"Vintage" bikes, building a commuter, and Craigslist

Wasn’t Dismal Scientist selling some bikes recently? If any are left, would they be the right size? All other things being equal, I would feel more comfortably buying from someone I know who has maintained the bike well, or would disclose any shortcomings.

Liz

Give a call to Phoenix Bikes and see what they have – http://www.phoenixbikes.org – I’d trust them more than 99.9% of the people on Craigslist.

All depends on what you are looking for. There are valuable “vintage” bikes and crap “vintage” bikes. I generally look at what the frame is made of and the level of componentry. (A pet peeve of mine is when people say a bike has “Shimano” gears; that tells me almost nothing.)

My first suggestion is that you may want to consider a clamp on rack that goes just on your seatpost. Do not do this if you have a carbon seat post. Do not do this if you want to carry a lot of stuff on your rack (more than 5 poiunds or so.)

The first thing I suggest is that you decide what you want. There is as much variety in vintage bikes as in new bikes. The example you show is a Fuji Mountain bike with street tires on it. This is not what I would consider when buying a commuter, particularly for a long commute. However, your mileage may vary.

If I were trolling CL for a commuter, I would first decide on what type of bike I was looking for. Do I want a mountain bike with city slicks, a touring bike (by which I generally mean a road bike with drop bars and rack mounts [generally with long geometry]), or more of a racing-type bike. Next, I eliminate all department store bikes and the crappier models of known brand bikes. For example, I won’t consider any bike with stem shifters or suicide levers, which generally indicate cheap components.

Good frame materials include: Reynolds, Columbus tubing and Japanese frames of the era. For deraillers, I look for Suntour Cyclone, maybe VGT and Shimano 600 (105s from the late 80s and Deore for mountain and touring bikes.) Brake types will vary by bicycle type. 70’s bikes will have centerpull. Mountain and touring bikes will have cantilever, while racing bikes will have sidepull. Make sure the crank is a three piece type.

If I were to look at a bike, I generally check whether the frame is straight, the wheels are true and the components work. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tires and cabling are shot and would take an appropriate discount for any work I would do myself on the bike. Similarly, if the bike required that axles or bottom brackets need to be repacked, I would ask for a discount.

For the bike in question, the Fuji Boulevard appears to be a mountain bike made in the mid ’80’s with Valite tubing and Suntour AR derailleurs. Interestingly, it seems to have road bike-like forks. The price is in line with what I would expect. I wouldn’t get it because I wouldn’t want a mountain bike.

A CL guy (who offered a trade for my Bianchi mountain bike [likely too big for you; I wouldn’t want Clovis upset with me.]) offers this: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3106655393.html. It a mountain bike converted to a touring bike. I’m not sure how the geometry works out. I might prefer larger wheels, but your mileage may vary.

PS: The 22″ Marin Limited Edition is still available, but I don’t know if it would be too big or whether you would want to put a clamp-on rack on the seat post:http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3098722343.html

This bike is a steal: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3117006946.html

Classic ’80s touring bikes include the Trek 720 and 620 and the Miyata 1000. Just below that is the Miyata 610. I bought one for my girlfriend and she rode a 610 across the country. As a bonus, the 610 has 700 cc wheels rather than 27″.

@Certifried 24247 wrote:

I guess the real question I have is what I can do to one of these bikes. Ultimately what I want is a steel frame with mounts for racks, the reason I’m looking at “vintage” bikes. I also want new components on it; STI shifter/brakes, etc. I’m not even sure that can be done, so need to look in to this a bit more before I pull the trigger. It might end up that what I need to buy is just a new (or lightly used) commuter/touring type of bike. So, yeah, I need to research a bit more, but quickly because I really want something soon lol

One of the joys of vintage bikes is that you can slowly upgrade them as you wish. See the following upgrade of a Miyata 610: http://brazenbicycles.com/Miyata-610-re-build
One of the advantage of having an old bike with 700 CC wheels is that the braze-ons for the cantilever brakes are in the right place when you put on new wheels with the 10 speed cassettes, the old canti brakes will work. You can get indexing with bar end shifters. Or you can just ride the bike as it is originally set up. (That half-step/granny triple sure looks sweet.:rolleyes:) Step one would be replacing the brake levers with aero levers and un the cables under the bar tape. (That would get rid of the silly suicide levers.:rolleyes:) Step two would be replacing the downtube shifters (if that is not what you want) with friction bar end shifters. Finally, if it is time to replace the wheels, go for the full STI treatment. (Even bikes with canti brakes often are drilled to accept side pull brakes as well.) The key is that you don’t have to do all the upgrades at once.

Another option you might wish to consider is looking for a mail order touring bike. I purchased a Nashbar touring bike off the internet for about $600. I primarily did it to get 700 CC wheels so I could mount studded tires for winter riding. That said, I still prefer riding my 1984 Trek 620. I put on the aero levers, and because I upgraded to a seven speed freewheel, I use some old Suntour bar end friction shifters instead of the old down tube indexed shifters.

Whoa. That is one pink bike. You’ll be easy to pick out on the trails. Congrats on the new stead. Great price too.