Pricing used bikes

26 Apr 2004 14:15:18 -0700,
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] (FFBSensei) wrote, in part:

Quoted message said:

Suggestions for places to look to price my used bicycles?

E-bay has pretty much defined the market values for
used bikes. Here's some WAG for vintage lightweights
sheldonbrown.comvrbn a f.htmlOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

But I wanted something that would be suitable for
triathalons?

Suggestions as to what I might look for in my new bike or
newer used bike?

Cervélo Soloist 105 - ~$1700
--
zk

FFBSensei said:

I was looking to sell both of my bikes and then try and
cobble some money to buy a new bike. With 3 kids under 6,
and the need to pay mortgage, I don't think I can spend
anywhere close to $1,000.

Or take option #3

I'm assuming you have DT shifters and a steel frame.

New cassette (12-27) $40 New (9-speed) rear wheel $80-120
Cold-set rear triangle (LBS) $15 Bar-end shifters (9 spd)
$50 or 105 STI levers $160

So including labor and miscellany, call it $250-400 for a
decent upgrade.

If you want an even wider cassette you might pick up a new
long-cage (MTB) derailleur for $20-25, and that would allow
you to run a 12-34 or 11-32 cassette.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers are
for. I only coded it." (Attributed to Linus Torvalds,
somewhere in a posting)

Quoted message said:

Should I just look at newer used bicycles? Or is there a
bike out there for under $1000 that would be suitable. I
don't think I'll be coming anywhere close to the 120 miles
a week I was riding in college, and probably more riding
with the kids. But I wanted something that would be
suitable for triathalons?

Suggestions for places to look to price my used bicycles?
Suggestions as to what I might look for in my new bike or
newer used bike?

Thanks for the assistance!

The best values in bikes are the used ones. Cars are just
like bikes: they depreciate 30% as soon as they are off the
lot, and they are down to half of purchase price after a
couple of years. Best value: a high-end 80's vintage steel
frame bike.

Second tip: if a used bike has STI shifters on it, assume
that they are shot or will be within a few months. The #1
reason for folks selling road bikes is that their shifters
are dying.

STI problems can often be fixed by cleaning out the
internals with WD-40. If that doesn't work then the
problem is probably terminal. Campagnolo Ergopower
shifters however can be serviced relatively
inexpensively.. A lot of 10-year old Campy shifters are
still on the road, like a pair of mine that have been
overhauled recently, and are good as new.

My recommendation: get a high-end older steel bike from
someone you trust, and then buy and install some STI or
Ergopower shifters yourself. This approach should bring in a
whole bike for about $500.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 15:19:39 -0700, Dane Jackson <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Or take option #3

I'll second that!

Quoted message said:

New cassette (12-27) $40 New (9-speed) rear wheel $80-120
Cold-set rear triangle (LBS) $15

It may be tough to find a LBS to do this in many areas. I'm
not sure, never tried, but I doubt any here would, and
especially not for $15. Sheldon Brown's website makes it
sound easy enough to do at home anyway.

Quoted message said:

Bar-end shifters (9 spd) $50 or 105 STI levers $160

I'd add a triple crank, BB, and appropriate front derailer
(if planning to use STI or other indexed shifters): Sora
triple crank: $60 BB: $15-20 Derailer: $17

Quoted message said:

So including labor and miscellany, call it $250-400 for a
decent upgrade.

Maybe as much as $600 with everything above and $100 worth
of the tools to do it yourself. That's probably a high
number; but it's probably cheaper than labor either way, and
you don't have to beg and goad the LBS to install your mail-
order parts (or pay 200% for the parts, at least around
here) when they'd much rather sell you a new bike.

Oh, and $20 or $40 or whatever it costs for a Barnett's
manual (or download it if that floats your boat). It
really is nice.

Even at $600 (or more for more-expensive components), this
comes in way under the target $1000 limit, leaving space for
other nice stuff like new saddle, pedals and shoes,
aerobars, etc.

