Originally Posted by
Charlie Ky
What brands should I look for for a used bike ?
I just checked the Louisville Kentucky Craigslist again and there's quite a few more on there now but a lot of unfamiliar names..
Kinda depends on what kind of bike you're looking for, and what you're planning on doing with it.
TREK, Giant and Specialized are some of the biggest brands; hard to go wrong there.
2nd tier brands like Jamis and Nishiki are usually a pretty safe bet as well.
There were a couple of brands like GT and Raleigh that were good in the 1990's, then got sold and 'offshored' years ago, and came back with much cheaper bikes, just the same name, kinda like Schwinn did.
Huffy, Kent and Hyper are the Wal-Mart brands, avoid those, their only feature is how cheap they are.
When you're looking at used bikes, it helps to know where in the model range that bike would have been when it was new. Usually the rear derailleur is a good place to start. Also look at the rear axle; a quick-release rear axle is generally the mark of a 'bike-shop' level quality bike.