On Feb 16, 1:26*pm, "
wrote:
On Feb 16, 12:54*am, Dan O wrote:





On Feb 15, 9:06 am, bfd wrote:

The latest Riv Reader #41 is out online:

http://www.rivbike.com/assets/payloa...compressed.pdf

Its not a bad reader. However, what's startled me was the paranoia
about carbon forks. Grant just rails about the negatives of carbon
forks and the failure that will occur in 4 years of use. Here are some
quotes from the Reader:

"A used carbon fiber bike, one that may have suffered invisibly on its
way to you, is never a good & safe choice... "

Seen tonight on Craigslist:

"I bought this bike in 2008 for $1375. I have ridden it three times,
and found out I don't enjoy riding. It has been stored inside and is
in like new condition. I bought several extras for the bike including
a rear light, water bottle carrier, tool bag with tools, I even have
the original owner's manual with DVD. It is a great bike. Asking $975
OBO... "

(The bike being offered has carbon fiber bits all over it - probably
made as cheaply as possible in order to fill the marketing brochure
with "carbon fiber" buzzwords yet keep the overall cost down.)

Why would anybody with $1000 to spend on a bike try to save a few
hundred by buying a used one from an unaccountable third-party?
(Ooooooo.... he added a water bottle carrier... and it comes with a
DVD! *Bonus! :-)

(Okay, so "tools" might be worth something, but probably nothing I
need... )

(Did I mention that I paid $109 for my bike [no DVD included, though]
- and I *love* to ride :-)

$975 might, might be an OK price for a $1375 bike. *It did say OBO so
maybe he got it for less than the $975. *It is a 2008 new bike.
Supposedly only ridden three times. *Or if ridden 30 times it wouldn't
make any difference. *Buying used bikes is a very good thing. *No
reason in the world to buy new bikes unless you have got to have the
latest and greatest whatever in the bike marketing world. *Of my 7
bikes, 4 are used frames. *They all work just fine and dandy. *The
identical new frame would work no better.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Forgot to comment on the statement "Why would anybody with $1000 to
spend on a bike try to save a few
hundred by buying a used one from an unaccountable third-party?"
$400, difference between new and asking price, is a healthy amount of
money. I pay attention to $400 amounts. $400/$1375 is 29%. Asking
price of $975 is 71% of new price. That may, may be an OK price for a
"new" used bike. As for the unaccountable third party, so what. You
are buying a bike. You can look at it and tell what condition its
in. Hard to hide things on bikes. You can see the wear and tear its
had, or not had. I've bought several used frames. Just from looking
at them I could easily tell how much they've been ridden and how they
were treated.