Newbie Being Offered a Deal. Is it Fair?

[taximan89]

Hello,

I'm a young man (20) looking to make some inroads into cycling. My motivation is for fitness mostly and I plan on building up to long distance scenic rides. I've been discouraged by the relatively high prices of even modest road bikes but I've come across a deal. I'm buying offered a 1982 Fugi Royal 2 58cm frame. I'm 5/10 and have long legs. The bike is said to be in excellent condition and the owner seems honest. He's asking for 100CDN. Is this a fair deal? I don't want or expect anything that great, just something that works and will go fast.

 

[Rob3rt]

Hi

I'm a noob so take this with a pinch of salt, but Ive recently been buying a road bike and have complied some of the advice I got along my way buying incase it helps.

Someone on another forum told me some rules of thumb for bike sizing, measure your inner leg and knock 10" off it, or take 1/3rd of your height and thats roughtly what size you need (with a fairly big margin of error). Going on your height this says you require a approx 59cm frame, as they dont often come in 59 you will be looking at a 58 to 60 id imagine. So chances are that bike is the correct size. Its a very rough estimate though. The inner leg would be more accurate but your best bet might be to try going down a local bike shop and sitting on a few bikes, and get sized up properly.

I dont know if its a good deal in monetary terms, but if it doesnt fit well then its not a good deal whatever the price I guess. Can you ride it before you buy it?

Until recently I'd have just bought the bike I liked the look of with the specs I liked in the size the most shops said fits best. But having taken peoples advice and test rided a few bikes, sometimes similar specced bikes feel worlds appart.

 

[jhuskey]

I would get sized before purchasing a bike. Any shop should be able to do this at no cost.
A 58 could be too large since I know people that ride a 56 and are 5'11". The other thig to be considered in buyting a vintage bike is getting replacement parts since upgrades can cost more than a newer used bike.
I am not trying to discourage you but I would suggest doing a little more research and visiting a shop if only to look around and get advise.

 

[alfeng]

I'm a young man (20) looking to make some inroads into cycling. My motivation is for fitness mostly and I plan on building up to long distance scenic rides. I've been discouraged by the relatively high prices of even modest road bikes but I've come across a deal. I'm buying offered a 1982 Fugi Royal 2 58cm frame. I'm 5/10 and have long legs. The bike is said to be in excellent condition and the owner seems honest. He's asking for 100CDN. Is this a fair deal? I don't want or expect anything that great, just something that works and will go fast.

$100CDN is a great price for a 1982 Fuji Royale ...

Within a couple of inches, a great deal of sizing a frame is actually more cosmetic than most people want to admit because adjustments can be made by choosing-and-using a different length stem and/or handlebars ...

A 58cm frame will definitely be okay for you (it may actually be a 57cm, c-c) ... it just depends how much seat post exposure you want AND how low-or-high you want the handlebars to be relative to the saddle.

I still have a 57cm Fuji S12-S LTD frame (approximately the same vintage as the Fuji you are considering) which I don't ride only because I switched to smaller frame sizes for purely cosmetic reasons -- I'm 5'9".

My cosmetically smaller frames are essentially set up with the same saddle to pedal orientation + the same saddle to handlebar orientation as my 57cm Fuji had been with slight variation due to using different length cranks & different width handlebars, now. That is, instead of a 9cm stem which I had on my Fuji (the top tube is 57cm), the stem length on my different frames varies so that the combined top tube + stem length is essentially the same.

Many vintage steel framed bikes are worth updating with contemporary components, and the Fuji Royale is certainly one which falls into that category if you should choose to install newer components at any time in the near-or-distant future.