Best place for second hand road bike

WithCheesePlease

Got back into cycling thanks to the BTW scheme, and really got into it thanks to a few adventure races and duathlons. Already have a pretty decent hybrid (Specialized Sirrus Comp) but want to take the leap and get myself a road bike. Where's the best place to pick one up? Do shops carry many? Or should I keep an eye on adverts.ie or gumtree.ie or something?? Willing to spend about a grand, but want to get something pretty decent to justify going from the decent hybrid.

Thanks...

blorg

You know you can't buy secondhand on the BTW scheme?

Eircom_Sucks

blorg wrote: »

You know you can't buy secondhand on the BTW scheme?

you can buy what you like on it , all the bike shop has to do is give you a receipt for a bike , companys dont even check to see if u even got the bike , they dont care

its your money at the end of the day

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

You know you can't buy secondhand on the BTW scheme?

No, he's done that already. The road bike is with proper money.

Beasty

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

you can buy what you like on it , all the bike shop has to do is give you a receipt for a bike , companys dont even check to see if u even got the bike , they dont care

its your money at the end of the day

As blorg says, it's new bikes only.

It's the employer that initially buys the bike, not the employee, so any receipt belongs to the employer.

Also, it's the taxpayer's money you are talking about here - if someone decides to defraud the Revenue, it's the rest of us that end up paying.

WithCheesePlease

Sorry, should have been more clear / less waffly in my initial post!

Already availed of the BTW scheme to buy the hybrid. Now I want to buy a road bike from my own pocket. Just looking for best way to get most bike for my buck. Thinking of going second hand to get a "hardly used" model. Guessing there must be loads knocking about as result of said scheme. Just wondering do bike shops carry a good range of second hand bikes or should I stick with private sale on the likes of adverts.ie or gumtree.ie (or anywhere else someone might recommend)...

Harrybelafonte

Rothar in Phibsborough maybe?

Eircom_Sucks

Beasty wrote: »

As blorg says, it's new bikes only.

It's the employer that initially buys the bike, not the employee, so any receipt belongs to the employer.

Also, it's the taxpayer's money you are talking about here - if someone decides to defraud the Revenue, it's the rest of us that end up paying.

if he gets a receipt for a second hand bike from a bike shop its the same thing.

or the bike shop can just give him a receipt for a new bike etc , loads of shops doing it

defrauds lol , how ?? tax still being paid , still be deducted from wages

Lumen

WithCheesePlease has already purchased a bike on the scheme.

WithCheesePlease

I think I've made my mind up with this 2010 Specialized Secteur Elite, seems pretty good...

EDIT: probably just going to go with a new one, don't really know enough about maintenance to be d!cking about with a second hand bike

Highway_To_Hell

for that price I would have thought you would be able to pick up well spec'ed full carbon framed bike that might be better for your non commuting cycles.

Lumen

WithCheesePlease wrote: »

I think Ive made my mind up with this 2010 Specialized Secteur Elite, seems pretty good...

What happened to the used idea? Have you looked around on adverts.ie and in the adverts subforum here?

CSS used to sell bikes second hand, but they were never great value and it looks like they're withdrawing/replacing that service.

levitronix

Beasty wrote: »

As blorg says, it's new bikes only.

It's the employer that initially buys the bike, not the employee, so any receipt belongs to the employer.

Also, it's the taxpayer's money you are talking about here - if someone decides to defraud the Revenue, it's the rest of us that end up paying.

I think some companys are working it slighty different, where i work they give you a voucher for the shop where your going to buy the bike from

CramCycle

Their is a guy with a reasonable looking bike for getting around on the ads section for around 200 I think: Peugeot Galibier 501 frame & forks Shimano 600 set is the TAG line. (I'm not an expert but it looks fine to me, very little work needed, possibly?)

don't really know enough about maintenance to be d!cking about with a second hand bike

Also fiddling round with your bike is one of the most fun things to do, and easy to learn (difficult to master).

I realise that you have your BTW bike already but for everyone else, I am certain you can buy a second hand bike in the BTW scheme, once you get a receipt from a shop saying you got a bike. You just can't pick it up from Joe Soap on the street without a registered tax number or receipt. I think you can also get one from anywhere (ie once it comes through somewhere with a VAT number)

WithCheesePlease

Lumen wrote: »

What happened to the used idea? Have you looked around on adverts.ie and in the adverts subforum here?

