_dylan

Hello, I am _dylan's neighbor and I have a quick question about a bike. I've never been into cycling and know very little, so Dylan said I could log into his name and post this topic to get some help.

I'm trying to get a bike for my daughter (19 years old) that she can ride around in. She doesn't need anything super high end as she's going to be using the bicycle mainly for recreational and exercising purposes.

I've found what the seller calls a vintage Huffy in pink--it's a total girls bike and I think my daughter would like it.

Basically, I just want to know if this bike would be worth it, it's only about 40-50 bucks, but I don't know the word on vintage huffy bicycles.

Would this bike be good for recreational use and riding around town? What about up and down hills?

Thank you.

oddjob2

Huffy's are generally not well regarded from a quality standpoint because they were built to a price point to meet a mass market. Heavy, low grade tubing, cheap components are one reason, the other is they were sold through mass merchants and few if any were ever tuned properly from the get go. The one piece crankset, the thin pot metal brakes calipers, and the turkey wing levers on the brake handles are dead giveaways.

The bike you have pictured has some bling, but it is a very "Barbie" looking bike. It's obvious from the clean bar tape, the prior owner didn't ride it all that much.

You would know better than I would, since I don't have kids, but I would believe your 19 year old daughter would use a bike more if she got to help pick it out. If she is new to biking, she may feel more comfortable on an upright layout or a mountain bike.

Good luck!

_dylan

Thank you so much for your reply. I will most definitely continue looking.

bobotech

Its not in bad shape but it is as already said, made with heavy and clunky components and tubing. Just not something that someone would like to use as a commuter. For 20 dollars, it is an okay throwaway bike that she won't care if it got stolen and if she is just riding a little bit.

If it were me, I would never consider a big box store brand bike unless it is something like a really REALLY nice 400 dollar walmart bike and then it better be real cheap. And yes, the online stores for big box stores sometimes sell quite nice fairly pricey bikes.

So what would I do? I would look on craigslist for a nice 50-75 dollar local bike shop bike. Something like a bike that cost 350-450 dollars new at the bike shop and is now just being sold used. You will generally get much better components, 3 piece crank, alloy wheels, better brake components, etc.

She will end up liking it a lot more than the huffy as time wears on.

wrk101

Its really a crappy bike, although it looks cute. Better to get something that brakes well, shifts crisply, etc. In the decent used bikes category, the lowest cost "good" options will be older, but nice, mountain bikes.

Yo Spiff

Probably worth $40 if everything is in good shape, but as previously said, Huffy's are not terribly good bikes. Since your daughter is looking for something for general fitness riding, I think you can do better. Here's what I recently bought my own daughter for $40, though it took about an additional $150 in parts and a few hours work to get it rideable.







I do have a couple of Huffy's in my own past. This one came from the Rhein-Main base exchange and took me all over Germany in the early 80's.

Flying Merkel

I rode a Huffy of about the same vintage. If it was the only bike I'd ever ridden. I wouldn't be riding bikes now. They take a lot of fiddling to keep operational. $40-$50 is too high. It should sell for $$10-$20. Awful awful yuck bike.

oddjob2

Well, if we're turning this into a PINK BIKE Thread, I sold this to an athletic looking mom wearing a Harley Davidson T shirt! I've near seen a more girly, girl bike. It was for mom, not one of the kids!

bobotech

What in the world did you spend 150 dollars on? If the first picture is the before, looks like it needs nearly nothing. I mean grease is cheap so regreasing the bearings is cheap. You can get brake pads for around 10-15 dollars. New black bar tape for under 10. A used nice seat at the coop or CL is probably 5-15 dollars. Pair of tires if you can't find them at the coop could be around 30 or so if you aren't looking for the best. Walmart cable and housing kit for 6 dollars.

I'm not being a jerk but I could have rehabbed the bike for under 30-40 dollars at my coop if I could source tires there. Under 60-70 if I needed to buy new tires.

Edit: just adding this, the reason why I asked is that I want the OP to understand that you can safely refurbish a bike at your coop for around 30-60 dollars no problem. Probably even a fair amount less. I just noticed that you put bar end shifters on the bike, those are pretty pricey by themselves. I sourced a set of 9 speed Dura Ace bar end shifters last week for 20 dollars at my coop.

puchfinnland

you can do better with that money

face it-she is 19- the pink thing was over 6 years ago!

she would be much happier with something that she can keep.

I am sure sombody on the forum can fix you up with a good bike for 100 dollars

Mos6502

I'm surprised to see that Huffy has what looks like Huret derailleurs. If it were rideable and in tune, $30 might be worth it. For $50 you could probably find something better.

Yo Spiff

You can't tell everything from that one overall pic. Shifter cable housings were badly disintegrated for one thing, and tires were shot.


Some items were optional and were upgrades I did for my daughter. I certainly could have come in with spending less, but the objective here was not to do it the cheapest way possible. It was unrideable as it was, though. But good bones. And pink.

New tires $30
New tubes $12
Alloy seatpost $19
Bar end shifters $30 (used from CL)
New shifter cables & housings $15
Brake cables & housings $10
Seatpost binder bolt $4
Dual pivot Tektro brakes $32
Seat pack $10
Cost of bike $40

Extra items already on hand:
Saddle
Alloy handelbars
Bar tape
dual sided SPD/platform pedals

Yo Spiff

If one has a local coop, that's a great resource.

bobotech

Got ya, that makes sense. Sure you could have refurbed it for a lot cheaper, for example, using the Wallyworld 6 dollar brake and shifter cable/housing kit, reusing the original brakes, and so on but you want it much better than new for your kid. Now that makes sense.

puchfinnland

I gave my buddy a nice aluminium 26" project bike for 60,
I gave him as many parts as possible for HIM to put it back together,

He managed to run the cost up to 200!
he had to buy bike store tyres,chain,casette,different stem and bars and then a seat.
now he is pissed at me-
I could have given him half the parts he required for free,
and direct him where to get the rest for half price!

some people just dont want help