Hey, first post here.
I’m looking for an old steel roadie to get into road riding and maybe use as a bit of a project bike, fixie conversion or whatever.
I’ve come across an old red ‘Blucher’ road bike. It’s made in Melbourne or at least it’s associated with Mascot Cycles somehow (it has a mascot cycles sticker on it).
It’s a 14-speed, in pretty good condition, both rims are aluminium, probably needs a new seat and some new handlebar tape to ride straight away.
I’m about 180cm and the bike measures 61cm from the centre of the crank to the top of the seatpost.
So I’m wondering whether this would be suitable for me and whether it would be a good buy for about $200.
I’m guessing that bike is too big if you’re only 180cm. I can’t really visualise what size bike someone of that height would ride and everyones proportions are different so I could be wrong.
Yeah I thought that might be the biggest issue. I put in my height and leg measurements into a bike size calculator and it said around 57-58cm would be appropriate. How much of a difference would the step up to a 61cm make?
If that does turn out to be too big, where else could I look for a similar bike?
I’m guessing Gumtree and eBay (what would I even search?) but I don’t know anywhere else, either online or bricks-and-mortar.
I’m in Geelong for a few weeks and can travel up to Melbourne.
Back in the day a fist full of post was the norm and such a bike will make reaching the bars quite easy if you’re wearing civies or just going for a casual roll out. It does mean stand-over may be an issue but that’s nothing to worry about unless you can’t ride or are an unco.
But if you listen to the kids they’ll tell you 40 cm’s of saddle to bar drop is legit, pro and even normal and you should be riding a 48cm frame.
@rolly I didn’t take that photo, haven’t tried the bike out yet, I think that’s just where the seller had the seat for the photo.
Thanks guys, seems like it’s too big.
On to my next query then: where to look for something a bit smaller…
Ideally it would be in about the same price range, but I can probably pay like $300-400 for a good deal. Mostly I want something that can facilitate newer and better parts later on, I quite like restoring/repurposing old things, so I’ve no issue with doing a bit of work.
OK. Anything in particular I should consider if I see something seemingly appropriate? Brands to avoid and so on.
Just to save me asking on here about every damn bike I see…
Another question…
This time it’s about an aluminium Trek Alpha 1500 that I saw on eBay, Link.
What would be a good price for this? It’s an appropriate size for me and it seemingly has good components (I think Ultegra is good and 105 is decent…correct me if I’m wrong).
I can’t find much info on the bike but I think it’s from around 2000.
It appears to be in good condition and I’m looking for a decent bike to get started with road riding, is this alright or shoud I look elsewhere??
Thanks
Unless the drivetrain on that is brand new. I would just about recomend a reid/cell/cheapy…
By the time you add a few $$ here and there for chain/cassette/cables/bar tape and replace a wheel because its had a dozen busted spokes, add in a free service or two with a new bike. See where I’m heading with this? Unless it’s sub $200 or immaculate I dont think it’s worth it.
i just built up a bike for a mate with 9 speed 105 as fitted to this bike. it’s a perfectly acceptable group in my (admittedly limited) experience. ultegra (notionally better than 105) cranks and derailleur won’t add as much value as ultegra brifters.
If you know what you are looking at and can inspect the bike to make sure the drive train isn’t totally shagged, wheels are true, tyres OK, etc. it’ll probably be just as good if not a bit better than the entry level cell and reid offerings.
Pay much more than the starting price though and the cell and reid cheapie becomes a better option due to multiple sizes available, warranties, etc. as above
I Believe the cell 2200 (or any other 8sp shimano roadie) fitted with campy 10s brifters would be the blakey approved solution for super cheap road bike
I spoke to the seller and he said he would take it at $400 pick up tomorrow.
I’ve got bar tape and cables and other bits and pieces and can borrow any tools I need from a friend should I need to do a bit of work.
That’s also kind of what I want, to do a bit of work and get familiar with bike maintenance.
