Circulating

1) (he said he'd take $250) https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/bik/5392637098.html

2) https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/bik/5376491427.html

3) (he said he'd take $300) 2006 Trek SLR 1500

4) Giant CFR 1 Road Bike

Price is definitely a consideration for me. Any advice for me to help decide between these?

RoadGuy

Grab your money and run down to see if the Klein is in decent condition and fits you. If it does, give the Seller the $250. Don't try to grind him down any more, because someone is going to steal that bike out from under you.

If it turns out to need a little work, don;t worry about it, as long as the frame in in good/excellent condition you cannot get hurt.

Circulating

Hi and thank you for the response. The 2006 Trek SLR 1500 guy just said he'd take $300. That bike is 10 years newer and looks to have similar components as the klein. Is there a reason the klein wins over the other bikes? I looked up all the bikes on bikepedia and don't really know what to look for to make one bike win over another

corrado33

There's a reason the Klein is selling for roughly the same price as bikes 10 years newer than it. Kleins are very nice aluminum bikes and this one has a nice groupset on it. If it fits you, go for it.

seymour1910

Kleins are great bikes, that's not hype, they are proven.

If you would rather have a newer bike that's also fine. There is the Trek and I saw other options in your area for nice bikes. Here is a nice Defy

Giant Defy 5 Medium with Carbon Fork

Dave Cutter

The best deal is the bike that fit/feels best. I like the Klein too... but it is too small for me and would not be worth my time to even look at. Always buy by fit.

DinoShepherd

Is there something in the water there that make people put their saddles at crazy angles?

Anyway... The Klein. That bike is sick. It wreaks of old skool style. Takes me back to my Jr. racing days, but only the cool, rich dudes had those. We were all on our old Italian steel.

And 8-speed Ultegra? One of the finest groups ever made. Unkillable. (new word?)

No idea how that frame rides, but it doesn't matter, because you will look GOOD.

DinoShepherd

Again, not that it matters, but riding a Trek of that era immediately pegs you as a Lance Armstrong fanboy, bandwagon, d-bag. If you have a fragile ego and/or ride with snobby roadies, this may be a consideration in your purchase decision.

Riding the Klein immediately puts you in the realm of: elder statesman, experienced, wealth and taste. People may actually steer clear of you on the bike paths riding that bike. The aura is that strong.

The 105 components on the Trek are really good. REALLY good and give one more gear than the Ultegra on the Klein. But the aren't Ultegra.

Pick your favorite color and don't look back.

curbtender

Nothing wrong with checking a couple of them out. My only concern with the Klein would be how worn things were.

Circulating

Thanks for your input

Circulating

Guys, I just checked out the klein and oh, my, god, is it beautiful. Shifts smooth. etc. ONE PROBLEM. (maybe)
Has a small dent (maybe 1/8") with a 1/8" crack in it. It's not really a crack, but more like a puncture, the metal is sort of pinched? idk. I've uploaded a picture I flawlessly drew on MS paint.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

seymour1910

What does the owner have to say for the area in question? If he doesn't have a good answer, I would look at that Defy I linked in post #5 .

dtrain

IDK - I'd take the Trek (and 'd-bag' label) over an older Klein with a dent. The Defy would be my second choice.

goenrdoug

Buy the Trek or the Giant from the reply, above.

I'm sure the Klein is enviable and all that, but it's way old. If you're planning to put some miles on a bike and don't want to spend a lot of time replacing fairly hard to find old stuff endlessly, buy the Trek. It's a generation newer and you'll have a lot less trouble finding 9-speed 105 (I'm guessing from the pictures) stuff than older 600 stuff.

Circulating

Hispanic guy, super nice, house is filled with religious stuff, said he had 2 bikes in the back of his van, turned a corner and one bike fell over on the klein/

seymour1910

Yeah, I would go with the Trek or that Defy, choose the one you like the best. They are both your size.

DinoShepherd

Maelochs

I would never buy the Klein with that damage. In fact, any tube with a dent and hole is severely compromised (which is why even steel frames have bosses around the bottle mounts.) All the stress will focus on the flaw and worsen it. You might get ten years of riding, or it might worsen dramatically with every ride.

Go with a newer Giant Defy--beautiful bike, and from what I hear, a good frame worthy of upgrading its components a few years down the line.

99Klein 

Another vote for the Klein. The first Giant doesn't look too bad either.

Maelochs

Absolutely unbiased opinion from 99Klein .

Circulating

Just one more bit of info (this might be me grasping at the fact i reallllly like the Klein) but, upon telling the owner I wasn't interested due to that little mark, he told me "it's not a crack, it's just a scratch where the bikes hit" Now, i'm no crack vs scratch expert, but it could be that's true. I didn't really look like a crack by traditional standards. Almost looked like if you took a file and went up and down a few times on the metal. Does this change anyones opinion?

Circulating

If not, why would I go the Giant Defy 5 (the guy will take $350) with the Claris vs the Trek 1500 ($300) with 105?

seymour1910

I wasn't suggesting you should. I want you to go for the bike you really like. I just put the Defy out there. They are great bikes and a frame woth upgrading later instead of buying a full new bike.

Also, don't generlize groups. Just saying 105 doesn't tell the story. 5500 105 is not 5800 105. There is nothing wrong with it, but trickle down is a reality. Current Tiagra is as good or probably better than most older 105 groups (including 5700).

dtrain

There is a huge difference between dent + crack and just a paint scratch. You are the only one who saw it.

Maelochs

Okay ... First off he wants to sell the bike for decent cash. Second, is He a scratch and dent expert? Third, even if it is just a dent it could develop into a problem. Fourth, it depends on the rest of the bike ... if it is a lot older, how many miles are left in the bottom bracket? What else is worn? Look, it is a beautiful bike and all, and Any used bike is a huge risk. If the Klein really grabs you, grab it. For the money, it won't be a huge loss and it might be a great deal. But it is an old bike.

As seymour1910 notes, The Defy is a frame worth upgrading in the future. However he also wisely notes that the age of the groupsets matter. The Trek, the carbon Giant, and the Defy all look like good bikes. However, what they look like in a small photo and what they actually are, are not much related.

Personally I would take a bike with 105 over Claris ... All Other Things Being Equal. I don't know much about the Trek, but I was looking at buying a Defy last season, and the thing that appealed to me was that the frame was better than the components (I would buy a groupset from Merlin or Ribble and sell the old parts on EBay (or build a second bike, more likely.))

But you have to look at them, ride them, shake the cranks and wheels and bars to see if everything is tight and smooth and spins easily. You have to decide which fits best (keeping in mind that you can do a lot to adjust the fit.)

Assuming everything works, I don't think you could go wrong with any of these bikes. Even the Klein---likely it is just a small dent and some scratches, and while some people will tell you that would develop into a terminal injury, probably you could ride the bike for ten years with no problems. But ... maybe not.

Go with whichever really grabs you. If you love your bike you will be more likely to ride it regardless of which groupset or a dent, or any of that.

Still, I would pass on the Klein ... and maybe regret it when I saw some guy riding it a couple years from now, bragging about the awesome deal he got.