Originally Posted by ts103706
I'd like it to ride around town and some longer back roads. I intend to put a rear rack and paniers on it. There are some pretty nast hills, so a nice gear assortment would be nice. My budget is about $400, but I would like to go a lot less than that if possible, and vintage is always cool.
Vintage is cool,that ought not to be your biggest concern.Vintage excludes bike made after '82,that's elliminating a big chunk of what's out there.A bike from after the early '80s had a better range of components; better sizing(metric),many more choices spec'd with 700 wheels and just plain newer.I feel all the concerns of all that makes a vintage may not matter as much. After 94 though many more were aluminum so the choices may tail off from then on.$400 which you stated post original post does provide lots of choices,a very realistic price point,I'm sure my esteemed colleagues would agree on THAT.