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Something like a 90's/early 00's good quality road or audux bike for a 6fter?
Typing road bike into ebay just brings up too many hits for a newbie. Any road forums??
Budget? Upto 350ish
In all seriousness, unless you're after something that 'looks' old (i.e. skinny steel), the you'll find that modern lower-end bikes are probably better. I read Chris Boardman saying that his sub-£1000 bikes are better than the stuff he did the tour on as technology had moved on so much.
If you want something that 'looks' old, and I can't blame you, I love the skinny steel look, you need to be looking at pre-90's really.
I love the old steel look 8)
In which case, by a frame and build it up with modern bits. There's tonnes on Planet-X at the moment...
Type 531,853 ,columbus into ebay that will bring up old steel from time immemorial.Then try some of the classic names ,Colnago ,Merckx,Pinarello .Also go onto the London fixed gear single speed site ,go to classifieds and look under ebay finds on craigslists .Some very nice stuff turns up there ,just google LFGSS !
Type in Peugeot Road Bike into eBay and ignore anything that is tagged "retro".
Or Trek, but they were into Alloy at the time.
Around that era manufacturers were into Alloy so you may find the task, tasking.
Hora, try looking at the classifieds in Cycling Weekly.
Indurain won the tour in 93 on steel !
My road bike is a 1997 Lemond Buenos Aries (Trek era)
[url= http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=1997&Brand=lemond&Model=Buenos+Aries&Type=bike ]853 frame and full 105 etc[/url]
Fits all my needs and rides really nicely... it looked quite old-skool BITD when I bought it 😐 ... but now I love its looks more 8)
Worth looking for Lemonds on ebay.
Must take a picture.
I would look at a Koga Miyata for a 6 footer plus, there's a guy on LFGSS that specialises in only these bikes,
Some of the tubing this company used is simply stunning, on some of their 90's stuff they had barley twist tubing and wishbone rear ends as well as a full Shimano 600 gruppo !
The frame steel was Japenese but the bikes are from the Netherlands
I love them, they did some MTB's at one time too they are also quite desireable on the Retro Bike site ?
Enjoy,
Jap steel? look for good Ishiwata 015 is very light ,my low pro is 017 and that copes with my 99kg(on a light day )
that budget is meager for what your asking....
[url= http://www.steel-vintage.com/ ]take a look here[/url]
Yes...Wow! Pity I missed it: http://www.lfgss.com/thread108641.html
Glad you found that ,there is some truly great stuff on there
Heres a few to get you going:-
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Claud-Butler-531-Reynolds-Racing-Road-Bike-/290937850575?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item43bd3f4acf ]Claude Butler[/url]
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Claud-Butler-531-Reynolds-Racing-Road-Bike-/290937850575?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item43bd3f4acf ]Raleigh[/url]
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Eddy-Merckx-TDF-Single-Speed-Road-Racing-Bicycle-Bike-23-Fixie-Cool-/121134032537?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item1c3426a699 ]Eddy Merkx[/url]
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KOGA-MIYATA-EXERCISER-ROAD-RACING-BIKE-BICYCLE-CYCLE-STEEL-FRAME-SHIMANO-105-/111084603581?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item19dd2888bd ]Koga[/url]
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vintage-classic-Lemond-racing-road-bike-/151068674239?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item232c6508bf ]Lemond[/url]
A guy at work has a pristine Raleigh Winner that he might part with for £350
Raleigh Winner ? isnt that a cheapy made of hi ten steel and budget components?
my colleague had a 90's ridgeback with friction shifters , shimano groupy . he stuck it on ebay and Ridgeback contacted him and swapped it for a brand new ridgeback hybrid. rrp £749.
With the greatest respect to steel and its devotees; can any steel bike be as stiff torsionally yet compliant vertically as a modern carbon bike like a Roubaix? I doubt it.
I know this is an extreme example but my brother and I once borrowed an old skool skinny steel tandem by a well-known maker and it was terrifying; it felt as if the two of us were sitting at opposite ends of a farm gate.
Great budget road bikes are available from Decathlon. Triban 5 has alloy and carbon and could be upgraded into a really nice ride.
True about budget bikes like the Tribans some of us just like the look of steel and how they feel .I have been thinking about a Triban 5 as its a bargain I know its loads lighter than my 90s Raleigh 531 with 8 speed Campag but I still like the old steel .I suppose its no different to still liking mk2 Golf GTIS compared with modern hot hatches
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/salsa-campeon-scandium-road-bike-dura-ace-ritchey-wcs-1 ]Link[/url]
Perhaps mid 00's but look's lovely, I've been tempted.
What 'Edric 64' said, although saying that my roadbike is a late 90's Concorde frame made from Easton elite alu,which is so much smoother compared to my Giant Bowery which is also alu and about 10/12years newer.
A old gas pipe steel frame like the cheaper Raleighs are not going to have a great feel to them compared to a higher end 831 or Columbus framed bike.
I still like skinny tubes for a road bike from a aesthetic but there are a lot of modern bike builders doing some great stuff for a price£.
Like 'Field'
[img] 
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CTC Whole bike classifieds. They come up all the time.
Forget the classic Italian stuff; go for old-fashioned British. Harry Hall, Roberts, Mercian... Much better value. Since you are looking vintage, 531c is fine but for a bigger rider 653 and above are worth looking for.