Quoted message said:

If you want an even wider cassette you might pick up a new
long-cage (MTB) derailleur for $20-25, and that would allow
you to run a 12-34 or 11-32 cassette.

I'd even try the 11-32 on the existing derailer; those older
derailers often have pretty good capacity...but probably
won't index, so maybe new rear derailer anyway.
--
Rick Onanian

In article <[email hidden]>,

(FFBSensei) said:

Hello,

I used to (past tense) be into biking way WAY back when I
was in college. In fact, I still have the bike I rode
with some of the guys on the bike team - a 1985
Specialized Allez.

Is there a market for a bike that's almost 20 years old? I
also have a 10 year old Specialized Stumpjumper that cost
me $900 way back when.

The short answer is that I bought a half-decent rigid
Skykomish mountain bike with Deore LX components this
weekend for C$15 including a BLT lighting system (but no
charger). Your Stumpjumper is worth a bit more than that,
because it's a Stumpjumper, but not more than $200 on the
best possible day.

As for your Specialized Allez, I offered C$20 for a similar
(though lower-spec) Ascente of about the same vintage. It
was apparently $1100 new, and the asking price was C$40 (I
didn't really need it; I'm grossly over my bike-expenses
budget this month).

Quoted message said:

I am contemplating entering a triatholon (want to do one
of those before i turn 40)...and was thinking it might be
a good time to buy a new bike. I just ran by a high-end
bike store...wow, bikes going anywhere from $1500 to $5k
and higher.

I contemplated just riding my old Allez, but its a 12-
speeds with a 13-23 ratio in the back...I'd be afraid I'd
have a heart attack if I had to climb any hills of note.
When I was riding in my younger days, it didn't bother me
to climb hills with the bike...but 3 kids later and 20
years later, along with a few inches to my waist...alas,
its a different story.

Hm. Well, if you're seriously training for a triathlon,
there probably won't be any hills. If you're seriously
concerned about a lack of ratios, you can probably upgrade
to either a wider-ratio 6-speed cluster out back, or for a
little more money, to more gears and a new shifter, or to a
triple ring setup on the front.

Quoted message said:

I was looking to sell both of my bikes and then try and
cobble some money to buy a new bike. With 3 kids under 6,
and the need to pay mortgage, I don't think I can spend
anywhere close to $1,000.

Should I just look at newer used bicycles? Or is there a
bike out there for under $1000 that would be suitable. I
don't think I'll be coming anywhere close to the 120 miles
a week I was riding in college, and probably more riding
with the kids. But I wanted something that would be
suitable for triathalons?

Here's the thing. You could get a new Tiagra-equipped or Sora-
equipped bike for much less than $1000. Tiagra is perfectly
serviceable gear, and will build into a very rideable bike.
I use a Sora shifter on a racing bike, and as much as I wish
it were the case, it's not the reason I lose races.

Quoted message said:

Suggestions for places to look to price my used bicycles?
Suggestions as to what I might look for in my new bike or
newer used bike?

At best your bikes are probably worth a collective US$300-
400 to a really motivated buyer. Check eBay for
selling prices.

But are you just hoping to do triathlons? I would recommend
taking the Allez and as the song says, loving the one
you're with.

To turn the Allez into a really serviceable tri-bike, I'll
just go and grab some components from Nashbar, picked
because they are generically good at pricing:

Visiontech Tri Max handlebar, $130 (I'm recommending you use
your current brake levers for now) tinyurl.com27e4aOpen ↗

Ritchey 9-speed OCR rear wheel, $110
tinyurl.com36b98Open ↗

Shimano 9-speed barcon shifters, $50 (technically, only the
8-speed is in stock, but I'm going to assume the 9-speed
will soon be available at the regular price)
tinyurl.com32mucOpen ↗

Shimano 105 11-34 (super-wide ratios!) cassette, $37.00
tinyurl.com37xrwOpen ↗

Wipperman 9-speed chain, $23 tinyurl.com2jvslOpen ↗

Nashbar says they'll give me a 10% discount, and prices the
package at
305.77. I think the shipping would be about $15 by ground
in the US.

