apaulson714

Hey guys, so ive been road biking for a few years, had a Giant TCR 2 for most of that time, then decided i wanted to get into mountain biking so i sold off the TCR. while i love my mtn bike i miss the hell out of the feeling of a road bike. i recently moved close to downtown and live about 6 blocks from my office so i was thinking of getting a SS/fixed gear to ride around on and came across these two and was wondering if i could get some input.

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik/3583438951.html

https://madison.craigslist.org/bik/3618104301.html

Im hoping i can talk down the guy with the Kona, as the other bike is about a 1 1/2- 2 hr drive and i would rather avoid that lol.

Thanks for any help!

-Andrew

hockeyteeth

Panasonic all the way. Would make a nice geared road bike when you get tired of SS.

chicagoSS

Panasonic needs some work it looks like. Nice bike though. If you can't do the work and you don't want to pay your LBS to do it, might want to go with the Kona. Or just order a Kilo TT.

osiris419

I would go with the Kona. The Panasonic looks like you will need to put some $ into so it would probably work out to almost the same price. The Panasonic still has the triple crank on it with the chain on the largest ring so the chain line is probably far from optimal, it also looks like it might have vertical dropouts which you won't be able to tighten the chain unless you mess around and find the perfect gear ratio or buy an eccentric hub or bottom bracket.

hairnet

The Panasonic has horizontal dropouts. It's a nice frame but you would be buying some guy's cheap conversion, so I'd be cautious. It's not bad if you can talk him down and replace the crank

apaulson714

Yea i noticed the triple on the Panasonic. I talked the guy down to $100 for it, but im still awaiting an email from the guy with the Kona. Im leaning toward the kona just because i wont have to really put any work into it, and wouldnt have to drive 2 hrs to get it lol.

idc

I'd pick the Kona. But it might be more of a thief target. Seems slightly expensive for a used bike.

apaulson714

With replacing the crank, what would be a decent (inexpensive) replacement?

chicagoSS

new or used? you can find pretty good deals on Shimano 600 stuff sometimes on Ebay.

apaulson714

Either would work, im just wondering what i should be looking for, compatibility, size, etc

apaulson714

So i asked if there was any rust on the bike and for some more pictures, and this is what i got:

Im a little worried that the bike appears the be in pretty bad shape.

Mod edit: you cannot use gmail attachement links as valid image links, download them, host them on imgur and then you can link them.

hockeyteeth

^^^These pics don't work for me.

apaulson714

Sorry about that.

https://i.imgur.com/XOH7ZuO.jpg

https://imgur.com/XOH7ZuO,clc6jeD#1