mattgmann

Bike

I found this bike perusing the local craigsmart. I've been keeping an eye out for a road bike to toy around on. I don't know anything about ross bikes, but it looks to have nice components, and the frame looks to be quality.

Is anyone familiar with Ross? Is $300 within the realm of fair for this ride?

RubeRad

You may be better off asking in the C&V forum, but I sure think so. I'm seeing:

* Full Campy anything is good (but if you need to ask, I'm guessing you'll be lacking a few specialized tools for servicing this yourself)
* Lugs -- I think a lugged frame is a pretty safe bet that it's good quality
* very clean
* side-pull brakes probably work a lot better than centerpulls you might find in bikes from the DT-shifter era
* How many speeds in the back? You might find that gear cluster is small if you have to deal with hills, unless you are a super athlete.
* Chainring design is pretty
* 63cm is HUGE! Are you like 6'4"-6'8"?
* DT shifters: are you prepared/practiced to take hands off bars to shift, in traffic?

DiegoFrogs

The Signature series from Ross were very nice bikes, much better than the bottom-of-the-barrel Rosses that were common in Pennsylvania when I was a kid.

That said, it's a very large bike. If it's your size, it may very well be a good price. The condition looks to be quite good.

mattgmann

"* 63cm is HUGE! Are you like 6'4"-6'8"?"

I'm a little better than 6"1, but with a long inseam and long arms. I'll surely check it for fit before buying it. From using online bike measurement calculators, 63 should be in the upper end of what will fit. We'll see.

I don't have any experience with DT shifters, but taking a hand off the bar doesn't frighten me.

I've had trouble finding any used bikes in the 60-62cm range that fit my toy budget. Everything smaller than 60cm that I've tried has been too small. Even on 60cm frames I've tested, I've felt that a little more room to stretch out would be nice.

RubeRad

Hmm. Have you tried the Rivendell sizer? That would put you on a larger frame than most other sizing systems out there, so maybe this bike just might work for you. The top tube actually looks relatively short compared to the rest of the frame, so if you bring the seat way down, maybe you'd be comfortable. It's certainly worth a test ride.

FWIW I'm a hair under 6', and I ride a 60cm Surly CrossCheck quite comfortably, with "just a fistful" of seatpost, and a 110mm stem. That Ross looks like it has a pretty long stem on it right now, if you ride it and want to back off the reach, you should have no trouble finding a shorter 1" threaded stem.

monsterpile

Some of those Ross signature series were handmade bikes if I remember correctly. If you are really interested in that like another poster said check over at C&V. I don't know what your market is like there, but you may be able to get that bike for less. If its in really nice shape and it does fit you $275 might not be bad at all for a keeper.

randomgear

If it fits, snap it up! The signature series were the best bikes that ever came from Allentown.