The upgrades I've specc'd would turn your bike into a
fairly competitive triathlon-only bike. For a more
flexible version, you could use your road handlebars and
either the barcons or new DT shifters plus an aerobar for
about the same money and almost no aero disadvantage, but
then you could remove the aerobar part when you wanted a
plain road bike.

The next step up would be one of two ways: if you wanted to
go road racing, the next big upgrade would likely be to buy
STI shifters. If you find after a few months of training on
this bike that you're ready to do a lot of TTs or
triathlons, you could add a goofy aerodynamic front wheel
with too few spokes, but please don't use this for training
(I have a moral opposition to low-spoke-count wheels in
general, but will concede their slight advantages on the
front wheel of a time-trial bike):

Velocity Spartacus Front Road Wheel, $120.
tinyurl.comytnzuOpen ↗

The above is not an endorsement of Nashbar, just a random
jumble of parts from their catalog. You could do a little
better if you shop around or buy through eBay or
rec.bikes.marketplace. I'd also recommend asking for a
similar proposal from your local bike shop. This package
would get you a TT/triathlon bike that would have no
signifcant disadvantages over buying a new tri-bike for much
more money. There is some chance you would have front
shifting problems with your old rings, in which case you
might have to spend another $50 on rings. The wide-ratio
cluster I have specified will give you a 39x34 low gear. If
there's a hill you can't climb with that, then you can't
blame your kids or your age for it. On the other end, it
would have a 52x11 big gear, which is probably way too much,
but will ensure you never spin out. Contemplate other
cluster choices if you will.

Oh, one other bugbear, but it's a minor one: your frame is
steel (I'm 995 sure of this), and you will have to spread it
slightly to 130 mm from 126 mm. This is trivial: on my own
bike, I just manually spread the dropouts each time I insert
the wheel. For a tidier job, you cold-set (bend) the frame,
or get your LBS to do it.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the assistance!

You're welcome. If you find an internal-gear hub (3,5, or
7-speed) lying around somewhere, you can send it to me as
commission.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

Thanks for all of the input.

I had thought about upgrading my current bike with various
components. Heck, I don't even have clipless peddles.
Altho, a part of me likes my cleats and not having to
worry about falling down (altho I've done that with my
bike with cleats!).

Let me call around and see what I can cobble together. That
may be the low-cost option. I was looking at the new Allez
and their cheapest model was $800 and spiraled quickly out
of control into the thousands.

This seems like a good avenue to pursue. No need to spend
money needlessly, and I doubt I'll have the time in the near
future (next 5 years) to get into any serious riding. Nor do
I think i would do more than a triathalon a year.

I've got to start jumping into the pool and start training.

Thx again...I'll call up nashbar and see what they say.

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<rcousine-
[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

(FFBSensei) said:

Hello,

I used to (past tense) be into biking way WAY back when
I was in college. In fact, I still have the bike I rode
with some of the guys on the bike team - a 1985
Specialized Allez.

Is there a market for a bike that's almost 20 years old?
I also have a 10 year old Specialized Stumpjumper that
cost me $900 way back when.

The short answer is that I bought a half-decent rigid
Skykomish mountain bike with Deore LX components this
weekend for C$15 including a BLT lighting system (but no
charger). Your Stumpjumper is worth a bit more than that,
because it's a Stumpjumper, but not more than $200 on the
best possible day.

As for your Specialized Allez, I offered C$20 for a
similar (though lower-spec) Ascente of about the same
vintage. It was apparently $1100 new, and the asking price
was C$40 (I didn't really need it; I'm grossly over my bike-
expenses budget this month).

Quoted message said:

I am contemplating entering a triatholon (want to do one
of those before i turn 40)...and was thinking it might
be a good time to buy a new bike. I just ran by a high-
end bike store...wow, bikes going anywhere from $1500 to
$5k and higher.

