Seeking advice on a purchase

San Jose gearing is fine for manhattan. Next time I do Bike New York
it will be on San Jose. Theft is the biggest issue in NYC.


n Mar 4, 12:51*pm, SMS wrote:
wrote:
$500 for a an old bike with outdated components. *For something simple
in the same price range you can get a *NEW Bianchi San Jose single
speed that fits rack is comfy and very efficient . *I

Bad advice, unless the bicycle is to be used for level commuting.

Not to say there aren't $500 bikes that would be fine for the original
poster, avoid the Bianchi San Jose. Most bicycles can fit a rack, so I
don't know how the fact that the San Jose can fit a rack is some sort of
huge selling point.

I considered the 925 but the bars were a turnoff for me-too used to
drops
Still a fine ride and I love singlespeed even on moderate hills.

On Mar 4, 12:49*pm, landotter wrote:
On Mar 4, 2:23 am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:



In article
,

wrote:

On Mar 3, 5:13 pm, "Paul M. Hobson" wrote:
Al Vazquez wrote:
I live in Manhattan and I'm looking for a commuter / shopping bike,
not something to go 100 miles in regularly and if I do 100 miles, I
don't care if I win the race.

A local custom bike shop near me has a vintage Trek road bike with a
hand-made frame of Reynolds 531 steel tubing. The shop itself is very
personal and I know for the life of the bike the shop would support my
needs. The hardware is older, with the shifters on the bike frame
instead of the handle bars. The bike is selling for $500.

I'm not a hardcore rider. I need something that feels good, fits a
rack, is relatively efficient. The old style shifters appeal to me
because they are "analog" (they slide, instead of click) and I find
that the clickers occasionally get misaligned and need to be adjusted
to still be accurate, where as with the sliders if they're off by a
little I wouldn't really notice. I don't need to shave off small
amounts of weight with different materials. This bike is probably
light enough, though a suggestion of weight range is *weclome.
$500 for a an old bike with outdated components. *For something simple
in the same price range you can get a *NEW Bianchi San Jose single
speed that fits rack is comfy and very efficient . *Id NEVER pay $500
for an old used bike when new can be had for a few $$$ more.

I agree that $500 sounds high for an 80s Trek, but a San Jose is a
curious alternative.

For those that understand the merits (and issues) with a singlespeed,
the San Jose is an interesting bicycle. For someone who self-describes
as "not a hardcore rider" and is looking for a bike that is "relatively
efficient", the San Jose is probably not the right suggestion.

Redline 925 is in the same lines. $500 list. Love mine. Stupid strong.
Gearing is fine for Manhattan.

http://www.redlinebicycles.com/adultbikes/925.html

Still, as SS is trendy--either one is a theft magnet. Put some nice
tires on a $75 craigslist bike and hope you can keep it a year.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 13:08:06 -0800 (PST), landotter
wrote:


See which one makes you smile.

Believe me it's worth it. You get incredible bang for the buck. The
only modern item with more is a desktop PC, probably.

Try a Trek 1000, and a Trek 5.2 Madone (or equivalent) before you buy
the steel frame. It's only $100 more for the 1000.

The 5.2 might be $1200 more (on sale), but it's worth every penny.

And the OP said:

"I live in Manhattan and I'm looking for a commuter / shopping bike,
not something to go 100 miles in regularly and if I do 100 miles, I
don't care if I win the race. "

Hilarious!

Here's a sub $400 bike in the spirit of 80s "sport" bikes, that can
take fenders and a rack:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/dawes/lt1000.htm

The components will last until the Manhattan bike thieves get to it.
Last I checked, it's hard to put Wald baskets on a Madone.

Guess I got carried away. But hey, why not try a number of bikes, even
if you have no intention of buying the high end models?

My intent was to promote comparing a number of different rides. What
if he fell in love with the Madone and became a hard core biker? Ya
never know.

Rex Kerr wrote:
I, Rex, said:
I agree with the shop owner that old steel framed road bikes ride
better than most new bikes
[...]
I also agree with you that there's a certain merit to friction
shifting (what you called analog) as it always works, you have more
freedom when it comes to replacement parts, it's smooth, etc...

Then catzz66 responds by saying:
I agree.
[...]
My first road bike (a steel framed Fuji) had
friction shifters and I don't miss them at all.
[...]
I would not care to go back to steel again either.

I'm confused... you agree, or you don't? :-)


Guilty. =] It was not hugely clear what I was agreeing with and what I
wasn't, but you deleted the next sentence I wrote where I said "That is
more money than I would want to spend on a bike with friction shifters"
replying to your comment "...$500 seems a bit high..."

Will try to be less obscure in the future!

The point is that $500 is just too much for a biike that age. I paid
$90 a while back for a mid 80's Panasonic and its a nice bike. No
comparison to newer bikes though


On Mar 4, 5:55*pm, catzz66 wrote:
Rex Kerr wrote:
I, Rex, said:
* I agree with the shop owner that old steel framed road bikes ride
* better than most new bikes
[...]
* I also agree with you that there's a certain merit to friction
* shifting (what you called analog) as it always works, you have more
* freedom when it comes to replacement parts, it's smooth, etc...

