cmdowns

Hello, I'm in the market for a used road bike that I can use for endurance training for my main focus of XC mountain biking. So I'm looking for something economical and functional. That said, I like a quality ride just as much as the next guy. And I have a soft spot for nice vintage bikes.

My ebay auto alert sent me an email about this bike, which the seller only describes as a Nashbar Lugged steel road bike.

I'm not familiar with this brand. I'm interested because it's: 1) the right size, 2) a steel frame, and 3)red. So really I have little to know knowledge of what this bike is really worth. Can anyone help me out with an appraisal of the value and quality of this bike?

Thanks,
Michael

LesterOfPuppets

That auction's kinda sparse in the way of good pics and information. That's an odd size combo 54cm x 47cm. Could be a 47ish C-C seattube ... man that's a long top tube if they measured that right.

Nashbar is a huge mail order bike company but they never made bikes. I always assumed these models were made by Shogun.

Nice cranks, decent stem - that's about all I can identify. That rear hub almost looks like Dura-Ace action which could mean some nice wheels.

If you can get it for the $300 + 20 shipping I suppose it's at least an OK deal.

If you're near any kind of population center at all you could probably do better on craigslist with a little patience, if not a better deal at least you'd be able to ride the bike first.

randyjawa 

54cm x 47cm? I assume that means the seat tube (c-c) is 47cm and the top tube is 54cm. Three hundred dollars, plus what ever it costs to ship, is probably not too bad, depending on shipping costs. Also, the description is sparse but that can be fixed with questions to the seller.

What cannot be fixed, and this is a pretty serious concern, is the seller's bicycle packing skills. Based on his or her feedback reports, he or she has not packed up one single bicycle. That would worry me since poorly packed bicycle can, and probably will, experience damage during shipping.

Though this is not the correct forum, I have a 47cm seat tube x 52cm top tube Nishiki International in nice shape that I am about to offer for sale. Triple drilled rings, six spd cog set, cantilevered brakes and nice shape. I will put it on the for sale forum in the next few minutes. I just put the bike and pictures up on the for sale forum.

wrk101

That's too high for that bike. Around here, you could get something quite a bit better, in ready to ride condition, for around $250. And you could see the local bike in person, make sure it fits, don't have to worry about surprises, etc.

+1 I would not trust someone who has zero feedback on shipping a bike. And that seller is in for a rude awakening when they find out it is going to cost them a lot more than $20 to ship it. Frankly, the $20 shipping figure is a red flag for me, as it shows this seller most likely knows ZIP about proper packaging and shipping of a bike.

I have had three bikes shipped on ebay, two were disasters, and the third turned out fine.

fas2c

I have an exact copy of that bike but in 50cm. It is a mid 80s Nashbar LP4000 triple butted EX Ishiwata Steel and was equipped with Suntour Lepree, 27X1 Araya/Sunshine wheels, Dia-Compe G brakes. I read that it was built by Shogun for Nashbar. Nice, light frame I have built it up for the wife.

I agree 300.00 is too much, but it is a nice bike.

I see that the seller has 137 feedbacks and shipping is only 20.00, unless he changes his shipping amount, and it doesn't get bid up, it might be a buy. It priced a little high though. It is a small frame with 28-29" standover (guessing) and small frames get bid up due to their rarity. Most sellers also add 80-100 for shipping so you can figure that into other prices while you are looking.

cmdowns

Thanks for the replies. I guess my lack of bike knowledge is showing. I'm looking for a used bike with a 54cm seat tube. I wouldn't have realized that this bike is the wrong size for me if I hadn't asked you about it.

Thansk for the offer, but I think I need something a bit bigger.

fas2c

Do yourself a favor and buy a small tape measure that reads cm/in. That is what I had done a while back. It helped get my mind in perspective in regards to listed metric sizes.