I contemplated just riding my old Allez, but its a 12-
speeds with a 13-23 ratio in the back...I'd be afraid
I'd have a heart attack if I had to climb any hills of
note. When I was riding in my younger days, it didn't
bother me to climb hills with the bike...but 3 kids
later and 20 years later, along with a few inches to my
waist...alas, its a different story.

Hm. Well, if you're seriously training for a triathlon,
there probably won't be any hills. If you're seriously
concerned about a lack of ratios, you can probably upgrade
to either a wider-ratio 6-speed cluster out back, or for a
little more money, to more gears and a new shifter, or to
a triple ring setup on the front.

Quoted message said:

I was looking to sell both of my bikes and then try and
cobble some money to buy a new bike. With 3 kids under
6, and the need to pay mortgage, I don't think I can
spend anywhere close to $1,000.

Should I just look at newer used bicycles? Or is there a
bike out there for under $1000 that would be suitable. I
don't think I'll be coming anywhere close to the 120
miles a week I was riding in college, and probably more
riding with the kids. But I wanted something that would
be suitable for triathalons?

Here's the thing. You could get a new Tiagra-equipped or
Sora-equipped bike for much less than $1000. Tiagra is
perfectly serviceable gear, and will build into a very
rideable bike. I use a Sora shifter on a racing bike, and
as much as I wish it were the case, it's not the reason I
lose races.

Quoted message said:

Suggestions for places to look to price my used
bicycles? Suggestions as to what I might look for in my
new bike or newer used bike?

At best your bikes are probably worth a collective US$300-
400 to a really motivated buyer. Check eBay for
selling prices.

But are you just hoping to do triathlons? I would
recommend taking the Allez and as the song says, loving
the one you're with.

To turn the Allez into a really serviceable tri-bike, I'll
just go and grab some components from Nashbar, picked
because they are generically good at pricing:

Visiontech Tri Max handlebar, $130 (I'm recommending you
use your current brake levers for now)
tinyurl.com27e4aOpen ↗

Ritchey 9-speed OCR rear wheel, $110
tinyurl.com36b98Open ↗

Shimano 9-speed barcon shifters, $50 (technically, only
the 8-speed is in stock, but I'm going to assume the 9-
speed will soon be available at the regular price)
tinyurl.com32mucOpen ↗

Shimano 105 11-34 (super-wide ratios!) cassette, $37.00
tinyurl.com37xrwOpen ↗

Wipperman 9-speed chain, $23 tinyurl.com2jvslOpen ↗

Nashbar says they'll give me a 10% discount, and prices
the package at
305.77. I think the shipping would be about $15 by ground
in the US.

The upgrades I've specc'd would turn your bike into a
fairly competitive triathlon-only bike. For a more
flexible version, you could use your road handlebars and
either the barcons or new DT shifters plus an aerobar for
about the same money and almost no aero disadvantage, but
then you could remove the aerobar part when you wanted a
plain road bike.

The next step up would be one of two ways: if you wanted
to go road racing, the next big upgrade would likely be to
buy STI shifters. If you find after a few months of
training on this bike that you're ready to do a lot of TTs
or triathlons, you could add a goofy aerodynamic front
wheel with too few spokes, but please don't use this for
training (I have a moral opposition to low-spoke-count
wheels in general, but will concede their slight
advantages on the front wheel of a time-trial bike):

Velocity Spartacus Front Road Wheel, $120.
tinyurl.comytnzuOpen ↗

The above is not an endorsement of Nashbar, just a random
jumble of parts from their catalog. You could do a little
better if you shop around or buy through eBay or
rec.bikes.marketplace. I'd also recommend asking for a
similar proposal from your local bike shop. This package
would get you a TT/triathlon bike that would have no
signifcant disadvantages over buying a new tri-bike for
much more money. There is some chance you would have front
shifting problems with your old rings, in which case you
might have to spend another $50 on rings. The wide-ratio
cluster I have specified will give you a 39x34 low gear.
If there's a hill you can't climb with that, then you
can't blame your kids or your age for it. On the other
end, it would have a 52x11 big gear, which is probably way
too much, but will ensure you never spin out. Contemplate
other cluster choices if you will.

