Raleigh R500 circa 2002 vs save for new

Here is a copy of the link for the bike I'm looking at. http://chico.craigslist.org/bik/2420993296.html

FWIW. IMO, that's a terrible price ...

Sight unseen (where was the picture in the CL advert?), I'd say the particular Raleigh is worth ~$250, tops.

If it were pristine & DAY-ONE-NEW, then it might be worth $400 ... barely.

As others have noted in other threads, check www.bikesdirect.com, www.bicyclebuys.com + other on-line retailers for good bikes at very good prices.

Thanks Alfeng! I have a Performance Bike with 105 components waiting for me this weekend for a great price. Wife is suggesting I go to a LBS to see if they can match.

Looks to be a 2001 model ... bikepedia.comBikeSpecs.aspxOpen ↗

I had the same dilemma a while ago. I've always wanted a roadbike, but wasn't quite sure that I would be able to keep up the interest. – So naturally I wasn't willing to invest a fortune, without having tried it out first. – It's not quite enough to be a Tour de France fan, if you're going to invest that much money in a bike, you've got to be sure, that it's something you wan't to pursue for at least a while.

I've always found the Bianchi bikes fantastic, but the price is up there as well:
[IMG]cyclingforums.com500Open ↗[/IMG]

So instead I found a really good offer at a danish webshop (Coop category: Cykler). The bike had pretty much everything I was looking for and it only cost 500$. I still have the bike and it performs great. So even though I'm sure that it's something that I'm going to pursue for a long time, I'm holding on to my discount bike, until it breaks. Then maybe I'll be looking at the Bianchi :-)