m0thra

I was thinking of looking at this bike for a commuter for my wife (5'5"). I looked at some catalogs and think it's a 1995 or 1996.

VINTAGE ROAD BIKE

Seller said he thought it had been converted from a triple chain ring to a double, which seems a bit odd. Is this price too high? Sorry if this is not vintage, enough, what's the cut-off date for that sort of thing.

MJ

DMC707 

If it fits, its worth $200 -------- as i have opined in another thread, there are some people (many) who would opine that for $200 you should hold out for a Reynolds 753 PAramount or something , maybe even a Merckx --- but this looks like a bike that has been upgraded with a more modern "brifter" group as i dont recall seeing Sora or Tiagra or whatever that stuff is on bikes that old.

If its put together ok and shifts and performs well, -- and most importantly , it fits ---- then its not a bad choice ---- it would take several hundred more to duplicate its performance at a local bicycle -rama . Count on needing new tires, bar tape and re-greasing the headset and bottom bracket though - so thats another C-note, but thats any used bike almost

If you know you will be riding it in hilly terrain all the time, then maybe holding out for a bike with a triple already on it is not a bad idea , but i recall when a 53/39 with a 12-25 was mountain gears --- LOL 12-28's were for off road bikes

SkyDog75

If what I've read is correct, a '96 Passage would have come with a small (46/36) double crankset. '94 and '95 would've had a triple crankset. I'm guessing this particular bike may have originally been a triple, but may have been changed to a double to work with the brifters, which are obviously newer than the bike.

As for those brifters... How many speeds are they? They look like Sora with the thumb button, which could be 7, 8, or 9 speeds. How many cogs on the cassette or freewheel? If they match, a bike in good shape equipped with newer brifters for $200 seems like a good deal. If the brifters and cassette/freewheel don't match, it may take some work and some parts to get the bike to shift well.

Insidious C. 

I just bought a very similar bike on Seattle CL, after a great deal of searching. Based on that experience I would say it's a fair deal. It is a pretty color and it should make a good commuter. That seller is prolific (probably a flipper) on Seattle CL. That being the case, maybe you could have him swap out that ridiculously tall stem for something that would better fit a 5'-5" woman.

edit: check out the third post in this thread . RSX in 96/97 was compact triple with insanely low gearing.