Ironjack

I found this bike on craigslist and I'm thinking it's price a little high for what it is. I'm also not sure it's a 1988 because I couldn't find any catalog pictures of that color scheme. It could have been shown under a different scheme though.

The guy is asking $225 and I think that's a little much. What do you all think?

Also, if you don't mind me asking, would you think a bike like that could take fenders easily? There doesn't appear to be much room on it.

https://cleveland.craigslist.org/bik/3227332753.html

Yo Spiff

My wife has one of those with a 24" front wheel. I recently converted it to upright bars for her. The paint job on hers is different, so it's probably not the same year. $225 sounds to me like the higher end of reasonable for a late 80's bike with DT shifters. $150-175 would be better, but if they are asking $225 they may not drop by that much unless they can't sell it after a while.

It probably won't take fenders. I bought a 32c rear tire for ours and it didn't have enough clearance at the front of the chainstay. The 24 x 1 3/4 front tire is a tight fit under the fork crown as well. Traded another BF member for a 700x28 rear tire and that fits.


Miyata 512 by Yo Spiff, on Flickr

IthaDan 

What are you going to do with it? Ride it or try to flip it? If you're going to ride it, and keep it, the price is a little ambitious. That said, if it fits, it does ride nice, you'd be have to be patient to find a similar bike at this price point. With snow coming, I'd get it if I were looking to add to the collection.

If you're going to flip it, there's no profit left up top. Even the language of the ad leads me to believe a flipper wrote it.

It's an '89 fwiw- https://www.miyatacatalogs.com/2007/1...alog-1989.html

Ironjack

Yeah, I'm looking for a bike that I can throw a rack and some fenders on and ride locally for about 30mi at a time. This is for personal use. I guess this will be a no-go. I'm no collector.

IthaDan 

No, you've got me backwards, if you're going to keep it (for personal use) the price is maybe $50 high, but if I were in your shoes, with fall coming, I'd buy this one rather than wait until November for the perfect deal. Riding today is worth $50 to me. It's still a lot of bike even at $225. Hell, offer $175 and see what he says.

That all depends if the bike fits you.

Ironjack

Understood. I already have a bike that I can ride, so I'm in no rush to spend the extra $50. This is just a change of style. My current bike is a Giant Iguana SE from 2000. It's a fantastic bike that I intended to hang onto even after buying one like this miyata.

Thanks for the info and clarification.

Since you seem very knowledgeable, maybe you can point me in the direction of something on the cleveland craigslist that might be good for what I'm looking for. 57-60cm. Haha.

IthaDan 

Go ride that one, offer the guy $150, wiggle up to $200. You'll like it.

wrk101

I would pass at that price. 1) ding on the chain stay. 2) original tires, probably means everything is original: bearings, grease, cables, housings. Be prepared to drop some serious $$ on a full maintenance, or do it yourself to save some cash.

I buy project bikes all the time, its pretty much all I buy, but I get a discount for the added expense needed to make it ride ready. Ride ready to some sellers = I just aired up the dry rotted tires.....

oddjob2

I've paid $130 for a Miyata 310, pretty rough, and under $400 for a Miyata Team full Dura Ace, excellent. Based on that, the 512 is probably about right at $200, if it didn't have a dinged seat stay. I'd walk.




Not to digress, but I wish the DKO sellers wouldn't bother to even knock the dirt/dust off. I took a 30 minute ride to look at a Bianchi Grizzly and a Peugeot C46. The DKO has his front lawn covered with bikes and the elderly DKO is working in the hot blazing sun. He doesn't have a bike stand and flips the poor bikes over right in the dirt. He looks like he would be the local gas station convenience store's best customer.

On the Grizzly, he said he installed a brand new Bell tire from Wally World that morning, but the tube was flat by 2:00. The C46 paint was too rough, even at $50.

I felt sorry for him, so I didn't negotiate and gave him a Ben Franklin for the Bianchi.

Ironjack

That's what I told the guy yesterday and he says "I ride 30 year old tires all the time, this bike doesn't need anything".

Yeah, I passed.

wrk101

+1 Some DKO folks are better off not touching the bike. I ran into a DKO guy in Orlando. He took black and yellow CONTACT paper, and used it as bartape and brake levers. Oh yeah, and he wrapped the stem and saddle with the same crap. It was going to be a MAJOR chore getting that crap off the bike.

IthaDan 

DKO? That's a new one for me.

OP: Got a wife/kids/someone short in your life?

https://cleveland.craigslist.org/bik/3237027216.html

Yo Spiff

I was scratching my head over it as well.

oddjob2

DKO = Attributed to an original post from Thrifty Bill, wrk101;

There are three types of sellers out there.

The first is a person that has had a bike laying around, unused for many years, if not decades. Those bikes can be a deal, but they ALWAYS need work.

The second group are professional sellers, so called DKOs (dirt knocker offers). They will find bikes from the first group, do little or nothing to them, maybe air in the tires and bar tape, often present them as if they are ready to ride (they are not) and jack the price up to full retail.

The third group are people that love working on bikes. They find deals on bikes, refurbish them, and resell them. Sellers in the third group tend to be VERY knowledgeable on value, and are going to ask strong prices for their bikes. I am in that third group. I get a kick out of buyers that question my prices (how did you come up with that price, ie, they want something great for next to nothing). Well, my prices are based on experience, buying and selling hundreds of bikes. So I am pretty comfortable with my pricing.