Going steel

tombliboo83

Planning on selling my giant rapid 3 and looking for a steel frame road bike. What should I be aware of when looking at a steel bike and any tips on where to get most value for money?
I'm hoping to have 300-350e to spend. Would dublinbikenan be a good place to buy? Thanks in advance for any replies.

TurloughT

I'm in the middle of building a steel bike so can offer an insight. I think building from scratch is always more expensive than buying a second hand bike with all the components already on.
I bought a frame on ebay for about 120eu but i'll have spent almost 1k by the time I get finished.
I think for your budget you might get a second hand bike in somewhere like Bolton Cycles, he gets a shipment of bikes a few times a year form either Poland or Bulgaria and sometimes gets nice steel bikes.
There are a few bargains on ebay if you go for a brand that is no longer in vogue, Concord etc. Also perhaps put a wanted as on the adverts thread here, you might tempt someone to sell?

For top end stuff have a look at www.steel-vintage.com, they are in Berlin and rebuild gorgeous bikes. It's well worth a visit if you are ever there.

I think prices for nice steel bikes have gone up in recent years with the populartity of L'Eroica and the likes.

Lastly, Brendan in www.bicycledesigncentre.com based in Naas would build you a bespoke bike.

guym

Steel bikes are becoming more popular at the moment and as such there would not be a huge amount of choice at your pricepoint. That said, if you would be happy with something slightly vintage you could do a lot worse than looking at the Vintage Bikes Holland facebook page, Arthur van Rooij shifts an incredible amount of bikes through his page and would quite often have bikes within your budget. Steel frames are lovely and the comfort of them is second to none.....happy hunting!!

CramCycle

There is a place in Cork that sells vintage steel in that price bracket. Will look up the site later but Peugeot cycles rings a bell.

Alexzont

You could try http://powersgarage.net/index.php/italian-cycles/

tombliboo83

Alexzont wrote: »

You could try http://powersgarage.net/index.php/italian-cycles/

Some beautiful bikes there

mjsc1970

I'm not in the market to buy, however, looking at some of those........very tempting

tombliboo83

mjsc1970 wrote: »

I'm not in the market to buy, however, looking at some of those........very tempting

Pity most are sold

CramCycle

Alexzont wrote: »

You could try http://powersgarage.net/index.php/italian-cycles/

That's who I was thinking of, not sure why I thought they were in Cork

ridelikeaturtle

I don't know that €300-€350 will get you where you want to be. It seems to be true that the market for steel-framed bikes is improving for sellers. Unfortunately for buyers, any rusty heap pulled out of the Liffey is slapped with "vintage" and sold at a premium.

Bolton's has been recommended to me as well. Check in frequently and you might get lucky.

Dublinbikeman's prices seem... optimistic. The odd Pinarello gets listed, but doesn't stick around long, and would definitely be more than your budget.

Powers Garage is great to deal with, but again for your budget I doubt you'll find something that - at a minimum - doesn't need the same again in rebuild costs (BB, all cables & housing, tubes, tyres, maybe wheels also). They'd be the first to tell you the bikes they've got listed will need a thorough going-through to be roadworthy.

Ebay will be tough because of shipping any bike, which will probably cost @ €100 (give or take), depending on the seller. *BUT* if you find something with a "Make Offer" option, you could catch somebody desperate to sell.

If you know exactly what you're after, and search religiously (Adverts, DD, Ebay, local bike shops), you might find something available at the right money.

Good luck!