Oh, one other bugbear, but it's a minor one: your frame is
steel (I'm 995 sure of this), and you will have to spread
it slightly to 130 mm from 126 mm. This is trivial: on my
own bike, I just manually spread the dropouts each time I
insert the wheel. For a tidier job, you cold-set (bend)
the frame, or get your LBS to do it.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the assistance!

You're welcome. If you find an internal-gear hub (3,5, or
7-speed) lying around somewhere, you can send it to me as
commission.

Is this a troll or what? You are talking about entering a
triathlon without using up what miles you can on your old
bike. If you are worried about killing yourself on a hill
climb or only putting in less than 120 miles a week, who are
you trying to kid about entering a triathlon? If you are
married with 3 kids and supporting a family (=working 40+
per week) where do you think you will find the tme to train?
Reality check.....

FFBSensei said:

Hello,

I used to (past tense) be into biking way WAY back when I
was in college. In fact, I still have the bike I rode
with some of the guys on the bike team - a 1985
Specialized Allez.

Is there a market for a bike that's almost 20 years old? I
also have a 10 year old Specialized Stumpjumper that cost
me $900 way back when.

I am contemplating entering a triatholon (want to do one
of those before i turn 40)...and was thinking it might be
a good time to buy a new bike. I just ran by a high-end
bike store...wow, bikes going anywhere from $1500 to $5k
and higher.

I contemplated just riding my old Allez, but its a 12-
speeds with a 13-23 ratio in the back...I'd be afraid I'd
have a heart attack if I had to climb any hills of note.
When I was riding in my younger days, it didn't bother me
to climb hills with the bike...but 3 kids later and 20
years later, along with a few inches to my waist...alas,
its a different story.

I was looking to sell both of my bikes and then try and
cobble some money to buy a new bike. With 3 kids under 6,
and the need to pay mortgage, I don't think I can spend
anywhere close to $1,000.

Should I just look at newer used bicycles? Or is there a
bike out there for under $1000 that would be suitable. I
don't think I'll be coming anywhere close to the 120 miles
a week I was riding in college, and probably more riding
with the kids. But I wanted something that would be
suitable for triathalons?

Suggestions for places to look to price my used bicycles?
Suggestions as to what I might look for in my new bike or
newer used bike?

Thanks for the assistance!

--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client:
opera.comm2Open ↗

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Is this a troll or what? You are talking about entering a
triathlon without using up what miles you can on your old
bike. If you are worried about killing yourself on a hill
climb or only putting in less than 120 miles a week, who
are you trying to kid about entering a triathlon? If you
are married with 3 kids and supporting a family (=working
40+ per week) where do you think you will find the tme to
train? Reality check.....

He's probably not entering an IronMan length triathlon;
probably a 1/2, or maybe an international distance. They're
a *lot* shorter.

....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

Bill said:

Quoted message said:

Should I just look at newer used bicycles? Or is there a
bike out there for under $1000 that would be suitable. I
don't think I'll be coming anywhere close to the 120
miles a week I was riding in college, and probably more
riding with the kids. But I wanted something that would
be suitable for triathalons?

Suggestions for places to look to price my used bicycles?
Suggestions as to what I might look for in my new bike or
newer used bike?

Thanks for the assistance!

Check out the Trek and Giant bikes. There are hybrids that
will run under $500, that will allow you to ride a short-
course triathalon in the middle of the pack. (1-2 mile lake
swim; 10k to 10mile run; 15-25mile bike).

