Originally Posted by
Bikedued
I was a professional bike tech for some years, before I denounced my vow of poverty and got a real job, lol. I did my share of scratch builds from bare frames in the 6k range, $2500 wheel sets, mountain bikes, tri bikes etc. I feel confident enough to handle it. Yes, I did look it over, but had to leave it there because I didn't have the $216 cash on me to cover cost plus tax, if I wanted to eat until my new bank card arrives. I was just weirded out by how it looked in the pictures after the fact. And that was not really steep for an SLX level bike back in the day. SLX was relatively new at the time, and expensive as well. Also hydraulic discs were a much bigger deal back then, and now they're on nearly everything. Stock brakes were Avid Elixir, hollow axle Deore cranks with external BB, and 31.8 bars were pretty cutting edge then too. Air fork with incremental lockout, adjustable rebound, and so forth. The shop I worked at was a specialized dealer, and $1400 was on the low end of a similar spec'd Specialized in 2013. Mainly since most Specialized bikes of that level had actual Rock Shox forks instead of a "factory" style fork no matter how well appointed it was.,,,,BD
Also quit it with the pretentious attitude, it makes you look stupid trying to come off as omniscient.
OK cool, just being honest not pretentious or omniscient. Saying that $1400 is steep for that bike back in the day is not pretentious it is just a simple statement. Also mentioning it likely needs work because it was a commuter bike but $200 for it is not a bad deal is also not pretentious. I love it how people just need to fight when there is no fight to be had. SLX was just rebadged Deore LX and that came out in 1990 (or you could say '89 with Mountain LX) I think it was first branded SLX in 2008 so not brand new even back then. Good stuff though and not knocking SLX at all just noting the history and noting that I believe for that time period well before you had even considered buying that bike you showed us here it was a little steep in initial cost.
Also looking at the bike and noting it will likely need work having been a commuter's bike most likely is not an attack on you or anyone but maybe those commuters who do not take care of their stuff. RELAX...you can have been a mechanic you can have worked on 10k wheel sets maybe from hand lathed hubs with ceramic bearings and hand lain carbon fiber whatever that is fine but noting that looking at the picture and seeing what I see and noting that in a post on a bike forum is not anything to do with you as a person or you as a purchaser of the bike.
I would say quit it with the boring attitude that people cannot discuss bikes on a bike forum. Also your post confused me initially so if you started to be put off by my original statement it was one of confusion as you talked about bank cards and didn't really have a clear question. If you had questions don't bury them inside and start with non-sequiturs. Ask the question then if you want to mention the other stuff that is fine but it will make it easier to understand and answer.