Second hand road bike?

DelBoy Trotter

I've been toying with the idea of getting a road bike for a good while, but never pulled the trigger on it. Where is the best place/safest place to pick up a second hand road bike? My thinking is to get something cheap and cheerful/second hand and see how I take to it. If I like it, then I will spend the money to get something decent. However, as I'm a complete newbie to bikes, I haven't a breeze where to start looking for a second hand bike (from reputable sellers) or what to look for!

Tony04

In ireland the best places are adverts.ie/ donedeal.

Two main questions what's your budget? What's your height?

My advice for you would be to buy a bike with a better frameset so if you get more into it you can upgrade rather than buying something youll have to sell for half the value.

https://touch.adverts.ie/road-bikes/carbon-fibre-bike-last-price-drop/19840453
Something like this has a nice carbon fibre frame but as cheaper wheels and groupset which could be upgraded if you got more into it.

If you can get b2w scheme going new might be worth it.

magicbastarder

the OP's idea of 'cheap and cheerful' may not stretch to €750, to be fair.

@OP, if you're of medium height, there should be lots out there. short and tall people tend to see fewer options in the secondhand market.
is your intention to go out on leisure cycles on it?

smacl

I bought my first road bike, a Ridley Triton C, off the adverts section here. Great bike which got me through many years and is still giving good service permanently attached to my turbo trainer. magicbastarder above had a very similar one for sale a few months ago at a decent price, could be worth looking at or placing a wanted add up. Only downside at the moment is getting it delivered or picking it up in your 2KM zone.

magicbastarder

yep, i eventually sold that for €250 and was happy i got that much. that was a fine bike, but not suited to the hills.

funny enough, the chap i sold that to was a very pleasant lad who was in ireland to do a PhD on viruses.

wheelo01

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

I've been toying with the idea of getting a road bike for a good while, but never pulled the trigger on it. Where is the best place/safest place to pick up a second hand road bike? My thinking is to get something cheap and cheerful/second hand and see how I take to it. If I like it, then I will spend the money to get something decent. However, as I'm a complete newbie to bikes, I haven't a breeze where to start looking for a second hand bike (from reputable sellers) or what to look for!

I think a few things are needed to help you,
what is your cheap and cheerful budget?
There are a few bikes available on here (including one I have) what height are you?
As someone has already said, better to spend a bit now, then upgrade it.
Do you have the possibility of the bike to work scheme? If so, it might be better to use the full amount of that and avail of 24-42% tax relief.

magicbastarder

better to get a cheap bike for say €250 and learn what you want rather than blowing your BTW allocation for five years not knowing what you want. you could sell the €250 bike for little loss six months later.

smacl

magicbastarder wrote: »

better to get a cheap bike for say €250 and learn what you want rather than blowing your BTW allocation for five years not knowing what you want. you could sell the €250 bike for little loss six months later.

Agreed. If you like to tinker about with upgrades and learning how to do your own servicing, having a bike you're not too precious about is great.

magicbastarder

an example of a cheap bike - and what to look out for.
https://www.adverts.ie/road-bikes/bike/20230544

checking the condition of the drivetrain is one of the first things to do - as you can see with that bike, the chain is in poor nick so would need to be replaced. i suspect that's been used as a commuter, the general scratching and wear on the frame could be from a lock slung around it. the pedals look rusty too, and the back wheel is held on with nuts rather than a quick release.

do i recall that Type 17 posted a checklist of what to look out for when buying a secondhand bike? i might see if i can find that and post it here.

smacl

magicbastarder wrote: »

an example of a cheap bike - and what to look out for.
https://www.adverts.ie/road-bikes/bike/20230544

checking the condition of the drivetrain is one of the first things to do - as you can see with that bike, the chain is in poor nick so would need to be replaced. i suspect that's been used as a commuter, the general scratching and wear on the frame could be from a lock slung around it. the pedals look rusty too, and the back wheel is held on with nuts rather than a quick release.

do i recall that Type 17 posted a checklist of what to look out for when buying a secondhand bike? i might see if i can find that and post it here.

I also notice the cassette is 7 speed and standard (52/39) crankset running a tiagra groupset which would suggest to me quite an old bike. Doesn't seem particularly great value even though it is relatively cheap. For €35 more there's a CAAD5 with 105 which is probably a better bet.

cletus

Is it just me, or is the stem weird on that Cannondale?

smacl

cletus wrote: »

Is it just me, or is the stem weird on that Cannondale?

The whole setup suggests the bike is possibly the wrong fit for the rider. The saddle is quite high and it looks like a different stem has been fitted to raise the bars as well. Could be someone got sold a bike with far more aggressive geometry than they were after. Bar setup is a bit weird too, I'd have the flats horizontal and the top of the shifters parallel to the flats.

DelBoy Trotter

Thanks for the responses so far

magicbastarder wrote: »

better to get a cheap bike for say €250 and learn what you want rather than blowing your BTW allocation for five years not knowing what you want. you could sell the €250 bike for little loss six months later.