On the 120 miles a week. Pfft. I'm an 'over the hill
bodybuilder type' and I'm riding 120 miles a week just to
stay in shape. That's only 20 miles per day, and IMO,
under 15-20 miles a day and you're just a 'recreational
biker'. ;-p

-B

Bill <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Is this a troll or what? You are talking about entering a
triathlon without using up what miles you can on your old
bike. If you are worried about killing yourself on a hill
climb or only putting in less than 120 miles a week, who
are you trying to kid about entering a triathlon? If you
are married with 3 kids and supporting a family (=working
40+ per week) where do you think you will find the tme to
train? Reality check.....

Did I say I was entering an Ironman? lol, egads man, I'd
kill myself.

I'm going to start off with a sprint triathlon. Nothing
major...just get some exercise, set some goals for myself.
I'm certainly not going to train 20 hours a week. I'll be
lucky to traing once to twice a week, and of course,
swimming is my weakest area.

My wife and I used to live in Honolulu where she'd swim a
mile about 3 times a week. I'd do about half a mile and feel
quite content.

Hey, I'm not trying to break any speed barriers here, or win
any events. Just a guy approaching middle-age who needs to
aspire to something where the outcome of even just
completing the darn thing is enough to motivate me to get
back into training.

I used to run track (the mile) in high school, and ride
with some of the guys on the bike team in college. I
figure the longer I wait to train for a triathlon, the
harder it will be.

Thanks for the reality check tho! My wife thinks I'm crazy,
I tend to be an optimist when I set goals...sometimes
they're too optimistic...but I prefer to try and push myself
and see how far I can go, even if its just a tiny little
sprint triathlon.

"FFBSensei" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I figure the longer I wait to train for a triathlon, the
harder it will be.

For the body, yes.

But it's hard to get training time with 3 small kids. Or,
maybe a better answer is that you need to be sure wife and
kids aren't neglected (e.g. some training can be done with
kids, if the kids like to ride on the back of the bike, or
are big enough to ride on an old tandem).

On 28 Apr 2004 15:38:13 -0700, FFBSensei <[email hidden]> wrote:

Not to worry. I just rode 70 miles of combined
road/dirt/mountains today and my wife thinks I am crazy too.
She tells me that at 55 I should be happy to watch
television and relax. Like that is ever going to happen.
Maybe when I wear out everything on my bike and look at the
price of a new one and get sticker shock. Until then, stay
motivated and go for it. I,m trying to get back in my 18
year old shape and it is more work than I thought, but the
results are worth it. Good luck.

Quoted message said:

Did I say I was entering an Ironman? lol, egads man, I'd
kill myself.

I'm going to start off with a sprint triathlon. Nothing
major...just get some exercise, set some goals for myself.
I'm certainly not going to train 20 hours a week. I'll be
lucky to traing once to twice a week, and of course,
swimming is my weakest area.

My wife and I used to live in Honolulu where she'd swim a
mile about 3 times a week. I'd do about half a mile and
feel quite content.

Hey, I'm not trying to break any speed barriers here, or
win any events. Just a guy approaching middle-age who
needs to aspire to something where the outcome of even
just completing the darn thing is enough to motivate me to
get back into training.

I used to run track (the mile) in high school, and ride
with some of the guys on the bike team in college. I
figure the longer I wait to train for a triathlon, the
harder it will be.

Thanks for the reality check tho! My wife thinks I'm
crazy, I tend to be an optimist when I set
goals...sometimes they're too optimistic...but I prefer to
try and push myself and see how far I can go, even if its
just a tiny little sprint triathlon.

--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client:
opera.comm2Open ↗

"Rick Onanian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Maybe as much as $600 with everything above and $100 worth
of the tools to do it yourself. That's probably a high
number; but it's probably cheaper than labor either way,
and you don't have to beg and goad the LBS to install your
mail-order parts (or pay 200% for the parts, at least
around here) ...

You aint kidding, especially around *cough* East Providence
*cough* (c;

Quoted message said:

Oh, and $20 or $40 or whatever it costs for a Barnett's
manual (or download it if that floats your boat). It
really is nice.