Then catzz66 responds by saying:
* I agree.
[...]
* My first road bike (a steel framed Fuji) had
* friction shifters and I don't miss them at all.
[...]
* I would not care to go back to steel again either.

I'm confused... you agree, or you don't? :-)

Guilty. *=] *It was not hugely clear what I was agreeing with and what I
wasn't, but you deleted the next sentence I wrote where I said "That is
more money than I would want to spend on a bike with friction shifters"
* replying to your comment "...$500 seems a bit high..."

Will try to be less obscure in the future!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

$500 may not buy you much of a new road bike these days.

I saw a Schwinn in Sam's Club today for $215. I don't know much about it
because they just left the bikes in the boxes! However, Al could do some
homework and find out more and he'd be getting a bike with new technology.

Pat in TX

On Mar 4, 4:17 pm, EasyCompany wrote:
On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 13:08:06 -0800 (PST), landotter



wrote:

See which one makes you smile.

Believe me it's worth it. You get incredible bang for the buck. The
only modern item with more is a desktop PC, probably.

Try a Trek 1000, and a Trek 5.2 Madone (or equivalent) before you buy
the steel frame. It's only $100 more for the 1000.

The 5.2 might be $1200 more (on sale), but it's worth every penny.

And the OP said:

"I live in Manhattan and I'm looking for a commuter / shopping bike,
not something to go 100 miles in regularly and if I do 100 miles, I
don't care if I win the race. "

Hilarious!

Here's a sub $400 bike in the spirit of 80s "sport" bikes, that can
take fenders and a rack:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/dawes/lt1000.htm

The components will last until the Manhattan bike thieves get to it.
Last I checked, it's hard to put Wald baskets on a Madone.

Guess I got carried away. But hey, why not try a number of bikes, even
if you have no intention of buying the high end models?

My intent was to promote comparing a number of different rides. What
if he fell in love with the Madone and became a hard core biker? Ya
never know.

No reason to not have a bit of fun, to be sure--but a well dialed in
Shimano 2200 equipped bike is going to run and shift impressively
enough for anyone to discover their inner Lance. Unfortunately, the
spectacular value of low-end Shimano is usually mated to poorly
assembled bikes.

The idea of a Madone sporting a Wald paper-boy basket does amuse me.
Ha! Now, I do like to suit up and grind out fifty fast miles on my
sport specific fixed gear--but my love of cycling is fanned just as
much when I ride the 35# Kona Dew down to the redneck liquor mart and
buy a pre-chilled Heaven Hill half-pint for my saddle bag.

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 17:50:10 -0600, "Pat" wrote:

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 13:57:34 -0800 (PST), Al Vazquez wrote:
I live in Manhattan and I'm looking for a commuter / shopping bike,
not something to go 100 miles in regularly and if I do 100 miles, I
don't care if I win the race.

Al, the bike you describe is from the 1980's. If I were you, I would look
around and see if there is an organization in your area called something
like Spokes for Folks or Recycled Bikes...

It's http://www.recycleabicycle.org/. They have two locations:

DUMBO (Main Office) 718-858-2972 :: 35 Pearl Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
East Village 212-475-1655 :: 75 Avenue C, New York, NY 10009

Don www.donwiss.com/joyrides (e-mail link at page bottom).

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:53:58 -0800 (PST), landotter
wrote:

My intent was to promote comparing a number of different rides. What
if he fell in love with the Madone and became a hard core biker? Ya
never know.

No reason to not have a bit of fun, to be sure--but a well dialed in
Shimano 2200 equipped bike is going to run and shift impressively
enough for anyone to discover their inner Lance. Unfortunately, the
spectacular value of low-end Shimano is usually mated to poorly
assembled bikes.

The idea of a Madone sporting a Wald paper-boy basket does amuse me.
Ha! Now, I do like to suit up and grind out fifty fast miles on my

Well, presumably, in the future, all bikes will be build of a very
light material, like carbon fiber, but it will probably be a lot more
robust, and very cheap.

What is a Madone, but just a light road bike without fenders? Of
course you'd need a basket fore and aft, or the bike would surely tip
over forward. But since in the future, we'll all be using our food
synthesizers and have eliminated newspapers, what will we carry in
them?

"landotter" wrote:
On Mar 3, 3:57 pm, Al Vazquez wrote:
I live in Manhattan and I'm looking for a commuter / shopping bike,
not something to go 100 miles in regularly and if I do 100 miles, I
don't care if I win the race.

If you're locking at the market in Manhattan, assemble the ugliest yet
functional piece of mother****ing **** possible, otherwise, enjoy the
merits of Reynolds 531 for a couple days, tops.

I have been to Manhattan, Illinois on a bicycle, and was not
particularly worried about theft.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful