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Used Bikes? Suggestions for Newbie Wife
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Hello All,

Any suggestions out there for places to buy good used bikes. My wife got the bug at Eagleman this year and I would like to surprise her with a bike of her own. She's signed up for a duathlon in October. Tris next year after a winter in the pool. She's a great runner already and an endurance machine.

We are about the same height and she is comfortably on my ride on the trainer with her own saddle I got for her. But I would like to get her set up so I can finally take my bike along on business trips again. No more, "I know you're leaving me and the kids again, but you're not taking your bike, are you?" ... "Of course not, dear." Hey, at least she is not asking me to saw it in half.

Not looking for anything too agressive, comfortable steel road geometry is my first thought. She has no cycling experience, just some MB around town with me on her hybrid. Any suggestions? What size should I consider for a lady 5'8"-5'9"? Anything specific about a female setup other than the saddle? I would pay to have her fit professionally - probably up at Tri-Speed in Baltimore. Like to keep cost below $800 so she does not shoot me for speding too much on her. Would love to buy at a LBS (live in MD) if anyone has suggestions. Like to hear from the ladies, espcially. Thanks for your help.

Steve
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Re: Used Bikes? Suggestions for Newbie Wife [Chubby Hubby] [ In reply to ]
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Steve,

I have an idea you may be interested in...Let me know via a reply and we'll share contact information.

Mercer
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Re: Used Bikes? Suggestions for Newbie Wife [Chubby Hubby] [ In reply to ]
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make sure to go off the inseam measurement, not height. Women, particularly taller ones, usually have more leg and less torso than similarly sized men. I got a long-legged wife who I mistakenly bought a bike with a long top tube for a couple of years ago. I'm 5 inches taller than her, but her inseam is within an inch of mine.
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Re: Used Bikes? Suggestions for Newbie Wife [Chubby Hubby] [ In reply to ]
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When I was looking to buy a used bike I found local tri club email lists and websites to be the best source for tri bikes. In general people posting to their own clubs aren't scamming anyone on the price and have probably been racing on the bike, so have taken good care of it. Plus, since I was shopping via the email lists of local clubs, I was close to the sellers and could go test ride a bike without having to buy it (which is not the case if you buy online from a non-local.) It was great to be able to go test ride bikes before buying them; I probably tried out 6 before finding one that I liked. Plus no shipping cost.

The downside is that the volume of bikes being sold this way is low, so I spent about 2 months looking before I found something. Not sure if you're time constrained or not.

As for fit -- she really should try out the bike before you buy it. Is that possible? Everyone is shaped so differently. But to answer your question about size, I'm a 5'8" woman with a proportionally long torso (compared to other women my height) and I fit spectacularly on the used 54" Trek 5200 (with a forward seatpost) that I bought. The bike was $790, so that's within your price range too.
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Re: Used Bikes? Suggestions for Newbie Wife [Chubby Hubby] [ In reply to ]
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I would recommend determining the general size that would be needed (for example 52cm) and then buy a whole bike used of that size from ebay, or rec.bicycles.marketplace. When you buy the bike used for say $950 then chances are that after using it for 6 months or a year you can still sell back on ebay for close to what you payed. Or maybe you would take a loss and sell it for $750, still not bad $200 for one year use. FWIW there are many good deals on ebay, I know some people here have talked about getting burned but generally this is the exception.

I put together a very nice collecton of litespeed bikes from these sources at a fraction of the cost. Example; litespeed vortex frame retail about $3000 my cost $1150!

http://www.angelfire.com/...55_rider/collect.htm

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I was, now I will tri again!
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Any time is a good time.
God Bless you my friend.
Last edited by: Goodtime: Jun 26, 03 18:00
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