I already need to go up to Melb tomorrow anyway, so I think I might go and have a look at it.
So I should be looking for:
dents or other frame damage
how smoothly the drivetrain operates
wheel true-ness (wheel truth…?)
busted spokes
condition of tyres
braking performance? Is it recommended to just get new brake pads anyway?
What else?
I guess I should add that I have somewhat of an aversion to buying brand new cheap stuff, it seems wasteful to me, I’d rather reuse/refurbish older stuff for around the same price.
I share your liking for doing stuff myself and most of my bikes are second hand.
Just bear in mind that you may end up paying as much as a cheapy complete once you start buying tools or parts that may be required.
In addition to checking th things you mention take a ruler and check chain “stretch” as per this link Link also talks about worn sprockets, etc., worth a read. if it’s stretched heaps you’ll probably be up for cassette, chain rings and chain which could set you back up to ~$200 (or more) depending on exactly what brand/quality parts you get as replacements at which point you’d be in cheapy complete territory.
if the wheels are more than a few mm out of true it could get expensive.
If there are any busted spokes you’re almost certainly up for a new wheel (whether you buy it off the shelf or replace all the spokes if the hubs and rims are still usable) as once one spoke is gone the other soon follow in my experience (mostly limited to older shittier bikes with carbon steel spokes)
Just be clear what you want to get out of it: do you want to learn about bikes? or get riding for the minimum of fuss?
Either way there’s a good chance there won’t be much difference in cost between your ebay auction there and a cheapy complete
You seem to be ignoring some of the best advice out there?
Unless you’ve got lots of time and money, seriously you’re better off just getting a cheap Cell bike, there’s no hassles, you wont drop heaps of cash trying to fix it, and you wont get jaded by the whole experience. But you might be some sort of monk who is happy about just about anything, nothing fazes you, and you like that sort of thing.
Best bet is to get a entry level decent bike, and mod it from there, it’s easier learning from something that works, than from something that doesn’t. Plus you’ve got something to ride that works, rather than spending all your time fixing your bike before you even get to ride it.
(by the way nice username colin oscar p, Colonoscopy)
fuck the haters go with dafrog and fix that trek up the paint is hot!
in all seriousness though, if the wheels spin of and the tyres arnt tatterd looking give it a berl, older model 9spd cassetes and chains are relitivly cheap to replace (compared with 10spd anyway) and if you got fresh cables and some tools lying around go for it, learning about your bike is made fun when you work on them(and by fun i mean frustrating and often leading to cut and sore hands)
Yeah you could buy a cheapy complete but you’ll have an adventure doing your own fix-up. There will be frustrations, skinned knuckles, it may cost a few $$, you might have to spend some time searching for obscure parts and maybe there will be some new swear words coined but you’ll have something that’s a bit special to you and you will learn a lot about bikes along the way. You’d probably spend just as much or more on upgrading or replacing a cheap shitter in due course anyway.
Slightly OT but when it come to cheapy entry level roadies (a’la Reid and Cell) does anyone have any hands on experience with them? (I’ve been doing a bit of “enabling” recently and have been looking into all sorts of ways of getting a roadie together on the cheap)
I has a curious as i bought one of reids $40 wheel sets recently (for the same bike i built up with 9sp 105 for a mate as per my earlier post).
For $40 i was fully expecting to have repack the hubs, retension the spokes and true the wheels.
The rear hub was loose (and possibly had the axle in the wrong way around, moving the cassette/rim over to the NDS) and the front tensions were all over the place, rear tensions were more uniform but really high, wheels were pretty true out of the box though. I’m not complaining though, once repacked and trued they seem to roll fine.
However it does beg the question of whether the really low end (2200 and sora) super cheap completes have similar build quality, in which case, although it might be covered by warranty and you might not end up out of pocket, they might end up needing similar levels of stuffing about (albeit by the bike shop) compared to a second hand bike in good condition.