This is the exact thought that is in my head. I had thought of a cheap and cheerful budget of €250ish . If I take to it, it will help me learn what I like. I could then sell what I've bought for not too much less than I paid for it, and then use the bike to work scheme for something better.

To answer some of the other questions, I am 5ft 9/5ft 10. The bike will be used for leisure/exercise. With everything that is going on at the moment, I have also thought getting a turbo trainer to do a bit at home would also be handy (I'd imagine turbo trainers are like gold dust at the moment though?).

As pointed out, with current restrictions, getting a bike could be tricky. So all suggestions are welcome!

kenmm

smacl wrote: »

I also notice the cassette is 7 speed and standard (52/39) crankset running a tiagra groupset which would suggest to me quite an old bike. Doesn't seem particularly great value even though it is relatively cheap. For €35 more there's a CAAD5 with 105 which is probably a better bet.

ye - seen the 7 speed and then the comment..

"@John Ryan 100: oround 5 years old"

ye right..

Tony04

At 5ft9 5ft10 youd be looking at a 54cm/ medium frame.

At 250ish you should be looking to find a bike with a sora 9 speed groupset(gears and brakes). Most bikes at that price will probably have claris but sora is a step up from that. If your looking you might find 10 speed tiagra the next step from sora.

Just from a quick search of the groupsets names on adverts these are some bikes to maybe consider.
https://touch.adverts.ie/road-bikes/lapierre-audacio400/19086681
https://touch.adverts.ie/road-bikes/giant-defy/19654000
https://touch.adverts.ie/road-bikes/trek-1-2-sora-54cm-racer/19910823

smacl

smacl wrote: »

The whole setup suggests the bike is possibly the wrong fit for the rider. The saddle is quite high and it looks like a different stem has been fitted to raise the bars as well. Could be someone got sold a bike with far more aggressive geometry than they were after. Bar setup is a bit weird too, I'd have the flats horizontal and the top of the shifters parallel to the flats.

cletus wrote: »

Is it just me, or is the stem weird on that Cannondale?

Had another look at that Cannondale and it's a 2003 model that originally shipped with aerobars from what I can see which explains the rather odd appearance. Probably also not a great deal for what is possibly a 15 years+ old bike.

MojoMaker

That Dale belongs in the "Post images of Ugly" thread - never to be quoted!!!

magicbastarder

that cannondale goes so far past ugly it actually comes out the other side.

JustAThought

I’ve seen a fair few requeats to but biles - both for kids and for adults - and bikes sold on local community/area facebook sites am- fair few people rummaging in their sheds and happy to make a few bob for a relatively decent bike. Might be worth joining up and/or putting a request up - will get you around the 2k restrictions and checkpoints and get you for for when we are released into the wild again!

a148pro

Safest place to buy second hand bikes in ireland is probably cycle superstore, they will all be fully serviced and not stolen. But you will probably pay 20 per cent more than you might on done deal etc. There's also the Used bikes. Ie website which they amongst others sell on.

At your budget you could either pick up a random Banger on done deal or one of the entry level bikes at halfords (€300 - €400). While bike snobs won't countenance the latter I had one and it was perfectly fine until it was stolen. I then tortured myself in the second hand market for a few months before spending about 1500 on a purchase and add ons. While it is a remarkable piece of engineering, if I'm honest the halfords bike was grand.

When I was mid torture I asked a mate for advice and he said the bike didn't really matter what was more important was getting out on it. I was annoyed at the time that he wouldn't give me his tuppence worth, but I came to realize he was right. Don't expect to make the perfect purchase, just get out there.

Additionally, if you don't know anything about bikes you'll be hopelessly daunted by group sets etc and won't know how to get value out of or navigate the second hand market

Suggest you either borrow a mates road bike, or even rent one if that becomes viable to see if you like it. Or if departing with 200 - 400 euro doesn't bother you take a punt on a second hand one or halfords one.

Beyond that all I'd say is try and pick one that feels comfortable, which is probably the most important variable for a recreational rider. Try and ensure the tyres are reasonably inflated for this purpose as soft ones may feel nicer than they will actually be.

Jimmy Bottlehead

For the very very little it's worth OP, I had the exact same budget and wants in mind a few months back. Try a cheap road bike, see if I like it... If I do, use the BTW scheme once I know what I'm after. If not, sell with no real loss.

I narrowed it down to either Carrera bikes (from Halfords, they get a bad rep but they seem fine for beginners) or Triban (or B'Twin, that's the older branding) from Decathlon. I setup alerts on Adverts and Donedeal and I waited. Eventually got a Carrera Vanquish in terrific condition for €150. The odd bargain is out there to get you started, but it may take some waiting to find.

DelBoy Trotter

With everything going on with the pandemic, I have been focusing on trying to find a bike from a bike shop (as that should help with the delivery side of things) and also Facebook local groups. I'm really struggling at this point and haven't found anything at all so far