Buying a used bike from CL question
 

This is sort of general question and might be too vague but I'll set it up and see where it goes. My bike was recently stolen (Boston) and I'm doing the old new bike (maybe a hybrid (Muirwoods or something) vs. used in my head - seeing as I don't want to spend too much right now for a commuter and get it stolen. So generally speaking, what's people's experience with CL and buying a cheap older road bike - basically a beater. I 'm going to take a look at something like this later and he's asking for 100. The photos aren't very good but is the price range about what you'd expect or something I may be able to negotiate down a little.
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bik/398423757.html
Thanks!

I've always wondered why some people list things with multiple lousy pics. They must know that they are poor pics so I guess that they think severall bad pics makes up for that.

The advantage of CL is that you get to actually see the item before you agree to buy. I think $100 is quite a bit high for that bike. If he won't drop it down I would be patient and keep looking.

Thanks
 

I'm thinking the same thing. Its somewhat out of the way to go see it so I'm screening the list a little.

I know what you're talking about. I was going through this process two weeks ago, buying a cheap road bike as a commuter. I ended up spending $100 for a Raleigh Record in very good shape, and while it was more than I wanted to spend on the bike, I paid it....

One or two notes: I think that the bikes in the Cambridge/Somerville areas tend to go for more than they're worth, maybe because of demand from students returning to school or things like that. Maybe the same is true for JP, too. I feel like I paid a premium for being able to buy a bike in a place that I could reasonably get to (I live car-free).

Conversely, it seemed like there were often good deals for road bikes in the $50-100 range out in the suburbs. If you have the ability to get to Dedham, Framingham, Acton, etc., consider yourself lucky -- I saw a lot of bikes that I would have liked to have seen, but wasn't willing to rent a car/cajole a friend to get out there without being sure about it. Here's an example listed today: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bik/396656548.html

Out of curiosity, docbrown, with a username like that, you wouldn't happen to be located at a large engineering institution in Cambridge, would you?

Thanks for the tips. I may be able to convince my GF to drive me out to the Burbs a few times. I'm leaning away from the Fuji based on some other opinions combined with my unwillingness to go out to Brookline Village and be disappointed. The student factor in Boston in general bumps the prices for sure.


No, I'm just a time traveler :)

I hang out on the Bike Forum of CL frequently. You can always bring up a CL listing there and have those folks give their opinions of any one.

They are glad to comment. Its almost a sport around there. Just yesterday there was a contest to find the cr**piest bike on CL.