Originally Posted by Lurker1999
Garage sales can be interesting..
But very time-consuming. You can roam for years and not find a worthwhile bike. Or you may go to one and just stumble upon a diamond in the rough.
And there are those people who just want to get rid of their bike on Craigslist (i.e. moving tomorrow) and will severely underprice a bike.
Such bikes get snapped up in a matter of minutes, I would think. Lots of people read craigslist.
But for everyone of those gems you get a several dozen people who are selling things that will require a lot of work and are marked up far beyond their worth.
Yep.
I got my current commuter on craigslist and I couldn't be happier about it. It was through a WANTED posting actually. I just specified my requirements and got an e-mail from a lady selling her errand-running bike because she was moving. She was a serious cyclists (competed in national-level competitions) and the bike was taken great care of. There was no work at all required on it; I just replaced seat and tires to customize it for my uses. And tinkered just a bit with a slightly maladjusted front brake. About a year later bearings needed adjustment and a rear brake cable had to be replaced. Nothing beyond normal maintenance any bike requires.