Best place to sell bike/New Bike advice please.

[Saint]

Well summer is (nearly) here and it's time to satisfy my craving for a new bike. Was just wondering
where the best place was to advertise the one I need to sell as it's just less than 12 months old.

I'd welcome some advice on a new machine too. Definitely want a road bike with drops, mainly for
training at my own pace and leisure riding (i.e will not be used for racing).

I have looked at a few makes including Giant which seems to be good, Trek, Specialized, Scott and
Cannondale. Recommendations from any of these most welcome as this is the first 'proper' road bike I
have ever bought so I can't really determine good from bad - yet!

The other option is to have something custom built. My LBS is in Liverpool and are a very friendly
bunch who make their own frames and build bikes to your spec. I'm torn between two different types
of excitement - getting a new 'name' model or the excitement of having one built to spec.

Final question is where I can buy 2003 bikes? The Giant OCR4 from 2003 looks a great machine but the
equivalent '04 machine is a lousy colour.

My budget is about £800 and could go a bit higher at a push. I want something that goes like the
proverbial, is light, smooth and that will last me for years. Not much to ask is it? ;-)

All help gratefully appreciated.

Saint

 

[John]

I would consider selling a second hand bike on ebay, you can always put a reserve on it and it
always seems that the sellers get good prices, especially when you're buying! I think its always
best to have a picture of the bike in the ebay item.

I notice that www.bonthronebikes.com sell giant bikes from 2003, I don't know if they've got your
model but they say you should give them a call if you can't find it on site. I actually bought a
2001 bike in 2002 from www.evanscycles.com and I must say I found them great to deal with and have
had no problems with the bike at all. It was a mountain bike but it was £450 instead of £650. I have
heard some people won't deal with these online shops but I can't say a bad word about them really.

I do usually but from an LBS but sometimes I have my doubts especially here in Aberdeen as they all
seem to have spotty faced kids, totally disinterested in road bikes.

"Saint" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Well summer is (nearly) here and it's time to satisfy my craving for a new bike. Was just
> wondering where the best place was to advertise the one I need to sell as it's just less than 12
> months old.
>
> I'd welcome some advice on a new machine too. Definitely want a road bike with drops, mainly for
> training at my own pace and leisure riding (i.e
will
> not be used for racing).
>
> I have looked at a few makes including Giant which seems to be good, Trek, Specialized, Scott and
> Cannondale. Recommendations from any of these most welcome as this is the first 'proper' road bike
> I have ever bought so I can't really determine good from bad - yet!
>
> The other option is to have something custom built. My LBS is in
Liverpool
> and are a very friendly bunch who make their own frames and build bikes to your spec. I'm torn
> between two different types of excitement - getting a new 'name' model or the excitement of having
> one built to spec.
>
> Final question is where I can buy 2003 bikes? The Giant OCR4 from 2003 looks a great machine but
> the equivalent '04 machine is a lousy colour.
>
> My budget is about £800 and could go a bit higher at a push. I want something that goes like the
> proverbial, is light, smooth and that will
last
> me for years. Not much to ask is it? ;-)
>
> All help gratefully appreciated.
>
> Saint

 

[Simon Brooke]

"Saint" <[email protected]> writes:

> Well summer is (nearly) here and it's time to satisfy my craving for a new bike. Was just
> wondering where the best place was to advertise the one I need to sell as it's just less than 12
> months old.
>
> I'd welcome some advice on a new machine too. Definitely want a road bike with drops, mainly for
> training at my own pace and leisure riding (i.e will not be used for racing).
>
> I have looked at a few makes including Giant which seems to be good, Trek, Specialized, Scott and
> Cannondale. Recommendations from any of these most welcome as this is the first 'proper' road bike
> I have ever bought so I can't really determine good from bad - yet!
>
> The other option is to have something custom built. My LBS is in Liverpool and are a very friendly
> bunch who make their own frames and build bikes to your spec. I'm torn between two different types
> of excitement - getting a new 'name' model or the excitement of having one built to spec.

If you can afford to have your own frame built and exactly fitted to you (and it is made by someone
competent out of reasonable quality materials), it will be better than anything off the shelf. And
it really isn't that expensive. Go for it.

Don't know who your LBS is but there's also Terry Dolan in Liverpool who makes very nice
looking frames.

<URL: http://www.bikes-dolan.uk.com/ >

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; not so much a refugee from reality, more a bogus ;; asylum seeker

 

[Peter Clinch]

Saint wrote:

> I'd welcome some advice on a new machine too. Definitely want a road bike with drops, mainly for
> training at my own pace and leisure riding (i.e will not be used for racing).

