2 Wheel Tune:  Buying a used bicycle

Used bicycle buying tips from someone who's bought hundreds, or save money by learning from my mistakes!

Used bicycles are a bargain compared to new. But buying one with no regrets involves a degree of knowledge that few people have on their own. Below are some hints to help you in the process. I've put these in the order of their importance.

1. Make sure the bicycle fits you properly

No matter how cheap or expensive a bicycle is, if it does not fit you, it's the wrong bike for you. Or rather, if you can't make it fit you with some simple changes (in stem type and length, bar type and width), the most expensive bike in the universe is, for you, a bicycle shaped object rather than something you will enjoy riding. Bike fit can occupy whole books, and print and cyber wars have been waged over it; but here's a starting point: the Rivendell Bicycle Works page on bike fit. That link having been made, let me add that I don't like my bars as high as Grant Petersen likes them; but I do think he's more right for the non racing cyclist than most bike shops are.

2. After the frame, the wheels are the most important consideration.

Check out the wheels. Good bicycles have aluminum wheels and stainless steel spokes (though there are high end racing bikes from up to the early 1970s that have zinc plated spokes; but these are mostly for fetishists of racing vintage stuff). These wheels should first of all spin freely (the bearings should be smooth and the rims should not be out of true or out of round). Spin the wheel with the front or rear half of the bicycle held off the ground. If it does not spin freely, check if it's the rim hitting a brake pad, or if it's the bearings that are binding. If the wheel is far out of true (if it moves laterally, hitting the brake shoes, for example) by too much more than 1/8 of an inch or 3 to 5 millimeters, consider moving onto another candidate.

3. Make sure the bicycle frame and fork are made of quality materials

Good quality bicycles are made out of expensive materials. This is what gives them that winning combination of light weight, responsiveness, and durability. So look for tubing stickers on steel bikes that indicate double butted chromoly tubing, or at least chromoly tubing. On aluminum frames, look for specific types of aluminum, rather than generic aluminum.

4. Check out the head tube joints of the frame, and the fork just below the bottom of its junction with the frame itself, really, really carefully. In fact, check all the joints.

This is number 1 on the list because if the frame is no good, all you will ever buy is a collection of used parts, not an actual bicycle. Look carefully at the alignment of the frame. Particularly look at the fork, and at the junctions of the head tube with down tube and top tube. One of the most common frame flaws is that a bicycle has been run into something (a curb or a car are most common), and the fork is bent back, while the top tube and down tube are buckled slightly. Look for paint chips; and feel the tubing under the head tube and top and down tube junctions for dimples or small waves. The 3 spots marked with stars in the drawing below are where front end damage most commonly shows up. Bicycles with this damage will often not track straight (they'll pull to one side); and they will often be twitchy because the rake on the fork and the angle of the head tube have been changed in the collision. Look also for dents. Small and shallow dents are okay; large, deep or sharp edged dents are not.

5. Do the magnet test on the parts that are bolted to the frame

Good vintage bicycles have aluminum parts with very few exceptions (and these are mostly collectors bikes from the 1960s and before). The rims on the bike you are looking at should be aluminum, and likewise the crank and chainrings, the handlebar and stem, and the hubs and brakes. If these parts are not aluminum, no matter how shiny and attractive the bike appears, it's a lower end bike (unless, of course, it's from the 1960s or before). And preferably the spokes should be stainless steel, which rusts a lot less (it does sometimes rust a little) than does non-stainless steel.

6. Look for rust especially on the chain, but also on the vent holes that are often at the ends of the seatstays, chainstays, and fork legs.

Rust is often a sign that a frame has been stored outside or otherwise lived a neglected life. At very least, a bike with rust should carry a much lower price; at worst, consider not buying the bicycle at all. 

7. Check the bearings in the wheels, headset and hubs, and maybe pedals too

Check how smoothly the wheels, the headset, and the crank rotate. A bicycle that has been well maintained should have smooth bearings that rotate freely and with little or no friction or gritty feeling. A bike that has been neglected in these areas may often need either lots of expensive work or lots of expensive new parts, making the whole exercise of buying used a false economy.

8. Check the quality of drive train and brake components, and think about whether spares are available

Here are the middish 1980s to current road groups that you'll find on many vintage bikes in the order of their quality: Road: Shimano Dura Ace; Shimano Ultegra (or 600); Shimano 105. Road: Suntour Superbe Pro, Superbe, Cyclone. Road: Campagnolo Nuovo Record, Super Record, GS

Mountain, hybrid and touring: Shimano XTR, Deore XT, Deore DX, Deore LX, RSX. Mountain: Suntour XC; XC Pro, XC Expert, XC Limited. Note that I've ignored most Campagnolo parts, as the Japanese are far more prevalent. Note that Suntour went out of business in the early 1990s, so that if you have Suntour shifters, you may have trouble buying spare parts or replacement parts for the drive train (gears and shifters).

More hints to come; this is a work in progress.

email: info@2wheeltune.com;  phone: 424.261.5790