Used or New?

[Aamir Aslam 2]

After a couple of months of using my old MTB to get my rides up to 2 hours, I have decided on buying a road bike.However, I am unsure whether I should buy a new one frome my LBS - such as the specialized allez 04 - or try my luck with a second hand bike that will have better specs for the same price.What should you look for in a second hand bike and what should you avoid? Specifically, at what mileage will components begin to fail and require replacing?Any advice will be appreciated.

[Guy Andrews]

Be very careful. If you're not too sure I would suggest avoiding second hand, unless you are certain of the bike's age and origin or you can take a riding mate who has a good knowledge of the market.

[Slam]

Cheers Guy.I was undecided until your post and will make a trip to my LBS to purchase an allez 04. I'll take my wife or I'll end up buying the Bianchi Narone - I'm easy prey for sales assistants.

[Ash Grimer]

Slam,I have got an allez 04, would not overly rate it after 6 moths... a lot is going wrong.you might be better off taking some advice from your LBS in loking for a bike with as good components as you can afford.second hand would be a last resort, and if you do. Make sure you take someone along who knows their bikes.ash

[Slam]

Thanks for warning Ash.What went wrong with your allez?

[Big Dave]

Hey, how tall are you Slam?See I have a road bike I've recently decided needs to be sold. Given everything that has been written above I would totally not blame you for running a mile and ignoring my comment but nonetheless here goes: I have a road bike for sale, email me for full details. In a nutshell, steel tubing (oria), Campagnolo Veloce throughout, Stronglight headset, Open Pro Rims (36h), comes complete with mudguards and computer.Condition isn't bad at all, done maybe 1000 miles due to my cycling career coming to a relatively abrupt halt when I got knocked off my carbon fibre race bike.

[Ash Grimer]

The back wheel has started to implode.Basically when putting force through the pedals (and then the back wheel) it isn't strong enough to stay in the same place, so yaws from side to side. I have been told by my LBS (after they sold i to me!) that Specialised use good stuff where you can see it, but on the inner components they use some low cost stuff from the bottom of the barrel to save cash.Shame really. the bummer is I can't afford a new set of wheels at the moment so am having to get the same sitty part replaced, so the problem will happen again in another 6-8 months depending on how much i cycle.Big Daves cycle sounds like a interesting offer though...check it out. Can't hurt.Happy cyclingAsh

[Slam]

Cheers all,I've been away on business this week and as a surprise my wife purchased the allez I was looking at last - for my birthday. So it looks like my decision has been made for me.Thanks for all the advice though.