Originally Posted by Maelochs

Well, it certainly is pretty. Good to see a thorough photo review, thanks for that.

For $300 I'd say you scored, but then I cannot tell what shape it is in from here.

Regarding knee pain .... find that I can get up most hills with a 50-34x11-28 drive train. I used a 53-39x11-25 for a while and struggled a few times on the steepest parts of a few hills, particularly after longish rides, but never hurt myself.

I'd imagine you could go to 11-28 without anything but a longer chain ... plus the cost of the cassette and bike shop costs, unless you do it yourself. But quite possibly you won't need to.