wrk101

Not going to work, if for that price you want a nice, vintage, multispeed road bike ready to ride.

1. You are in a red hot market, one of the most expensive in the USA (if not the most expensive). A bike that might sell for $100 here, could bring $250 in SF.

2. Most used bikes have been neglected, and need some basic maintenance such as new tires, brake pads, cables, bearings and grease. If these items have all been addressed recently, then guess what, the price will go up. If you need to pay a bike shop to do the work I just described, with parts and labor, you are talking about $300 in maintenance.

So how do people get decent vintage bikes on a tight budget? First, they cast a wider net, much further than C/L and often beyond their own area. C/L is closely watched by scoopers, who pounce on any really good deals immediately (and those bikes reappear a week or two later at pricing of 2X or 3X the original price). Word of mouth and garage sales work well, but that means going to a lot of sales where you find nothing. Secondly, they acquire the tools and skills to do the rehab work themselves, and instead of paying a shop to do the rehab work, they do it themselves for $75 to $100 +/-. (Tools are not cheap, far from it. So some avoid the tool expense by hooking up with a bike co-op, which is an excellent idea).

Or they skip the entire "cool vintage bike" search, and look for a basic bike to get them going. You are onto that path with the two Treks, a MTB and a hybrid. MTBs and hybrids sell for a lot less than similar road bikes, typically half or even less. The demand for them is low.

Realize on garage sales and word of mouth, you don't just need to find a deal on a GOOD bike (for every decent bike I see at a garage sale, I see 20 crappy ones: kids bikes, Walmart bikes and so on), you also need to find one in YOUR size. I find a lot of bikes, but few are my size (I am OK with that, as they go to another home).

Basically, you are like me, you want to find a good deal, or even a really good deal. I understand completely. Unfortunately, if the bike is still available on C/L, I can already answer the question, its not a good deal. If it was a good deal, it would be long gone. And really good deals here last an hour or less, particularly at a low price ($150 to $200). The only decent deals that last here are high end bikes. Very few buyers for them, so someone with a bigger budget can score some really nice bikes (I am talking $400 to $600 budget or more...)

So how to you get a good/great deal? Get educated FIRST. Then pounce. No great deal will last long enough to get an answer on a forum: "Hey is this a deal?" The educated buyers out there will be in their cars driving, and picking up the bike, while the newb buyers are still doing research.


Out of this group, the Trek 700 and the Raleigh are the best ones. I see some rust on the Raleigh FD, so a close inspection is warranted.