One way to try out a road bike for the Road Curious

[Bill Lindsay]

I've added more content to the Ding Ding Flickr album.  When Leah expressed interest in trying out a road bike, she got lots of prescriptive advice.  My advice was to acquire a good cheap used road bike and ride it a couple hundred miles.  Then sell it or give it away and do it again, but now 5x smarter.  

I did some shopping on her behalf, and knowing what I know about the history of road bikes and having worked at shops from 1984 - 2001, I had some very strong instincts where some high value opportunities reside.  I was so encouraged by what I was finding that I started a thread on internet-BOB where we're going to make it a game.  You spend under $200 on a used bike (with proof: screenshot of the craigslist ad or equivalent).  You can spend up to $200 to fix it up (mainly honor system) and then ride it 200km.  After the riding part is done, you write up your "entry" and judges will decide who wins.  

Yesterday, I bought my entry bike, which is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking Leah could/should buy.  I paid $195 for this 1991 Trek 1200, 56cm, Day Glow Yellow with black splatter:  https://flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/53692100883/in/album-72177720316423417/

I rode it this morning down to Orange Theory and back so I'm 20km to the 200km entry.  I have not put it in the work stand for even a second and I didn't even have to pump the tires.  The term I use for "ready to ride" used bikes is "turnkey".  One I've ridden this bike a couple hundred miles I could donate it, or maybe use it as a platform for something else.  Who knows.  This was the kind of low-commitment activity I was recommending to Leah, and now it's become performance-art.  

I won't blather about what a good value I think early 90s Trek aluminum bikes were.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

I love this so much. You have the best ideas, Bill. 

I have to ask how it feels to ride a turnkey bike that is not up to your normal standards. Does it feel irksome, or do you settle into it nicely?

[Bill Lindsay]

I consider it a skill to identify a bike that will set up well for oneself, and I think I've developed that skill.  I also have a lot of bikes and make it a standard practice to ride a lot of bikes.  In 2024 it feels a little weird to me to ride the same bike two rides in a row.  Anyway, to answer your question, no it's not irksome, but it's also part of the game.  The way I've set up the game in my brain, "winning" looks like finding a bike and riding it 200km without fiddling with it.  So, by not fiddling with it, I feel like I'm winning.  

I already knew these bikes well, and I know how they ride and how they fit.  It was listed as a "57" and I knew there's no such thing.  I thought it was really a 58, but maybe could be a 56, and it turns out it is a 56.  That's still fine, but it slightly influences what I may do with it.  The main thing is safety and noisy stuff.  The brakes work (safety), but they are set up reversed.  Fine, I'll leave it reversed for the 200km of winning.  The wheels are straight and spin smooth.  The headset and BB are sealed units that spin freely so there's nothing to do there.  These bikes came stock with absurdly high gearing, and if I keep it I'll definitely address it, but the current gearing would be great in Michigan :)  

Maybe I'll give this bike the Bill Treatment, ship it to Michigan and claim back my 2009 Hillborne which has been living in Michigan the last 3 years.  That's like spending $200 to get a $3000 bike back in my main rotation!  More winning!

BL in EC

[aeroperf]

Bill is absolutely spot on with this.
I was going to try a Roadini, but thought “what if I don’t like a road bike?”

So I picked up an ’82 Team Fuji.  Got it for $150.  Rode it for 160 miles, and sold it.  It was a lovely bike but I just don’t bend that way anymore.
However, I wanted to learn how to wrench on bicycles, so rather than screw up my Sam I ‘improved” the Fuji a little at a time - Sora 9x3-speed drive, more comfortable drops, Shimano 105 brakes.  I re-laced the UKAI wheels with a freehub, replacing the freewheel, etc., etc.
It taught me a LOT about bikes.
I was able to sell it for the original price and about half the money I put into the new parts, but in the end had a reasonably good shop.  I consider it a great learning experience all around.

One note… try a few used bikes at your LBS before actually getting one.  I tried a Lambert (HORRID bike) and a Pugeot UO-8 (felt like it was made with cast iron pipe) before getting the Fuji.

[Ted Durant]

On Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 3:23:58 PM UTC-5 aeroperf wrote:

So I picked up an ’82 Team Fuji.  Got it for $150.

OMG those gold UKAI rims are worth $150 apiece. Yes, LOVELY bike! (Full disclosure, I worked in a bike shop selling Fuji's in the late 70's, so I have a bias.)

Ted Durant

Milwaukee WI USA

[Bill Lindsay]

Those of us who did time "in shops" definitely have been imprinted with the stuff that was good at that time....  It's inescapable...

BL "Village Schwinn, Yorba Linda CA" in EC

[Brenton Eastman]

I had the same year Fuji Team, same color brown with the gold hoops. Such a sweet bike. 

Love this thread, though I did buy a Roadini instead of 'trying' another 90s road bike, since I rode them for a decade. No regrets!

+1 on the working in a shop. Former mechanic at The Bicycle Exchange in Cambridge, MA.

[NYCbikeguy]

If any of you are in the NYC tri-state area, you are welcome to try out my Rivs if you are in the 5'10 - 6'2 range.

I have the original Riv Road (comparable to the roadini/roadeo, I assume), as well as the following:

56 All rounder

56 Toyo Atlantis

58 Waterford Atlantis

55 MIT Atlantis

58 Hunqapillar

Large Hubbuhubbuh

There's a great bike path near me on Yale campus, and I'm happy to let a fellow Riv enthusiast try it out!

Cheers!

Isaiah, NYC/New Haven, CT

[st nick]

These road bike deals do pop up in my area ever so often as well if I regularly look.

There were two I couldn't resist , one yesterday and one again today so I picked them both up. 

Both popped up on FB marketplace.

First one is probably late 80's (haven't really checked it thoroughly yet) 62cm Peugeot road bike that I picked up yesterday for $70. 

Sticker shows Reynolds 501 tubing. It has Sachs Huret Rival derailers.

The 2nd one I picked up this morning for $75, a 23" 1988 Schwinn Premis, the year they had a bright 3 or 4 color paint scheme and white highlighted parts. I think it looks pretty cool.

It has a Columbus Tenax tubing sticker and Suntour Cyclone 7000 derailers with white highlights.

It reminds me of my first decent road bike, a 1985 Schwinn Tempo back in 1986.

Both are rideable with seat adjustments, flat repair, and chain fix.

I can ride 23", 24" or even a 25" frame but don't like the 25" for stop and go riding.

I can ride my Sam all day comfortably but these bikes with short stem and difficult to reach brake positions just take the comfort out of riding for me.

Back when I was younger I rode bikes that way with low and narrow handlebars but now I set my bikes up for comfort be it a new or vintage bike.

I guess that's part of my 'geezerhood' preferences.

Good luck on your searches.

I need to stop looking as my garage is too full already.

Now to sort out what I'm going to do with these two bargains....

Paul in Dallas, TX

[Bill Lindsay]

I like that Premis a lot.  Good find!

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA