CPFITNESS

Are there any places specifically with a decent used road bike selection? ihave drop bar envy and want to get a 2nd bike dedicated for road work and use my Rapid 3 more or less for commuting. I'm tired of searching Craigslist andnever finding anything. The issue is that i'm 6'3" so the only bikes I ever seem to see on the used market are 54cm, I need 62 or 64. I don't have much of a budget so i'm realy looking for something used that may even be very used but still in working shape. Ultimately, I think I'll go the bikes direct route and get something new but thats not in my budget right now.

echappist

Ebay. although patience is required for nyc craigslist. it'll be there, but it'll take you three months

woodpusherghd

I would try Craig's List over Ebay. I've seen plenty of road bikes for sale in the NY area. I got a Bianchi from there last year.

CPFITNESS

lots of road bikes on craigslist, nothing in my size, ever. been looking for 4months!

echappist

took a friend five months to find a size 52 that he liked, so this really isn't out of the ordinary. oh also, there's the slowtwitch forum's classified boards

JunkYardBike

Why do you need a 62 or 64 cm frame? What size top tube do you need? With modern frames, a 60cm frame usually gives you a pretty long top tube, suitable for riders your height in general. On vintage frames, you might have to go 62 for a suitable top tube, though there were some frames with long seat tubes and incredibly short top tubes.

You should really be shopping for top tubes. If you need higher bars, then a taller frame will probably give you that (though you can get a tall stem or a long uncut steerer tube on a threadless headset + stem with lots of rise).

I'm 6'1" and I sold a 60cm modern bike a couple months back on craigslist for pretty cheap. It was too big for me, but fit the 6'3" guy who bought it perfectly. They're out there.

CPFITNESS

i guess I was just hoping that perhaps there were some bike shops that specialized in selling used bikes so I could go in person and peruse the selection. Honestly JYB, I don't know for certain what size I need, just that I'm 6'3" so ideally by being able to go to a store they could assist with that. My LBS is pretty friendly but as someone who works in sales I don't want to waste their time when I know I probably won't be buying something from them anytime soon. I figured that maybe a store in the outer boroughs that had more floor space may deal in trade ins and stuff.

echappist

competitive cyclist fit calculator. if you appreciate your LBS, bring the bike to them & have them do the fitting (if you believe to be competent in that category)

CPFITNESS

cool link, thanks. I messed around quickly trying to do my own measurements but wil lhave my gf help me tonight when she gets home. seems like it would give me a good starting point

lukasz

B' Bikes in Greenpoint, BK, has a lot of used bikes. I don't know of the price or quality but they have some very friendly staff. Whenever I need some work done that I don't have tools for I take my bikes over there.

Bacciagalupe

Recycle-a-Bicycle is probably the only place I'd trust. There's also a bike shop on 26th Street that used to have a couple of used bikes.

Sadly, my views on used bikes have gone south in the past few years.

1) Unless you're already mechanically inclined, you are likely to spend so much money fixing up the bike, that you might as well have bought new.
2) New entry-level bikes are so good, that used barely seems worth it.
3) New bikes typically come with lots of free service (1 year, 2 years etc) from the shop.
4) There's always a chance that your lovely used bike was stolen.

It's very unfortunate, because there are lots of perfectly good used bikes out there, and it's better to use a bike than have it go to a landfill.

rumrunn6

If you can leave your comfort zone and have means of travel ...: Last summer I drove 6 hours round trip plus spent an hour with the owner of a $200. CL used bike in Nyack, NY. I spent some more money fixing it up but I'm enjoying it immensely!

CPFITNESS

well i found a place to buy a used bike 2 blocks from me on 82nd and 2nd! I went by last week and there was an old Nishik sitting out in front of a sushi restaurant with a for sale $70 sign on it. i glanced it over and it dfinately needs work and I went home and googled Nishiki and found some basic info. went by again today and it was still there and I started looking it over. A girl came out asking if I was interested and ultimately I told her the truth which was virtually every part on the bike is going to have to be replaced so really we are talking about me buying the frame. I offered her $40 for it and she said yes. Totally not sure of the frame size but it looks fairly big. if nothing else, it should be a fun little project for me. Anyone got tips on what to look out for on an old steel frame? there is some surface rust on the toptube and the paint is pretty bad on the bike overall but is rusting through a concern on stell frame or are the tubes thick enough for it to be a non issue. I'lll try to get some pics up later on.

rumrunn6

congrats on the new baby!

