Reply To: Bikes 101 Follow-Up Questions

#10057
Mark Raugust
Participant

One more note on used bikes, as I have said before if you are looking at a used bike and you do not personally know the seller, if it’s a good deal the bike is almost certainly stolen. Check https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/ for an idea of what a fair price would be. As for used bikes that sound like a good deal compared to buying the bike new, something to think about is that many parts of the drive train on a bike wear out and need to be replaced eventually. Depending on how much the bike has been ridden the cassette, chain, chain rings and often the whole crankset will have to be replaced after 3-5 years. The shifters and deraileurs will last 10 years or more but things with gears connected to them eventually have to be replaced. Most of the time when you are seeing bikes from 3-6 years ago they are due for some major work which you should factor into the cost. You should also note that around 2013 Shimano Updated their whole line of components basically shifting everything down one level. That means that a bike with Ultegra from 2011 or 2012 (Ultegra 6700) won’t necessarily be better than a bike with 105 from 2014 (105 5800). Bottom line used bikes especially used carbon fiber bikes can come with a lot of potential problems and extra costs, so you should really be careful before buying one.

-Mark
NTP Co-Lead