Hello

I am looking for a new old bike. I have been looking into some of the older Bianchi's and almost bought a 88 Schwinn Prelude. What would you suggest thats moderately priced in terms of a commuting bike, but also light, quick, etc. What brands should I check out? Thank you so much for any help. Nick

i would suggest finding whatever catches your eye, but in the free to really cheap garage sale price range. if you have a nak for tinkering with a bike, "rebuild" it, tune it and you can grow attached to it. if you need a ready to go old bike, good luck & be careful. i can't imagine what the price range for a new old bike is, but maybe $100-300 depending on your budget and sanity. i don't think that i could make a good judgement on the price though, so ask around for some garage beaters your friends are ignoring...

I'll roll out the standard reply here. There are plenty of other bikes that would fit the bill too - including some Schwinns (but you can go nuts trying to keep track of which of the "lightweights" really are).

Peugeot U-08 - plentiful, light, inexpensive, but blessed with parts manufactured to French "standards" up until about 1979. For 1980 (about) and later models, this is ceases to be an issue.

Raleigh Grand Prix - plentiful, inexpensive, larger pool of interchangeable parts, a bit heavier than the U-08, comes close after changing out the crankset and ditching steel wheels.