I'll take a few days to look around and see what's available second hand, but I'd like to be sorted with something by this time next week. So I'll use that Specialized as a fall back if I don't see something else (new or second hand) that takes my fancy in the meantime.

And to be honest I never spotted the adverts subforum here before! Looking there now...

TinyExplosions

With a grand to spend, look no further than one of these -just about on budget, and a cracking bike for the money... Just don't tell Tunney you've got one

BostonB

TinyExplosions wrote: »

With a grand to spend, look no further than one of these -just about on budget, and a cracking bike for the money... Just don't tell Tunney you've got one

How easy is it to damage, and can it be fixed if damaged?

TinyExplosions

BostonB wrote: »

How easy is it to damage, and can it be fixed if damaged?

Depends on how hard you crash it! It's a carbon road bike, so is as fragile as any other one is

WithCheesePlease

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Depends on how hard you crash it! It's a carbon road bike, so is as fragile as any other one is

I wonder would it be a bit too fiddly for me just really starting out... Compared to the Specialized Secteur Elite

Is there some place in Ireland to get these or would it be online?

TinyExplosions

WithCheesePlease wrote: »

I wonder would it be a bit too fiddly for me just really starting out... Compared to the Specialized Secteur Elite

Is there some place in Ireland to get these or would it be online?

It's no more fiddly than any other bike really.

Only available online

BostonB

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Depends on how hard you crash it! It's a carbon road bike, so is as fragile as any other one is

I was thinking more along the lines of using as a commuter aswell as training, and surviving the rack at work.

SubLuminal

Rothar in phibsborough does the bike to work scheme..

www.rothar.ie

www.tinyurl.com/rotharmap

funkyjebus

saw some guy selling a full ultegra groupset (one of the best, and what im in the process of upgrading to now) trek for less then a grand. think it was adverts. it was in lovely condition. you wont get a bike with 105 groupset for less then a grand new. <br />
<br />
also, people leave the BTW alone. the op has already availed of this and you can only do it once every 5 years.<br />
<br />
taxpayer fraud - LOL<br />
<br />
goodluck op - if i was to buy ouside the BTW i would only go secondhand. far better value. if you are unsure about condition add 50 to the price and bring to mr skeff for a service.

ipodrocker

WithCheesePlease wrote: »

Is there some place in Ireland to get these or would it be online?

if you are in a cycling club your will proll find someone who has the bike so you can see it for real.

Burgess5

I bought a Specialised Secteur Elite a month ago on the BTW scheme. I am happy with it - I am a leisure cyclist and it is aimed at the leisure market. If you are into cycle racing you may want to go for a full carbon framed bike. Plenty of people here will recommend a Planet X for similar money to the Specialised.

WithCheesePlease

Yeah, at this point I'm torn between the Specialised Secteur Elite and the Planet X SL Pro Carbon Road SRAM Rival. To be honest I'd nearly rather the Specialized, not sure how keen I am on a full Carbon bike. But I dunno is that just cos I don't know any better!

Burgess5 wrote: »

I bought a Specialised Secteur Elite a month ago on the BTW scheme. I am happy with it - I am a leisure cyclist and it is aimed at the leisure market. If you are into cycle racing you may want to go for a full carbon framed bike. Plenty of people here will recommend a Planet X for similar money to the Specialised.

I'd mostly be using the new bike for leisure spins (<50K) and the odd adventure race. I'd keep the hybrid for commuting. I wouldn't be on for full-on road racing. Not just yet anyway!

Lumen

Burgess5 wrote: »

I bought a Specialised Secteur Elite a month ago on the BTW scheme. I am happy with it - I am a leisure cyclist and it is aimed at the leisure market. If you are into cycle racing you may want to go for a full carbon framed bike. Plenty of people here will recommend a Planet X for similar money to the Specialised.

TBH whilst the geometry of the Secteur isn't exactly race-oriented, it doesn't really matter that much. You could slam the stem down to get a lower position for racing if necessary.

In some ways carbon is less suitable for racing and more for pottering around, as the ride quality tends to be better and the repairability worse with carbon (and the probability of crashing in a race at some point is about 1).

A really cynical person might suggest that the only reason people use carbon fibre bikes, fancy wheels etc for racing is that otherwise they'd have no justification for owning them at all.