If you're not racing then put serious consideration into a recumbent. Better aerodynamics than a
drop bar upright and an order of magnitude more comfortable with it.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Saint]

"Peter Clinch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Saint wrote:
>
> > I'd welcome some advice on a new machine too. Definitely want a road
bike
> > with drops, mainly for training at my own pace and leisure riding (i.e
will
> > not be used for racing).
>
> If you're not racing then put serious consideration into a recumbent. Better aerodynamics than a
> drop bar upright and an order of magnitude more comfortable with it.
>
> Pete.
> --
> Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells
> Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
> http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
>

Thanks for the advice guys. My LBS is actually Quinn Cycles in Edge Lane, Liverpool who have quite a
good reputation for decent frames. I have looked at Terry Dolan too but have always been told that,
whilst they are very good, are a tad on the expensive time.

I went to look at a Scott Comp today which was a very nice machine indeed but came a second to a
Specialized Allez Com which looked great (I didn't get to ride either so am going on looks and
spec alone).

I am just a bit lost with the choice and have read that fit/comfort is probably more important than
brand which to some extent I would agree with except that, as with everything else, there has to be
good/bad/better/worse in terms of build quality and components.

For instance I have heard that the Giant OCR range are very good but the lower spec'd ones are a bit
on the heavy side. I don't know too much about Scott but a good friend of mine has an Elite with
Ksyrium wheels and he wouldn't part with it for the world. I always thought that Specialized were
not particularly strong in road bikes but have heard good things about the Allez series.

Decisions decisions...

Saint

 

[Zog The Undenia]

Saint wrote:

> Well summer is (nearly) here and it's time to satisfy my craving for a new bike. Was just
> wondering where the best place was to advertise the one I need to sell as it's just less than 12
> months old.
>
> I'd welcome some advice on a new machine too. Definitely want a road bike with drops, mainly for
> training at my own pace and leisure riding (i.e will not be used for racing).
>
> I have looked at a few makes including Giant which seems to be good, Trek, Specialized, Scott and
> Cannondale. Recommendations from any of these most welcome as this is the first 'proper' road bike
> I have ever bought so I can't really determine good from bad - yet!
>
> The other option is to have something custom built. My LBS is in Liverpool and are a very friendly
> bunch who make their own frames and build bikes to your spec. I'm torn between two different types
> of excitement - getting a new 'name' model or the excitement of having one built to spec.
>
> Final question is where I can buy 2003 bikes? The Giant OCR4 from 2003 looks a great machine but
> the equivalent '04 machine is a lousy colour.
>
> My budget is about £800 and could go a bit higher at a push. I want something that goes like the
> proverbial, is light, smooth and that will last me for years. Not much to ask is it? ;-)

In that case you're probably looking at something with a triple chainset
- this would get you laughed at in a race but is increasingly common for leisure "sport" riding.

I don't think you'll get a decent custom built bike for that price. Beware anything made of steel
that tries to look like aluminium as it will weigh a ton. Also bear in mind that aluminium frames
will eventually break, although the best ones will actually last longer than a shoddily built steel
frame (a carefully brazed steel frame will last indefinitely though). With a triple you should be
looking at a without-pedals weight of 20-22lb. The Cannondale R600 Triple is worth looking at for
£839: http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=3555

Alternatively, buy a custom frame and fit the components from your old bike. They're hardly going to
be worn unless you've been round the world in the last year. The frame and forks will be easy enough
to sell, and a lot easier to post!

 

[davebee]

Originally posted by John
I would consider selling a second hand bike on ebay, you can always put a reserve on it and it
always seems that the sellers get good prices, especially when you're buying! I think its always
best to have a picture of the bike in the ebay item.

I notice that www.bonthronebikes.com sell giant bikes from 2003, I don't know if they've got your
model but they say you should give them a call if you can't find it on site. I actually bought a
2001 bike in 2002 from www.evanscycles.com and I must say I found them great to deal with and have
had no problems with the bike at all. It was a mountain bike but it was £450 instead of £650. I have
heard some people won't deal with these online shops but I can't say a bad word about them really.

I

Evanscycles isn't an online specialist, although they ARE cycling specialists. They have a chain ogf about 5 shops in London all of which are very good. My only gripe with them is that they tend to be less personalised than most lbs, because they are a chain. You need to be slightly careful with them when using them as a shop as they always seem overly keen to get the sake in my experience and will recommend something more pricey than you need.

 

[Saint]

<snip>

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. My conundrum was finally solved today when I set the
whole day aside to make a decision. To cut a long story short I managed to get a 2003 Trek 5200 for
£1600.00 (RRP = £1999) and even got a trade in of 500 for my one year old Trek 1200. If you add to
that a Floor Pump and a set of clipless pedals into the equation then you can imagine I am pretty
happy. My net outlay today was £1100 for a top bike.

Bike is full carbon frame with Ultegra groupset and, after one very short ride, looks like it wll
serve me well for many years to come - it's a flyer.

Thanks again.

S