Secondhand / cheap racing bike

paulksnn

Hi Guys & Gals,
I'm looking for a cheap racer to get into a triathlon(probably a bad idea I know, but its a goal of mine). I
Anyway, I followed the links in the sticky and all the bikes seem fairly expensive.
I'm in the Ennis region but haven't found a secondhand bike on buy and sell or adverts.ie.
My ideal budget is between two and three hundred.
I did spot this on ebay, however, and am looking for the downside.
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Mercurio-RA5-62cm-12-Speed-Gts-Aluminium-Race-Bike_W0QQitemZ170183750993QQihZ007QQcategoryZ33503QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So please, do me a favour and point out what I'm missing.

avalanche

stay well away from those bikes. absolute rubbish. pick yourself up a good second hand one in the buy and sell for 300.

paulksnn

my god that was quick avalanche.
anyway, what exactly is wrong - is the company bad to deal with, problems with the frame?
The parts look to be of good quality
Confused

Quigs Snr

You will do well to get a bike in that budget. Go 350-400 and keep checking buyandsell until you see a trek 1000, lapierre stech, Specialised Allez or Giant OCR.

Failing that I would not bother. That ebay thing is a heap of dirt. 12 gears would have been fine in 1990, not 2008 and the ratios are not very good at all.

The frame appears to be huge 62cm ?? are you 6'5 or above ?. It is extraordinarily heavy too. I have seen plenty of this sort of bike over the years and they are a total waste of time more likely to frustrate than inspire you.

Even this would be better (Free Delivery also)...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14992

Although this one has much better components for less than 20 extra and have some bigger sizes too if you are really that tall.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14991

Its a little beyond the top of your budget but would compare favourably with the 540 euro low end Giant SCR4. Very similar bikes and the BeOnes are fine, I have one for offroad.

If you are patient and clever there can be good value in buyandsell if you are willing to travel. I picked up an old terry dolan for 350 last year for a friend. Light, Full Ultegra Groupset and wheels, great condition.

neilled

paulksnn wrote: »

Hi Guys & Gals,
I'm looking for a cheap racer to get into a triathlon(probably a bad idea I know, but its a goal of mine). I
Anyway, I followed the links in the sticky and all the bikes seem fairly expensive.
I'm in the Ennis region but haven't found a secondhand bike on buy and sell or adverts.ie.
My ideal budget is between two and three hundred.
I did spot this on ebay, however, and am looking for the downside.
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Mercurio-RA5-62cm-12-Speed-Gts-Aluminium-Race-Bike_W0QQitemZ170183750993QQihZ007QQcategoryZ33503QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So please, do me a favour and point out what I'm missing.

Ok I had one of these bikes and still do. It was bought in about feb 06. Good points - well its cheap for a start. Frame and forks are aluminium and as you can see its weight is around 11.5kg.

So its not the lighest around there but if your used to an mtb it'll be a change. The tires that came with mine were Kenda Koncepts, not sure if they're made any more but they're muck. Avoid.

Gears - they're mounted on the downtube. More modern bikes come with gears that are integrated with the brakes, so pushing one of those to the side will change the gear - so no reaching down to do it. The actual gears themselves are not from Shimanos road bike range, its normally a shimano tourney dérailleur or something which means the actual gears are more like entry level mtb, so you won't get the higher ratios you would on something on
shimano's road range.

Durability wise - frame is grand I guess. I had to replace the back wheel on mine a while ago, having said that the bike has survived me getting taken out by a car, a courier and me coming off the bike after going into a pothole whilst slightly intoxicated.

Its probably not the best for doing triathlon with but for commuting its a grand bike - thats what I used mine for.

paulksnn

Thanks Quigs,
I was thinking that I'd be stretching it maybe with the budget.
The ebay was a sample size, I'll go to a bike shop to figure out the size I need at 6'1".

The problem is, I know I need a racer to do a triathlon, but if it doesn't take, I don't want to have an expensive bike sitting in the shed to be taken out twice a month.

Ghost Rider

That probably won't be an issue. Entry-level road bikes from reputable brands seem to be easy enough to shift second hand, so even if "it doesn't take", you probably won't find it hard to sell the bike afterwards.

paulksnn wrote: »

The problem is, I know I need a racer to do a triathlon, but if it doesn't take, I don't want to have an expensive bike sitting in the shed to be taken out twice a month.

