Mom's newer bike purchase

[eforce123]

My mother is looking into getting a nicer bike and we are going to look at this below. talked to the seller who was very nice with all my newbie questions. My mother has a giant liv aluminum bike now with tiagra group set. What should I look for? I like the bike overall cause ive read great things about the Madone 7.9+ models and its lightweight which is another plus. Moms bike now weights 19lbs with the 1450 gram clinchers

*this bike below doesn't come with the zipp wheels. We can some nice carbon clinchers already for my moms bike

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik ... 33947.html

Thank you,
Jordan

[KarlC]

I dont know anything about that bike, but it has been for sale for a long time, so likly its priced on the high side.

[AJS914]

The seller is probably not going to recoup his $1200 in "upgrades".

So what is the exact question about this bike?

My advice for buying a used bike is:

Know your exact size and fit ahead of time. Don't waste the seller's time with road tests trying to see if a bike will fit.

Hit up bike stores first and see what you can get new. You often find old model years sitting on the floor at deep discount. You can also figure out your exact Trek size by road testing some new bikes first.

Check ebay completed auctions for pricing and check current auctions to see what is available now.

This bike is going on 5 model years. Prices on used bikes IME seem to fall off a cliff after 3 model years. Some sellers have a hard time facing that the bike they paid a small fortune for is now worth pennies on the dollar.

[Noctiluxx]

As pictured, no way that bike 13-lbs.

[ancker]

Probably worth it for the 'comprehensionless' cable housing alone.

[rlpaul]

The weigh in photo shows it 2 ounces shy of 14 lbs with no pedals. I wouldn't call that a 13 lb bike myself.

[alcatraz]

Where can I buy some comprehensionless cable housing?

How does it work? Does anyone really know?

To the op: What is your mother looking for in a new bike? Comfort, lightweight? Any well maintained old bike can see the same health benefits. Comfort can be adjusted with wider tires even on a harsher carbon frame, and so on. Is your mother a strong larger lady? Maybe then a carbon bike can be stiffer than an alloy one.

/a

[Bluechip]

Strange. The link comes up as a $2260 Cannondale Synapse in San Diego for me. Looks good but over priced unless it's a hi-mod which it isn't. MSRP for a new 2018 is only $3K.

Some similar unusual mispellings in this one too. That's never a good sign.