CPFITNESS

Thanks. I took a few rough measurements and its definitely a larger sized bike prob somewhere between 58 and 62 so it should meet my needs but it needs work. The rims are warped but not terribly. I don't know if retensioning will make them useable or not the deraileurs work only front brake line is connected. Tires are old and cracked. Bike has been sitting for awhile bit I'm hoping this could be a good learning project for me.

LongIslandTom

Lookie what I found on Craiglist: https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/bik/1785685499.html

A 61cm Fuji road bike with drop bars and Ultegra components, for $450. Sounds like what you were looking for. See, a bit of patience does eventually pay off on Craiglist!

CPFITNESS

thanks for the post, thats pretty ideal right there I'm gonna have to look into it.

rumrunn6

when i first got into the sport it took a few used bikes before I wound up with what I have. during my "search" I bought bikes from MA; CT & RI. Eventually I would get my current bike some 200 miles away in NY. The best bike isn't always in your neighborhood. For anyone else shopping for a good used bike, be patient and don't be in such a rush to settle. o the recent buyer - no one would fault you for buying another that was in ride ready condition.

CPFITNESS

yeah, ride ready would be sweet but it looks like I should be able to get this baby serviceable for short money. The other thing I kinda like is that as long as the frame is solid i want it to look like crap, not as much of a target for thieves!

Here are some of the measurements I took. I believe I took them pretty accurately. Anybody have any thoughts on this geometry?

Seat tube Ctr-Top 59cm
Top Tube length 57cm
Chain Stay length 43.5 cm
Wheelbase CTR-CTR 104cm
Standover Height 83.5cm

According to the fit calculator I need a bike far smaller than I would ahve thought although that was with me taking very crude measurements of myself. But I will say that while I'm tall, I do have kind of a long neck so I would think that sort of artifically makes me tall and means that I don't need quite as big a bike as one would think. Regardless, this should be a fun experiment

rumrunn6

I have long legs so when I sit next to people my height I become shorter than them. quite disconcerting.

+1 for the beater look for anti-theft purposes.

pictures my friend, pictures ...

CPFITNESS

i'll get some, the overhead light in my apt broke so it's really dark in here. I'm gonna take it outside to clean it up some and do some work and will snap some pics.

CPFITNESS

Here are some pics, guys at the lbs recommended some WD40 and steel wool to see how deep the rust was. It basically was surface rust though I may have found one larger ding that I'm going to have them check out.

The rear wheel that was spinning near the chainstay was simply not in properly, I took it out and bolted it back on correct and while the wheel is definately out of true, I've seen worse riding around the neighborhood. Just put a new tire on the back and inspected the rim, some light rust on the inside but nothing that looks like a nipple could pop through, I may just try retensioning these myself since this is supposed to be a learning experience for me. I weighed each wheel the front is 3lbs 8 oz the back is 6lbs 1 oz. by comparison the front wheel on my rapid 3 is 3lbs 8oz and that has a heavy armadillo tire on it.

The rear drop outs are 125mm apart. To install a 7speed freewheel your supposed to need 127mm I believe but since this is steel I believe just a mild bending to fit it in there is fine to day so hopefully I will be putting a megarange cassette on this and have a nice cheap beater. So far I've spent $30 for the bike, $6 for a brake cable and $16 for the new tire. In terms of weight savings I'm thinking in addition to the wheels getting rid of the steel handlebars and seatpost would help. not sure what these oldschool rat trap pedals weigh either

rumrunn6

cool. I just looked at an apartment and most of my questions had to do with my bike(s) and a tub for soaking my legs hahaha

Stacy

Here's another biggie though I certainly wouldn't call it ready to ride.
https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/1788409150.html

Brian C.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/bik/1790422495.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/bik/1790086885.html
https://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/bik/1788665634.html