aluminummonster

Going to echo the sentiments of the folks recommending late 80s Schwinns. Recently built an 87 Circuit with a Columbus SL frame up with a Campy mirage group I had on hand. Only modification I needed was a shim for the front derailleur. Easy to do, affordable, and great fun, especially if you like wrenching as much as riding.

scarlson 

Everyone has done such a good job with the OP's actual question, and I love that about this forum. I can think of nothing to add as far as general direction and approach.

That said, I will throw in my usual plug for the Vitus 979, if you're looking for cheap thrills on-pavement. It is cheap, light, fast, hipster-underground-French-weird, and with modernish (1999) components it can weigh under 20lbs and compete with any expensive carbon you see on the road today. Like the old ads about eating a Reeses cup, there is no wrong way to build up a Vitus.
If you live anywhere near Cambridge MA, I will build a Vitus 979 up for you in exchange for you have to listen to me pontificate about René Herse, ride with our Vitus 979 club, and tolerate my Lance Armstrong jokes.

If you want a tourer, I echo the sentiment toward the Japanese stuff: Nishiki, Univega are still underrated. And Schwinn and Raleigh from the '80s aren't bad and remain affordable even if you go for the high-end. Case in point, a ton of friends of mine commute on '80s tourers I've built or helped to build. Three of my friends ride old Nishiki tourers (Cresta and Riviera), two ride Univegas (Gran Turismo and Specialissima), one rides a Raleigh (Alyeska), and one rides a Schwinn (Voyageur).

Dfrost 

ChrisCranks , Tell us where you live, either directly in a post, or as most do, in your User CP information that will show up under your avatar. We would really love to help you shop CraigsList, etc. Nothing as much fun as spending someone else’s money!

Give us some idea of your intended bike size, if you know it. Overall height is NOT the answer. Your inseam length (floor to hard bits) is a better starting place.

What kind of riding do you foresee? Locale will also give us an idea of what sort of gearing would be helpful.

Do you have any mechanical skills that would lend themselves to working on bikes? Interested in learning them?

merziac

ChrisCranks

Welcome aboard, glad you found us, you're in the right place.

All great advice here, we love this sort of thing as you can see.

I will be the fly in the ointment here.

Many less well known custom builders frames sell in the range you indicate.

I would encourage you to consider this, many are fantastic quality and ride like a dream.

It may take a little longer to find one in your size, color, etc. but can be well worth it, many of us have them for this exact reason as when they come as a frame, they are a blank canvas to build on.

Here's a good example, Scott Paisley $100 CL find a couple of years ago.

pcb 

This right here is the crux of the biscuit. OP hasn't told us they haven't been thinking about all this, but for the record, for a newb, this is what I think should happen before searching hundreds of craigslist ads.

First figure out what you want the bike to do for you. Fast-ish rides on good pavement? Want to hit some trails/gravel? Short rides around the neighborhood? Are you going to want to carry more stuff than would fit in a tiny seat pack? Do you live where it rains a lot, and you want to be able to ride comfortably when it rains? Live near desert, so you'll be forever be patching goathead thorn punctures in your tubes?

You can buy a refurb project and dive in without this being clear, but your chances of being happy, and having fun with the bike, improve greatly when you know _why_ what your looking for. And instead of getting recommendations of 100 different bikes to look for, some that probably won't fit what you want to do, you might get a sold 25 recommendations that are on-target.

Then figure out your frame size. Makes no sense to look for anything until you know what size you need. You don't buy clothes without knowing your size---bikes are the same, if you want to ride them.

Think about where you are regarding health/fitness. If you're 125lbs, younger, fit and flexible, an '80s Centurion Ironman with 25mm tires maybe be just the ticket. Probably not the ticket if you're significantly heavier, less flexible, have underlying health issues, etc. Especially if you want to ride other than smooth pavement.

Also ask yourself how involved with mechanics you really want to be, remembering we're in the age of covid, with most bike shops scheduled heavy for repairs, running short of replacement parts, and often out of stock on affordable bikes. If you get in over your head, you may have to wait quite a while for your LBS to help. You got us, local friends maybe, and never forget to check out sheldonbrown.com

Lastly, figure out a rough budget, including $$$ for replacement parts and tools. That's for your comparison to what a similar new bike might cost, if you could buy one.

If you think we've been helpful so far, wait to you see what happens once you give us a little more to go on.

shoota 

I might buck that a little bit. A brand new All City Space Horse is $1200. Complete All City Mr. Pinks can be found for under $1000 all day long. Modern used road bikes can be found in the usual places for less than a grand too. Unless there is some specific reason (and there are some good reasons) to make a vintage frame modern, it doesn't always make sense money-wise.

ramzilla

1987 Centurion Ironman with new 130/100mm wheel set and super cheap-o 2x7 speed Microshift brifters.

Whit51 

Here are an 84 Trek 660 and an 81 Lotus Legend I build up with 9 speed STI this summer. They work great and we’re not costly to upgrade, although I’ve been scrounging and hoarding 9 speed components for years. I’ve found 80s Treks and Japanese frames are good raw material for retro modern builds.

