droped

I have a great road bike (caad9 obviously) and finally and very reluctantly I went on a ride with some of my buddies with comfort/garbage bikes. Despite them being far more fit than me, I was yawning while they were struggling to keep. (not a brag, just the way it is with a real bike and a bit of knowhow) That got them a bit interested, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Anyways, I've been trolling craigslist for months in my area trying to locate a decent used road bike for a couple of them. They can afford it, but simply won't pony up the price of admission for a new road bike. I've all but given up. I live in a college town (Eugene, Oregon) and I'm convinced that there are simply never any decent deals to be had. A decent used bike can be had for the price of a new one. Just ridiculous.

I've read of other posters scoring sweet deals with aluminum/carbon fork bikes with 105 and/or Ultegra for $400 or less. I'm convinced they must have been stolen. Figure about twice that around here, even for a 5 year old bike with a few thousand miles.

Anyways, I give you this fine gem. A typical find for road bikes around here:
https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2537225208.html

(In case it gets flagged, it's a used Denali for $375. Lolz.)

mb2000

How far are you willing to go for a deal? Living in Portland, there are consistently decent/good/fantastic deals going up on "our" craigslist. I got the bike below, my Aluminum/carbon fork Bianchi San Lorenzo w/full Dura Ace (except for 105 compact crank I swapped in) for $675.00 here. So I'd recommend browsing the Portland craigslist and telling your buddies when you see a deal worth driving for.

tFUnK

I consider myself a keen shopper and I've come across some great deals on bikes, but I don't think I've ever seen a carbon/alloy bike with ultegra/105 for under $400. You can find aluminum bikes with full 105 for under $500 easily, and that's a pretty decent deal, IMO.

droped

That's an absolute beauty.

I've never seen a deal anywhere near that around here. I suppose I could try c/l while i'm in portland visiting friends, but no way would it be worth it to drive them up to look at a bike. It would be a serious waste of time if the bike didn't fit right or was too beat up. If it was for me, that would be an acceptable distance.

LesterOfPuppets

I'm about ready to drive down and get that Trek right now! But I love thee olde bikes. Bianchi's a tad below your specs but still a nice ride. And they're all above your price point but they were all posted TODAY. Which means there are better deals that pop up. Chances are they are gone within 30 minutes though. Eugene is a small town with a higher than average bike freek population so you have to keep your eyes on your CL every 5 minutes and be ready to go get bikes ASAP.

https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2537306216.html
https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2519836811.html
https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2519836811.html

LesterOfPuppets

Ooooh, here's another killer old-school ride. Centurion for $250!!!

https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2535983187.html

LesterOfPuppets

https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2528301371.html

droped

Lester,

Thanks for the posts. I've seen all of those. The trek in particular is a great looking bike. The Cannonadale is for $490 is a bit much for a 12+ year old bike?

Really, what I'm looking for is a bike with newer components (think brifters, they fell in love with them).

LesterOfPuppets

2005 Trek 1500 with 105 for $400

https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/2533728715.html
And remember to make offers...

That C'dale might be priced about right. It looks really good in those tiny pics. If it looks that good in real life then the price is right. If it has just a couple of cosmetic problems then it's over priced.

droped

That's a good one there. It's too big for the one guy that has some $ to throw down right away (he's 5'9). I can tell already that you are a much better c/l searcher than me. I searched for things like "shimano 105", "ultegra", "tiagra", etc. That one didn't show up. Maybe I should broaden my horizons in my searches a bit.

LesterOfPuppets

The best finds always have crappy descriptions, so yeah I just scan.

That Trek looks to be a 54 to me, should be just about right for 5'9". Bars are somewhat long reach so might be tough for a noob. Compact bars could fix that though.

EDIT : Nahh, that's probably a 56. I'm terrible at judging Al and Carbon frame sizes.

Could fit a few 5'9" guys, but not all... I'd definitely go check it out.

Shuagster

Suggestion: Don't use the search function, just go to the bike section and browse. Many more options.

merganser22

its tough. After weeks of scouring CG I stopped in at the LBS just to see if they had anything. The kid (seriously like 17) said he didn't think so but took me to the basement and looked around and said nope. So I asked about the blue one in the corner. In for repair. What about the red one waaaay in the back? 1985 Specialized Allez with complete 105, except for the missing rear derailer. They were nice enough to throw on a used plastic suntour derailer and give it to me for $100. It weighs in at 20.5 lb which really steamed my freind with his brand new 19 lb Cadd 9 triatholon bike. I just got lucky.

baj32161

I often use "road" in the search function on CL. Seems to work pretty well for me, even though everyone up here in the Toronto area seems to think that their 25 yr old Japanese steel bike is worth $700-$800. That $375 Denali seems the norm up here.

hao

Around here people label every 1980 piece of crap as vintage and ask for $400.

55/Rad

The problem with deals like this in Portland is that they won't wait for someone from Eugene to get here before they are gone. Yes, they do exist but they certainly go fast. Very fast.

Another idea if you want to come to Portland - check out the Sellwood Cycle used inventory.

urbanknight

Deals are rare and go quickly in the Summer. The best time to find a deal is in the late Fall and Winter when people are upgrading for the next season or selling the bike they bought "to get into cycling" and only actually rode it 5 times before it turned cold.

dolanp

I had a similar experience in my area. I decided I was interested in buying a road bike and wanted to see if I could save a little cash. I trolled Craigslist pretty much daily and never really saw anything I wanted to jump on. It was either priced too high or it was just some used Fuji/Scattante from Performance which I was kinda 'meh' about. Finally just bit the bullet and bought a CAAD10. Oh well. I love it.

Seattle Forrest

eddiepliers 

I use craigslist.thingweb.com and it's a national database of craigslist ads. Just punch in what you're looking for and it'll show you whatever. I just had a frame sent to me from Colorado. And I also bought my first real road bike (2002 Bianchi Veloce) from a guy in Boston. If there's a will for the sale, there's a way.

Dan The Man

Instead of wasting your day checking craigslist all day, just aggregate all of the search results from every used bike website in your area into one single RSS feed and get that sent that to your email or phone once or twice a day. You can filter out all the crap you don't want and it also means that you will see anything new within a few hours of it going up.

jgf310

i find that in my area (SW connecticut) there just aren't enough bike ads on craigslist for it to be worthwhile to look there.

i would say that there is not even one interesting listing a day in my size (56).

ebay is a much better way to see lot's of bikes, but the pricing is pretty efficient, so you are less likely to find a "steal".

i guess that if you are looking for bikes under say $1000, the shipping cost makes ebay not so attractive.

jgf310

also, it's been noted in the car market, that recessions drive up the cost of used cars dramatically, maybe even to the point that new cars are better deals.

noremac

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/2538407180.html

Sadly, not too rare too see ads like this in Southern California.

JRoller

Or this: https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/2535461215.html

LOL