RH Clark

Hey guys, I am wanting to get into touring. So far I have only ridden mountain bikes and spent very little time with road bikes or drop bars. I ran up on this bike and am scheduled to buy it for $200. It should fit me and I mostly want it for the bags and the experience of riding drop bars so I will know exactly what I want when I save up to spend big $$$ on a new bike. It's owned by an older gentleman who says he bought it new and likely rode it less than 1000 miles in all, mostly on 50 mile or less trips. Been in dry storage about 10 years. Could this bike be serviced to be as good as a newer touring bike?
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...2987788452593/

bikemig 

That's a very reasonable deal at $200 especially with the bags. It's a fine bike. You'll need to overhaul it and you will want to replace the consumables (chain, cables, housing, and tires). You're stuck with 27 inch wheels but that's not a bad choice plus it's a 40 hole rear wheel which is good.

There are not a lot of 27 inch tires out there but there are some good ones. The Schwalbe marathon is a fine tire and is available in 27 inch.

RH Clark

Appreciate it. My thought was to purchase it basically for the bags and rack which I could use later even if I buy something a lot newer but I have no real idea what the bags and rack are worth. I also need to ride drop bars a lot more and this type bike just to learn what I like and what size fits me best. I'm 6'1" and 170lbs and can negotiate a 33" stand over height without damaging anything but 33" is tight against me. I've been on a couple bikes very close to this size but I'm not certain on reach or stem height kind of measurements.

bikemig 

Ride it; you'll figure that stuff out as you get more experienced. This a solid touring bike. Once properly overhauled, there is no reason you couldn't ride it across the US.

wrk101

Deal! Long term I would plan on replacing the rear dérailleur. It’s got the enclosed Superbe Tech, which is a collectors piece but has sketchy durability. There are an endless number of choices on replacement at reasonable/low cost. If you are resourceful you will actually make a little money on the swap. It’s not original to the bike.

stand over is almost meaningless on sizing. And I bet your bicycle inseam is greater than 33 inch (bike inseam is not the same as pant inseam unless you wear pants the way Elvis used to).

RH Clark

Not real sure on stand over height except that I have a cruiser style bike that has a 33" top bar measurement from the ground to the top of the bar. I can stand flat footed over it but it's up tight enough that you want to ease onto it in a balanced kind of way rather than like a new rider. I'm really new to this stuff but I've been riding something, and anything that I could dig up every single day that wasn't just pouring rain for about 18 months. I have been transforming my body also for nearly 2 years from a 360 lb man to a 170 lb man. Cycling is huge to me right now in my whole recovery and transformation.

I'm saying all that just to tell you that I am green but I am also fairly balanced and agile on a bike. I just bought another Trek for $20 at a thrift store that fits and I was playing on it in the house a couple nights ago. I was riding it from the kitchen down the hall to the bedroom. I'm not really good enough for clip less yet but I'm working on it.

Overall bike fit has been a mystery for me and I started with a $50 17" Rigid Giant Rincon. I rode that maybe a couple hundred miles before realizing it was too small. Right now my main bike is a Trek Marlin 5 19.5" 29er.I paid $250 for it. I also have an inherited Schwinn Cruiser. I just bought the $20 Trek 400 that is turning out to be super cool with an oval 3 ring up front, 6 gears in back ,and indexed downtube shifters with a Deore rear derailleur. I couldn't pass it up for $20. I'll post pictures when I get it all cleaned up.

Right now I've been looking at a long distance touring kind of bike. I had the fiasco with the Schwinn Voyager SP but I've fond this Takara and committed to buying it. I just have to get the meet date set up. The $200 could go a long way toward a better bike I suppose, but I don't really even know if I want to tour on drop bars or flats or exact size until I get more experience on a touring style bike.

GrainBrain

wow congrats on the weight loss!! That Takara is fantastic. My two cents? Do what wrk101 suggests and sell the rear suntour derailleur, and shifters. Put that indexed deore RD and shifters on the Takara. Sell the 400. You'd probably come out with a free touring bike

RH Clark

Appreciate it man. There's a Co-Op type shop about 2 hours drive from me where I can dig through boxes of parts for real cheap. I may sell the 400 when the new wears off. It needs tires and tubes in the worst way, but I've been having a blast riding it back and forth on the mile long residential drive that connects my house to the main road. It's real snappy compared to my 40lb MTB. I'm actually just now progressing enough as a cyclist to appreciate the nimbleness of a different bike. What feels nimble to me now seemed really scary and awkward just last summer.

I may like the Takara so much that I get rid of the 400 but I wouldn't mind owning a Jeep, sports car, and a van, if it all works out.LOL

wrk101

When people ask me about owning multiple bikes (it’s none of their business), I always ask them do they own more than one pair of shoes? Hiking shoes, running shoes, dress shoes, etc. well it’s the same with bikes. One for going fast on smooth surfaces, one for off road, one for long distance comfort.

On bike sizing, about half of my bikes have NEGATIVE stand over. I have a long torso and arms and short legs. It’s what works for me. Google bike sizing and study top tube length (it’s more important).

Pompiere

I had one of those Peugeot cycle computers way back when. It worked well until the wire broke, but took up a lot of room on the handlebars.

T-Mar

Quit complaining. Imagine what the first bicycle computer looked like...

Mike Keefe

thumpism 

Pic assist. Looks like a super deal.

RH Clark

Appreciate it. It's got one spot of rust at the name on the top bar, left side. Guy is super nice and even has an extra set of gears for it and the original owners manual.