ok here we go
How To Buy a Decent Vintage Bike (if you don’t know anything about bikes)
(i am not pre-drafting this so apologies if it gets messy or i get interrupted to do something mid-thread 😅)
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the idea here is give you a set of easy visual criteria for identifying half-decent old bikes. it’s visual because most people selling old bikes don’t know what they’re talking about, you can’t trust what they write in their listings, but if there are photos you can look for these clues.
the “easy” part means there are perfectly decent bikes that these criteria will exclude, because identifying them as decent takes more nuance than this thread is meant to provide.
there are 3 main kinds of bikes this guide will help you find. it’s pretty specific but in practice quite a lot of these bikes do show up for sale.
- road bikes from maybe late 60s at the earliest into the early 90s
- touring bikes from the same era, though most tend to be from the 80s
- mountain bikes from the 80s and early 90s
tailor your search to the type of riding you want to do. (but also: every bike is somewhat adaptable to different riding styles, if you don’t have a lot of choices)
a lot of stuff applies to all three kinds of bikes. touring and road bikes are especially alike—i’ll explain the difference in a moment but for the most part i’ll cover them simultaneously. mountain bikes have a few differences and special considerations that i’ll talk about separately toward the end.
one important thing for all three categories: we are only looking for steel bikes. if the bike frame says aluminum or carbon anywhere, pass.
also relevant to all three categories: pricing.
prices can vary a lot based on region. also, crucially, prices on old bikes do not strongly correlate with how nice they are or how well-taken-care-of they are. some people want $$$ for literal garbage; other people have treasure that they just want gone.
but in general, expect to pay ROUGHLY in the range of $50-300. maybe a bit more in really hot markets or for really clean bikes or if you go to a used bike shop rather than classifieds.
matching type of bike to riding style
road: go-fast bikes intended for racing, fitness, and sport riding. skinny tires, higher gears (harder to pedal), nimble handling
touring: meant for long rides and lots of cargo. more stable handling, lots of attachment points for racks n fenders n stuff, lower gears (easier to pedal)
(there are also lots of gradations between these two, so just because something is more a road bike doesn’t mean it’ll be something impossible to pedal meant for racers)
