stuff pretty quick. I guess I don't know about the OP's area but here unless a bike is left outside all year round for a couple of decades or ridden in the winter the frame won't have much rust on it. Unpainted parts would. Enough people keep them inside forever that there's a lot of old bikes available in decent condition. Plenty were never that great to start with though.
I got a much nicer road bike than that alleged Bianchi for under $100 a few years ago. I'd probably have to spend $150 today, but definitely no where near $300. For that amount of money you could get something new from BD that's better quality.
Anyway, the bigger issue is that the seller doesn't appear to be completely forthcoming about what they're selling and that's a red flag.
Yes, you're right, I always forget the level of hipster tax/Hawaii cost of living prices are here. Let's just say I'm used to hipster priced crap like these:
custom fixed gear bicycle [$450 generic custom no name]
Kilo fixed gear [$500 generic custom Kilo TT...]
GLOBE DAILY 01 COMMUTER [$350 bare bones SS commuter on the verge of rust]
2013 S&M intrikat matte blk Bmx [$900 trick bike custom to the previous owner]
or exorbitant affluent retiree crap like these:
2014 GIANT Envie Advanced 1, Race Bike [I mean, really? $4200 cash only? Is this a drug deal?]
Cannondale Rush Lefty with Many upgrades [~$3K mountee custom to previous owner]
Most everything else is covered in rust or are big box special bikes that are considered "mechanics specials". At least the OP has what I would call reasonable price options.