Raam

paulksnn wrote: »

Thanks Quigs,
I'll go to a bike shop to figure out the size I need at 6'1".

You will probably want a 57 or 58. I'm a shade under 6'3" and a 58 fits perfect.

Quigs Snr

If I were you then I would go for:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14991

For 371 Euro, it is a decent bike, probably the 59cm (maybe the 56 would be too small) in the graphite/white colors instead of the red (take a look through the pictures, there are several and one of them shows this color scheme). It has bottom range Shimano Sora STI (Handlebar - Brake Lever type gears). Its about the same spec as the Giant SCR4 which comes in at 540.

If you decide its not for you, you will sell it easy for maybe 300 euro or not much less so you will lose very little. Entry level bikes sell very, very easily. If someone offered me 10 of these for 300 each I would take them and sell them for a profit around here.

Like I said I have a BeOne MTB and am very happy with it. I don't ride it often but when I do, I ride it hard and offroad, so it takes quite a beating. My road bikes are both all carbon, dura-ace setups with deep section carbon wheels now on both. But I did buy entry level for the better half last year with a Giant OCR4 and if the BeOnes were that price back then I would have gone for them instead. That model I have listed there has been reduced quite a bit as its last years model.

drogdub

Looks very interesting, if I was to buy one of these bikes and get it delivered how much assembly work would I have to do on the bike. Are there any other problems with buying a bike on the internet

cunnins4

Quigs Snr wrote: »

If I were you then I would go for:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14991

For 371 Euro, it is a decent bike, probably the 59cm (maybe the 56 would be too small) in the graphite/white colors instead of the red (take a look through the pictures, there are several and one of them shows this color scheme). It has bottom range Shimano Sora STI (Handlebar - Brake Lever type gears). Its about the same spec as the Giant SCR4 which comes in at 540.

If you decide its not for you, you will sell it easy for maybe 300 euro or not much less so you will lose very little. Entry level bikes sell very, very easily. If someone offered me 10 of these for 300 each I would take them and sell them for a profit around here.

Like I said I have a BeOne MTB and am very happy with it. I don't ride it often but when I do, I ride it hard and offroad, so it takes quite a beating. My road bikes are both all carbon, dura-ace setups with deep section carbon wheels now on both. But I did buy entry level for the better half last year with a Giant OCR4 and if the BeOnes were that price back then I would have gone for them instead. That model I have listed there has been reduced quite a bit as its last years model.

My brother's BeOne Storm 1.0 arrived yesterday, took it for a quick spin last night and they seem very solid. It's full 105 spec, and tbh I found little difference between it and my Ultegra Focus. The gear changes were really nice and sharp. Very stiff frame. The only thing I didn't like where the drops: they seemed very small, and the one you've linked there quigs has similar bars. Are they supposed to be angled so far down? The drops are definitely smaller than my own and I didn't really like that. Other than that though they seem to be excellent value for money.

drogdub wrote: »

Looks very interesting, if I was to buy one of these bikes and get it delivered how much assembly work would I have to do on the bike. Are there any other problems with buying a bike on the internet

Took my brother about 90mins to put the whole thing together. He really took his time though. Swapping over the brake cables to be left=back took the most time. You have to fit the saddle, handlebars and stem, front brake, front wheel, and front derailer cable. You also have to tighten up a few bits like the back brakes and adjust the rear derailer. He also used a multi tool which is a bit fidly, separate allen keys would've been easier!

Very easy stuff, just time consuming. No problems with any of it.

drogdub

thanks for that. I am looking at the storm too. My main worry was assembling it, but I might give it a go. Will decide over the weekend I am 5'10" so I would guess (and it is a guess) 54 would be my size. What pedals and shoes did he get by the way

blorg

I've seen these smaller drops on more bikes recently, generally entry level ones. IIRC the new Trek 1.2 has them too. I think I read somewhere (Bike Radar?) that the idea is to make drop bars less intimidating for people new to them- e.g. there is less of a extreme difference in position and thus they will be used more.

cunnins4

drogdub wrote: »

thanks for that. I am looking at the storm too. My main worry was assembling it, but I might give it a go. Will decide over the weekend I am 5'10" so I would guess (and it is a guess) 54 would be my size. What pedals and shoes did he get by the way

He got these shoes and these pedals. Nothing too fancy.

I'd say a 54'd be okay, just check the size chart to be sure.