{"id":132014,"date":"2015-11-11T15:56:57","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T13:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/?p=132014"},"modified":"2015-11-16T11:59:20","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T09:59:20","slug":"guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/11\/11\/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to buying a second hand bike"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can buy any bike second hand, but you\u2019ll need to consider three things \u2013 is it safe, is it stolen, and is it worth the money? If you haven\u2019t decided what bike to buy yet, check out our guide to the different types of bicycles<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it too good to be true?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You\u2019re passing a row of shops and you notice a brand new road bike in a pawn shop with a price tag of \u00a390. You take a closer look \u2013 it\u2019s made of carbon, the brakes are positioned behind the forks for aerodynamic efficiency, and it has time trial handle bars.<\/p>\n

\"Spanish
\nPhoto: Polic\u00eda Nacional,\u00a0Twitter.com\/policia<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>This scenario may seem far-fetched, but it happened earlier this year when Spanish police recovered Orica-Green Edge\u2019s \u00a38,000 stolen time trial bike from the Vuelta 2015. If a big brand bike is going that cheap \u2013 it\u2019s either stolen or broken.<\/p>\n

Know your stuff \u2013 or know someone who does<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re a qualified bike mechanic, or someone who likes to get their hands dirty, buying a second hand bike is a fun way to save money and recycle quality goods. If you\u2019re not an expert, there\u2019s a vast resource of bike maintenance tuition videos for free on the internet.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/instagram.com\/p\/9ks5IxyA40<\/a><\/p>\n

Remember that your local bike shop can fix most problems a lot cheaper than you might expect. Although I have the equipment and knowledge to true my own wheels, my local bike shop does it for \u00a310 in less than 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

Check the bike for identification<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Obviously, most pawn shops or indie bike shops are legitimate businesses and don\u2019t sell stolen bikes. I bought a mountain bike from a local pawn shop and the shop\u2019s manager had no problem with me using my smartphone to visit bikeregister.com\/bike-checker.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/instagram.com\/p\/7k6GJCl9Xz<\/a><\/p>\n

If a shop owner has a problem with you checking a website, that\u2019s an indication you should spend your money elsewhere. All my bikes have smartwater technology and if any of them were stolen, I\u2019d report it immediately. If you buy a stolen bike and the owner identifies it to the police, you could lose the bike \u2013 and there\u2019s no guarantee you\u2019ll get your money back.<\/p>\n

Buy online from companies with grievance policies<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Big sites like eBay offer their own guides on how to spot stolen bikes. They also allow you to rate the seller, and offer a grievance procedure should something go wrong. If you buy a bike online that says \u201cmint condition\u201d and you get a flat tyre 3 days later \u2013 that isn\u2019t a grievance, it\u2019s just bad luck.<\/p>\n

\"Ebay<\/p>\n

If, however, you\u2019re riding the bike and the head tube bearings fail and you find yourself heading into oncoming traffic without the ability to steer, you\u2019ve got a legitimate grievance and may be entitled to your money back via the website\u2019s arbitration policy.<\/p>\n

Check the basics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If the chain is rusty then you\u2019ll have to replace it soon, as it will also be damaging the bike\u2019s cogs. This doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t buy the bike \u2013 but you could barter the price down further. After all, it does mean extra work for you.<\/p>\n

If the handle bars are too stiff, and the crank squeaks or makes a grinding sound, the bearings might be lacking grease, and that is dangerous. Again, you could barter the price down and prepare to pay \u20ac100 for your local bike shop to fix a few things. If in doubt \u2013 don\u2019t pay out.<\/p>\n

\"Customer<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re paying out for a second hand carbon fibre frame, never pay for something with cracks or obvious knocks. The structural integrity of carbon fibre is very different to steel, and you can\u2019t bend it back into shape. Carbon fibre is a great material \u2013 it\u2019s stiff, light, and compliant. But when it fails, it fails dramatically.<\/p>\n

Keep perspective with the price<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I went on a cycling holiday around the New Forest in the UK recently, and you could rent a half decent mountain bike for \u00a320 a day. Admittedly, that bike will be well serviced, clean, and safe, but bikes can take a lot of punishment. If you spend \u00a3100 on a second hand bike and you get a good 6 months riding out of it, you\u2019ve not done too badly. If you\u2019re clever with how you buy and learn some basic maintenance, you can make your n+1 last a lot longer. Check out our maintenance guides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can buy any bike second hand, but you\u2019ll need to consider three things \u2013 is it safe, is it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":132017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,329,334,330],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-132014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","category-road-cycling","category-socialising-and-culture","category-urban-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nGuide to buying a second hand bike - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can buy any bike second hand, but you\u2019ll need to consider two things \u2013 is it safe, is it stolen, and is it worth the money?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/11\/11\/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-bike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guide to buying a second hand bike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You can buy any bike second hand, but you\u2019ll need to consider two things \u2013 is it safe, is it stolen, and is it worth the money?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/11\/11\/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-bike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-11T13:56:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-16T09:59:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2015\/11\/opener17.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Ashley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/11\/11\/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-bike\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/11\/11\/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-bike\/\",\"name\":\"Guide to buying a second hand bike - 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