I'm after a cheap road bike, advice needed.

[pip ryder]

I desperately want a second hand road bike of some sort. I'm out of work at the moment so I want something pretty cheap. I've seen bikes on ebay for £50 or less. Are these likely to be worth buying or am I being unrealistic? I'm not after something amazing, just something that goes, and goes faster than my mountain bike.

Can anyone give advice or suggestions on what to look out for and what to avoid?

Also, how do I work out what size frame I need? I'm six foot tall and currently ride a 19 inch mountain bike frame, what sort of road frame should I be looking for?

 

[Hacienda71]

You might struggle at £50 even second hand to get much, but something like this has potential, you would need to get some wheels, but it is a good make with good components Tiagra and 105 are good spec mid range kit. Size will depend on your inside leg but I would have thought at 6 foot you should be a 56 to 58 cm frame. You could go for an older bike but if you go for an old steel one make sure it is Reynolds 531 or 501 tubing or better. At the end of the day anything with narrow high pressure tyres will be far quicker than your mountain bike. Or put narrow slicks on the mountain bike.

 

[WychwoodTrev]

If you are the sort who likes playing with tools a guy who rides with corinium club has built a decent bike with spares off ebay the whole thing has cosy him 15 quid

 

[Broadside]

£50 is stretching it a bit but you will get something worth having for about £80. You should be looking for about a 21/22" frame.

 

[Dayvo]

Don't go cheap on ebay!

Either a half decent 2nd hand bike (ads in the local paper or at the supermarket), or try finding out where the police auction lost/unclaimed retrieved bikes.

http://www.police-information.co.uk/Docs/policelinks/auctions.html

or find out where the FNRttC crowd are off to next and wait for them to go to the pub/caf! You might find a hack or two there!

 

[albion]

Only if you are north east based, I have a very very cheap, but reasonable bike that has only done one single trip of 15 miles since its purchase new 18 months ago.Its only got a double chainset on the front. If it had come with a triple I might well have escaped without knee injury and be using it now.