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Firenze GL 5000 Road Bike

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Old 06-22-19, 04:46 PM
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kingk44
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Firenze GL 5000 Road Bike

Hey. I was wondering if this is a good road bike or not. If not, what would you recommend as a commuter, especially for a student who doesn’t have too much money to spend
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Old 06-22-19, 05:46 PM
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wrk101
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Total complete garbage. Google the story behind Firenze.

A lot of colleges have bike cooperatives, or volunteer bike mechanics. Find them and get started with something decent.

I wouldn't trade a beer for a Firenze.

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Old 06-22-19, 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by kingk44
Hey. I was wondering if this is a good road bike or not. If not, what would you recommend as a commuter, especially for a student who doesn’t have too much money to spend
Define- "doesn’t have too much money to spend".
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Old 06-22-19, 06:39 PM
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Often referred to as "Italian road bike" in rummage sale descriptors. In person? Italian, not so much.
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Old 06-28-19, 12:12 PM
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Originally Posted by bargainguy
Often referred to as "Italian road bike" in rummage sale descriptors. In person? Italian, not so much.
True that. I bought a couple bikes off of a guy at a flea market in the past. A few months later when I saw him he asked me to come over to his house to show me an Italian bike he thought I might be interested in buying. You guessed it, it was a Firenze. I probably should've asked for the name on the bike before I went over there and was upset with myself for wasting the $2 of gas. He said, "but it's Italian". I said. "No, it's garbage".
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Old 07-01-19, 02:42 AM
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Candidate for the crusher!

The first Firenze bikes that hit the streets in the mid 70's were so bad that kids riding off curbs would bend the forks and frames so badly that they became unrideable. We wouldn't let anyone bring a Firenze into our shop for liability reasons.

Everything about those bikes was junk.

They had to stop selling them by 1976-77 because of lawsuits and later the CPSC so they started selling them to car dealers and other outlets: buy an new car, get a free 10 speed bike.

G Mathew David - Top Of The Hill Daily City

The folks who got stuck with a warehouse full of them called me up one time and offered to sell me a 40' trailer full of the for ~$15 each.... CLICK!

Those bikes were so bad that they wouldn't even make good scrap iron!

The later red and white ones from the 80's were a little better quality but still JUNK!

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Old 07-01-19, 06:24 AM
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I did know a student a few years ago who used one for commuting until he graduated. They're not good bikes by any standard, but if it's cheap enough ($50 or less) and in good working order it could do the job.
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Old 07-01-19, 09:15 AM
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BSO 'classic'

No Loss if its stolen.. Only , you just have to walk home.. then..



35 years ago I worked in a shop that was taking them in for safety check 'tuneups' ..

Some of the fresh stickers migrated to my same color touring bike frame.

Never made it to Florence, but the Italians would not get the joke, any way..







....

Last edited by fietsbob; 07-01-19 at 09:27 AM.
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