$85 at Amazon.com up to $120 at some places.

C.Q.C.

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 01:55:54 -0400, "Q." <LostVideos-AT-hotmail.com>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and goad the LBS to install your mail-order parts (or pay
200% for the parts, at least around here) ...

You aint kidding, especially around *cough* East Providence
*cough* (c;

Could be worse. In a certain large Warwick store, you pay at
least as much as in certain East Providence stores, but you
also must wait a half hour standing at the cash register
like a fool with cash in one hand and an item to purchase in
the other...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Oh, and $20 or $40 or whatever it costs for a Barnett's
manual (or download it if that floats your boat). It
really is nice.

$85 at Amazon.com up to $120 at some places.

Wow. No wonder it's so commonly pirated. (Disclaimer: I'm
not expressing any opinion or judgement of wrong or right,
just observing a partial cause for the rampant piracy of
that book.)
--
Rick Onanian

In article <[email hidden]>,

Rick Onanian said:

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 01:55:54 -0400, "Q." <LostVideos-AT-

hotmail.com said:

Quoted message said:

and goad the LBS to install your mail-order parts (or
pay 200% for the parts, at least around here) ...

You aint kidding, especially around *cough* East
Providence *cough* (c;

Could be worse. In a certain large Warwick store, you pay
at least as much as in certain East Providence stores, but
you also must wait a half hour standing at the cash
register like a fool with cash in one hand and an item to
purchase in the other...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Oh, and $20 or $40 or whatever it costs for a Barnett's
manual (or download it if that floats your boat). It
really is nice.

$85 at Amazon.com up to $120 at some places.

Wow. No wonder it's so commonly pirated. (Disclaimer: I'm
not expressing any opinion or judgement of wrong or right,
just observing a partial cause for the rampant piracy of
that book.)

Well, it's commonly pirated because the current publishers
of the book have, for some time, regularly put different
chapters up on their website in PDF form.

There are about 40 chapters, so it took a while to collect
it all, but there you go.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

So, I just wanted to post a follow up. I managed to find a
vintage bike collector who wanted my '85 Specialized Allez,
and sold it.

I also just bought a Trek Hilo 2000 - a tribike with an
aluminum frame, carbon fiber fork, full Shimano Ultegra, and
Mavic cxp wheels. I just started training for my triathlon
and have targeted August for my first one - just going to
start out with a sprint triathlon and try to work my way up
to an international distance one by next year.

Thanks for all who assisted me and provided feedback!

[email hidden] (FFBSensei) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I used to (past tense) be into biking way WAY back when I
was in college. In fact, I still have the bike I rode
with some of the guys on the bike team - a 1985
Specialized Allez.

Is there a market for a bike that's almost 20 years old? I
also have a 10 year old Specialized Stumpjumper that cost
me $900 way back when.

I am contemplating entering a triatholon (want to do one
of those before i turn 40)...and was thinking it might be
a good time to buy a new bike. I just ran by a high-end
bike store...wow, bikes going anywhere from $1500 to $5k
and higher.

I contemplated just riding my old Allez, but its a 12-
speeds with a 13-23 ratio in the back...I'd be afraid I'd
have a heart attack if I had to climb any hills of note.
When I was riding in my younger days, it didn't bother me
to climb hills with the bike...but 3 kids later and 20
years later, along with a few inches to my waist...alas,
its a different story.

I was looking to sell both of my bikes and then try and
cobble some money to buy a new bike. With 3 kids under 6,
and the need to pay mortgage, I don't think I can spend
anywhere close to $1,000.

Should I just look at newer used bicycles? Or is there a
bike out there for under $1000 that would be suitable. I
don't think I'll be coming anywhere close to the 120 miles
a week I was riding in college, and probably more riding
with the kids. But I wanted something that would be
suitable for triathalons?

Suggestions for places to look to price my used bicycles?
Suggestions as to what I might look for in my new bike or
newer used bike?

Thanks for the assistance!