Road Fan

My sweet spot is one step higher on the Degree of Difficulty: a mid-80's high-end Italian frame with early/mid 2000s or 2010s 2x10 or 3x10 gearing. And my preference is to set them up with Campagnolo Ergopower systems. The only thing that really needs to be changed on the frame is to cold-set the rear end to 130 mm, and the dropouts aligned accordingly. If you do that, original 8 speed through 11 speed wheels will drop right in.

You probably won't get threadless fork, but so what? Quills work just fine.

I say "higher Degree of difficulty" because Shimano is thought of as the default choice these days, but it's really no more difficult than installing Shimano indexing systems. And I think Campagnolo works at least as well once sorted out. With experience you can see where you can mix and where not.

BFisher

I built this bike as graduation present to myself in 2018. I think it cost me just under $1,000 for everything. It is a fantastic rider, and the Sora R3000 components are excellent. You really don't need to go for high level stuff to get a great bike, despite what may often be said. I ride for fitness mostly, and this is my main ride. A great bike can absolutely be built on a budget, and the Shimano R501 wheelset is a really nice option for not a lot of cash. Keep in mind, the roads here in NE Pennsylvania are pretty bad, and these wheels have held up nicely.

I'll add that I have not had to make a single adjustment to the drivetrain or wheels since I built the bike.

Loads of options out there, and if you do your homework you can build a great bike that gives you the ride you want.

jackbombay

My current favorite bike is a Tenax framed Schwinn Premis from 1988!

slenten

Buy as much frame as you can.
A high-end / custom / obscure frameset can be had for a few hundred bucks.
Frame without fork is often much less.

rccardr 

Wow, fhat’s a great deal.

Lascauxcaveman 

I'll echo the late 80s Schwinn, late 80s Trek mantra. Here's my 88 Trek 400, $25 for the frame, about another $300 in parts and powder coat; with its lowly (but stiff) True Temper frame it's officially my fastest bike. Although 8-speed Shimano 600/Ultegra doesn't really count as "modern," I think the idea is much the same.



I haven't gone with a modern group on any of my three late 80s Schwinns yet, but will be doing one of them, soon.

Germany_chris

There you go...lugged, new, less than 1k without tax, and can probably be shipped for ~$200

https://cremecycles.com/echo-solo,466,pl.html

RobbieTunes

Ironman

jbrown3

AN older OCLV would be choice! J/B

strangdang

I was in the bike business for 50 years, was a Fuji, KHS, Bianchi, and Colnago sales rep over that time (not all at the same time). I also raced track, road, and mountain for 34 years. I would say that after riding every kind of bike imaginable my favorites had frames built of Reynold 853. The only problem with an 853 frame is the owners of them know this as well, so you don't find them for sale that often.

Stan Heinricher

Particularly roadworthy are two old frames from the 1970s that I rode thousands of miles on: (1) a 1976 Bob Jackson tourer made of Reynolds 531, and (2) a circa 1974(?) Fausto Coppi racer made of light Columbus tubing. These frames let me ride 50+ miles at a stretch without excessive fatigue. I could ride them hands-off. Hands-off pedaling capability is important because the bike steers itself. The longer the ride, the more I like a self-steering bike: you don't realize how much energy can be wasted in needing to steer an unstable frame.

tooleftfeet

As a fellow noob who’s been scrolling these threads for a bit I too appreciate the knowledge & advice in this thread. I currently have what I think is a mid 90s Nishiki frame with a bunch of cheap parts that I got for free, a real Frankenstein. It’s okay for getting around the streets of NYC but I’m definitely looking for a quality frame and parts that can take the punishment of everyday use in the City. It’s taken a lot of patience and scrounging but luckily you can find folks all over the country willing to ship a bike to a new, good home. A few options in the hopper so I’ll hopefully have a nicer ride soon. For whatever reason I feel addicted to the aura of a vintage steel frame, that and I’m insanely jealous of my girlfriend’s vintage Bottecchia, so light and agile 😭

Good luck out there!

Billhpeloton

It depends on your needs. For mine I’m a big fan of higher end Japanese sport touring bikes from the late 70s and early 80’s. Usually well crafted frames with good tubing that, set up as 700c, accommodate longer reach brakes and fatter tires. They usually have enough braze-ons to accommodate fenders and racks. Most European frames lack those things.

tooleftfeet

It says Sport on the frame, pic is upside down in my profile. Frame is huge but as is I can barely stand over it and when seated I can fully extend my legs while pedaling.

wrightstuff

For what it is worth I plan on doing exactly this to a 1992 Trek Multitrack 790. It's going to be my first taste of more serious bike wrenching. I'm hopeful it is a successful project!

wrightstuff

To add a bit more context to my last post..As best as I understand it the Hybrid 750 and 790 Trek Multitracks of the early 1990s were made with upper/middle tier lugged chromoly frames that were similar to the famous Trek 520 touring frame of the same vintage. The 730, 720 and 700 Multitrack frames are more common, and are somewhat less desirable than the more premium 750/790. The thing that most excites me about building up the 790 I recently found on Craigslist is that I'm hoping to run up to 40mm wide tires when it suits me which would be pretty much impossible on road frames from the era.

Het Volk

I am curious. I was always under the impression you could with a STEEL bike (not aluminium or other materials) basically force a 130MM hub into a 126MM rear on older steel bikes, and there would be no detrimental impact, thereby making it easy to use modern wheels and cassettes.