Ebay Bike
 

I found this on Ebay, and no nothing about bikes. It seems lik a pretty good deal for such good condition. Can anyone tell me if its a decent bike?


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting

I'm guessing P.O.S., and that price is way too high for a P.O.S.

What is P.O.S? What makes a bike P.O.S?

That is a really cheap bike. Cheap derailleurs, crank set, brakes, handlebars that look like they are steel. The fork tubing is flattened instead of using dropouts, rear dropouts are stamped.

That is a department store bike from about 20-25+ years ago, a well preserved one at that.

Piece of ****. In this case, the Lee Chi brakes tip me off that it's a low end bike, plus they LOOK cheap. Plus it's got a steel crankset, stem shifters, suicide brake levers, what are probably steel wheels, rear derailleur on a hanger... Plus NO mention of tubing material... It all just adds up to a cheap bike. You can get a lot more bike than that for the asking price.











A bit more about P.O.S., when I worked in a music store one year, there was a guitar on the wall with a store label that said "P.O.S. Paul." I asked the manager what that code meant, he said "Piece Of **** Les Paul." :lol:

Alrite, thanks a lot. I appreciate the help.

Stick around and ask questions here, you'll be pointed in the right direction for finding a GOOD bike for not much money.

"POS" means "piece of s**t" ... and the things that indicate that this bike deserves the label include suicide levers, cheap components, stamped dropouts, a kickstand, and a brand that is less than well known. $150 will buy you a very nice vintage bike in the "everyday rider" category; FAR nicer than this one.

You have it very close,it's not a department sore bike in today's sense of the word,compared to some of the miserable offerings at wally world,more of a sporting good store one. If it's very pristine,no reason todoubt that,an LBS where I used to live has a few very similar bikes,as old and priced well.I can't reckon why he never sold them.The bike's serviceable,mostly,if not all Hi-tens. steel,that's ok. ONE problem,it's NOT a 57cm.Looks like a 19",the bike isn't measured in metric.It equals a 49cm. 27' wheel bikes weren't measured in cm.Is it worth it? Depends on wanting to risk a really USED bike and/or what you can SEE and really KNOW to find locally.The price is border-line fair.

I figured this would be a good plce to figure this stuff out. I'm looking for a 56-57cm frame. I'm not looking for anything great, but I don't want a P.O.S either. Any ideas?

You're right! That totally slipped by me! :lol:

Well, to be fair, I was looking at quality, not size. But really, I think he can do a lot better than that for $150, or even for $80. That's what I would do-- get something much better for the same amount of money.



To the OP: What kind of bike are you looking for? What kind of riding do you need a bike for?

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.

+1. Ebay is a tough place to find great buys in that price range, ts. Shipping costs eat you alive. Note, for instance, that the listing to which you linked did not specify shipping costs.

It takes more patience, but you'll generally fare better by hanging out here to acquire some knowledge of what's good and bad, then prowling your local thrift stores, estate sales, craigslist, want ads, college bulletin boards, etc. This forum could use a good sticky on recognizing quality features like forged dropouts, better vintage components, etc., but the sticky on "classic and vintage links" will lead you to some good resources.

No, nononono. It's a miraculously well kept old craptacular. You'll find far better bikes for less if you take your time, and if you really have $400 to spend, the world is your lobster. It'd be a shame to ride that bike, firstly because it's been kept like new, and secondly because it would be appalling to ride. If you're looking for something to hold your boat in position, it might be a steal though......

Hello ts103706--where are you located? If we know approximately where you're located, a BF member may be located near enough to you to give you a hand if necessary.

Welcome to Bike forums, and especially to C & V!

East Hill

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.

Your general choices would be:

1) "Road bike"

a bike with 27" or 700c wheels, drop bars, generally built for efficient riding on road. You should avoid racing bikes, and look for either a touring bike, or a sport tourer (the vast majority of vintage road bikes would be classified as "sport tourers."). The reason you want to avoid racing bikes is because their geometry isn't conducive to long rides with panniers; both touring bikes and sport tourers will be much better suited for that, plus they will have wider ranger gearing.

2) "Mountain bike"

Many vintage mountain bikes will also have geometry conducive to the type of riding you want to do, with wide range gearing. Plus, you can get some really decent vintage mountain bikes dirt cheap. Any of the Trek 800 or 900 series bikes from the 80s or 90s will be very high quality, and will easily fit within your budget. Avoid any bike with suspension, it just wastes your energy for road riding, weighs too much, and requires maintenance. Will have 26" wheels. For road riding, you can change the ubiquitous knobby tires for commuter slicks, and voila, you've got a road bike. Sort of.

3) "Hybrid bike"

Will fall somewhere between a road bike and a mountain bike, with the 700c wheels of a road bike, and the flat bar, upright riding position of a mountain bike. Will be perfectly suitable for the type of riding you want to do.

4) "Cyclocross bike"

A road-type bike adapted to racing offroad. Will have 700c wheels, drop bars, but more relaxed geometry than a racing bike, and room for fatter tires. Totally capable of handling potholes in town, touring down long back roads, or riding cross country. Will be more expensive than your other options.

Think "quality used" rather than vintage, although "quality used" may include vintage.

Look for steel, rather than aluminum. It lasts longer, won't fail catastrophically the way aluminum does, and won't be a harsh ride, the way aluminum is.

Yep!

You can definately get something nice for $400. I recently sold a Trek 7500FX for $350. It looked like new. There is also a guy in my town that has a used bike shop. He gets some nice older stuff from time to time. I've seen several Peugots and Schwinns in the 2-300 dollar range.

I live in akron, OH/ attending school in Athens, OH. I have a little bit of this stuff down, but I havent gotten good at identifying certain things, and I am not familiar with components outside of newer shiano tiagra/105/ultegra. I know I want a steel frame around 56cm. I guess I don't really mean vintage as my only option, but I mean more along the lines of well used.

Craigslist will likely be cheaper than eBay, because eBay is a much larger market. Also, with Craigslist, there's no shipping charge involved. And as somebody pointed out above, you have to be cautious on eBay, because some sellers will charge a flat fee for shipping, some charge the actual cost, and some charge an exorbitant shipping charge. ALWAYS make sure you know what the shipping charge is before bidding on eBay (or at least get a commitment from the buyer that it will be actual cost), and figure that into the total cost for your bike, otherwise, you may find the seller charging well over $100 for shipping an item that shouldn't cost more than $50-$75.

Another good option is yard sales/garage sales. Lots of people here find bikes cheap that way, then turn around and sell them on Craigslist or eBay for what they're really worth. Thrift stores are another good source, if there's nobody in your town picking through them already.

One thing, when you find a bike you want at a yard sale or thrift store, at a bargain price, you've got to move fast, or it will be gone by the time you make your mind up. That means knowing what to look for before you go looking.

Panasonic had the POS program (Personal Order System) for building custom frames with robots within a short time frame. These were high-end frames, but as it didn't last long, perhaps an ill-fated acronym?

http://www.yellowjersey.org/pana.html

:lol:

Panasonic would be a good choice, high quality and probably under appreciated, and thus, a bargain.

Here's a Miyata that's a very nice bike, perfect for your needs, but as you can see, the seller wants $425 or close to it:

Miyata 610

And here's a very good condition, good quality Univega for the same price as the POS auction:

Univega Sportour

Looks like it's a 58 cm, but as you can see, you can get a much better bike than that POS for the same money.

Another very good choice for you, I have no idea what he wants for Reserve on this bike, but his Buy It Now price is too high, in my opinion:

Bianchi Volpe