Wanted: A guide to buying a bike at a bike rescue place

[lordofthemark]

So my DD is back in Troy, and wants to buy a bike from Troy Bike Rescue, which apparently is kind of like Phoenix Bikes – they teach poor kids to fix donated bikes and then sell the bikes. She wanted me to go with her there to help her pick one out, but I did not have time before needing to come back to NoVa, and I think she will want to get one soon, as the season when biking in Troy becomes challenging if not impossible is not far away.

So I’d like to forward her some advice on buying from such a place. I looked on Yelp and did not see any feedback on the place in general. I can only assume they do a decent job. The only advice in particular that I have for her is to test ride a bunch.

Note she will probably want it only for tooling around the area near RPI up on the hill – she does not intend to ride it UP the hill. Might ride down the hll to downtown and then take it back up by bus (she will check if CDTA area buses have bike racks)

Topic

[dasgeh]

Will she use it before the winter sets in or during the winter? If not, I’d suggest waiting until the end of winter, because selection should be better.

If so, what are the prices like? If it’s like Phoenix, the prices are so low that the risk is minimal — just test ride the bike and if it fits without obvious problems, go for it. If it later turns out there are issues, resell on CL.

[Author]

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