Right so I currently road cycle but want to get into the bumpy side of life, and I am looking at eventualy droppping some serious cash into a New HardTail at the end of the year when sales are on, However I need to hone my skills a bit so I dont wrek a new bike, I have decided to get a cheap beater to see me through untill then.

My budget will be <$350 this should be adquet to get me a bike thats not a BSO and I will be looking at / testing it before I buy however what should I be looking for to make sure I get something that wont fall apart in 5Mins.

any tips on what to look for that hints at it past care / matinance / current condition?

Er I am not too worried as the place I am gonna get it is run by a decent bloke who knows what hes doing and buys / fixxes up / sells them on however he dose have a lot of BSO's so I need to be able to sort the gems from the crap, just due to the nature of the bussness there is a lot of crap as well as some pretty good bikes in there for good prices.

Cheers in advance.

Whatno one can give ne any tips on what to look for when buyig a second hand bike?

Maby this is in the wrong section? / has been asked before....I doesn't see a sticky talking Bout buying second hand but many I missed it?

$350 is sort of high end for a used bike. I would look for a nice Trek MTB. If shopping in a store, research in advance so you know what the retail selling price is for each major model. Try for a used one at about 1/3 or less price than retail. So with $300 to spend you are looking for a bike that fits and is in great condition and had an original retail around $900-$1,000 range.

Cheers, it equates to about £220 over here so its a fair budget but not sure its high end used but should get me something decent to get going on...

Anything I should be looking for in the way of wear Nd tear ect?

Good idea on finding out what there worth retail I doesn't think of that thx.

That is a loaded question. Pretty much anything you would look for on your skinny tired bike, frame cracks, chain, brakes, rims, weird wear and tear and strange noises from the drive train, head set. That kinda stuff is the same. If the bike has shocks you want to see if there are any leaks, signs of distress, dings.

I have bought used bikes and been very happy with them. I do look them over really well and take 20-30 minute test rides. On air-shocks pressurize them for your weight, take a ride and then shoot the breeze for an hour. Then check the air pressure again.

Cheers...

Pay close attention to the fork. Check it out as much as you can. There are no components on your road bike that equate to the fork on an MTB. Replacing a fork can easily cost as much as you are proposing to spend on the entire bike. If you are looking at dual sus, have the bushings checked out, that can get a little pricey if they have to be replaced. All the rest of the stuff is the same as if you were buying a road bike. Check out the wheels for flat spots, check the crank for wobble, go through all the gears on a demo ride, not just on a bike stand and check out the brakes for wear and squealing and so on.

Very helpfull thx, yhea shocks do look complicated...I think ill be paying most attebtuob to that area.

I've bought hundreds of used bicycles. I don't think I've ever test rode a single one.

Look for good parts and a solid frame and trust your mechanical skills to make the rest work on your own time.

Thats brillent if you have the time / skill to do that but my skills with bike machanics are not great, however you have a ppiint i am never ecpeting it ot be perfect the main point for me to cheack the bike over is to find any deal brakeing problems, like leaky shocks or complety fubar bottem bracked , majourly buckled wheels and the like a slight buckkle here or scratch there i could not care less about, so long as the bike is in sound condtion then I am happy. Its also helps to find anything like bearing issues or really big problems that would incure a hughe extra cost but as I say all should go fairly well.

Im not a grammar nazi but your posts are hard to read at times.

Anyway Youtube has all the videos you will ever need to learn to wrench a bike. It troubles me at times that sheer volume of people who ride and cannot make common repairs and adjustments. I think it makes a person a more confident rider to know how their equipment works it also lends itself to a little more pride of ownership.

Another thing to add... if buying CL or Ebay, inquire of the owner what they know about the bike - just ask them about how it was maintained. Their answer will tell you alot if its "every 3 months I took the cassette and chain off, cleaned them, checked the cables....etc" most likely the bike was well cared for. If the answer was "I lubed the chain every 3 months maybe..." or "I don't know..." well then maybe your next bet is to have the bike taken to a shop for an analysis or just passing on it altogether...

Ohh err that post was very badly written even by my standards....I should proberly slow down and make sure there a bit better.

I can do basics like tyres, and adjusting a few bits but I would not want to touch the gears ie reinstall them or touch the bottom bracket....but in guess its something that will help if I learn.


In my defence I often view this forum with a small sub four inch phone so getting the right keys pressed can be a hassle but will defo make a bigger effort.