+1 for Roberts, had one many years back.....awesome bike. You could also look for Fuquay. His steel road bikes were really nice. He built a TT bike for me....gorgeous. Wonder where it is now! Harry Hall were pretty good too, in a workmanlike, no nonsense sort of way.
High end, mint, £350.
Does not compute.
If I wanted an old high end steel framed road bike, i'd have to build it around a Colnago Master. £350 might get you half a frame for one of those...
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harry-Hall-racing-road-bike-shimano-105-/261235333896?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3cd2d6db08 ]Harry Hall[/url]
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Graham-Weigh-Road-Champion-14spd-60cm-Reynolds-531-Steel-Full-Shimano-105-Group-/161051125000?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item257f652508 ]Graham Weigh[/url]
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Joe-Waugh-Columbus-Tubing-Bicycle-with-Shimano-105-24-5-Large-Frame-/321149682337?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item4ac60342a1 ]Joe Waugh[/url]
Also consider: Dave Yates, Dave Lloyd.
Personally... for real use I'd want STI type shifters rather than downtube... but for £350 something will probably have to give.
[i]there are a lot of modern bike builders doing some great stuff for a price£[/i]
Or not for much of a price£, like Genesis:
[img] 
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Wwhathaveisaidnow - whathaveyoudonenow posting that link. Mmmmmmm, some truly lovely frames there.
Can't beat the look of a proper traditional steel frame IMHO.
Plenty of good advice above about what to look for but that budget is on the low side for a good 'un.
Cheers
Danny B
i'd love one of these:
[img] 
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it's a new bike (it's a specialized allez steel), they're cheap, but you can't buy them in this country...
That Genesis would look better with a traditional paint job and without the hipster white embellishments !
On one did a trad steel look frame called the Lincolnshire poacher you might find one of those
We'll have to disagree about the Genesis paint job, I think it looks cracking.
Using Ebay search filters it's not that hard to find stuff
eg. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-premiere-vintage-racer-/300924079314?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item4610790cd2
[img] EE9s2uiNc(BR)0hosNsw~~60_57.JPG)
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I'd scuttle across to Retrobike instead of Fleabay. There's all sorts of nice stuff popping up there.....
Its crap tubing though carbolite is gas pipe the op wants high end steel
It the way the panels re done for the lettering Im not keen on on the Genesis.Move it to the seat tube and move genesis down the down tube and add a bit of coachlining for a 50s look !
I bought this of here for £110 as a cheep commuter
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/my-dads-claud-butler-shortly-to-be-for-sale
Added chromoplastics, modern tyres and brake pads, some stiffer wheels and new cables and it's great 🙂
For you'r height and budget, get a low end cannondale off ebay, 56cm, CAAD4-CAAD8, it'll probably be 9speed though. Unless you want to use it as a commuter in winter in whcih case get something with mudguard clearance.
Did you notice the "eg."?
Another [b]eg:[/b]
I'm just saying, that this [i]Typing road bike into ebay just brings up too many hits for a newbie.[/i] isn't strictly true.
Rather like that genesis.
I still have my old 531 pug frame road bike from the late 80's. Mostly sits on the turbo now. Thought it'd be nice to do it up and ride it a bit but compared to today's bikes it just feels slow and heavy. Some decent wheels and a better group would probably improve things considerably.
I'm sure there are some lovely classics out there that ride brilliantly, but I'd doubt you'd get one for that budget. So as has been said, for that price a modern budget bike would probably be a better ride than an old bike.
I have found narrowing by tubing ,ie 531 etc works quite well ,or Reynolds,Columbus ,True temper can bring up good results and less gash stuff ,501 will pop up though so its not perfect!
I picked this up for £400 a while back, Columbus SLX tubing, diamante chainstays, mint condition Campy Chorus... Was a proper bargain and is a very sweet bike to ride, fits me perfectly 😀
[url= http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1005/5184410469_15fc11ffcd_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/32746168@N08/5184410469/ ]DSCF4083[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/32746168@N08/ ]ten_sim[/url], on Flickr
The weight thing Is mainly down to lighter modern kit ,unles you go really high end with carbon the steel frame will be a pound or 2 heavier at worst .Its fairly easy to get even 531 sub 20 pound with good kit on .Which is significantly lighter than mine is currently
That DeRosa is nice ,its the old school paint jobs that I really like.
I picked this up for £400 a while back, Columbus SLX tubing, diamante chainstays, mint condition Campy Chorus... Was a proper bargain and is a very sweet bike to ride, fits me perfectly
I know- I remember your first post on the bike. I was very envious. This sort of thing would be heaven.
The weight thing Is mainly down to lighter modern kit ,unles you go really high end with carbon the steel frame will be a pound or 2 heavier at worst .Its fairly easy to get even 531 sub 20 pound with good kit on .Which is significantly lighter than mine is currently
Yup reckon this is true, though it can get expensive quickly and there may be limits. I found most of the weight to be in the components on mine (BB and cranks for example will likely weigh a tonne if they are original.) Then there's the wheels. Then there are things like seat post (which might be some weird old standard diameter and really limit choice of lighter replacement) and saddle. Then there's quill stem and bars.
I did work out that I could get my old 531 well under 20 lbs, though it would have cost me a few hundred quid to do so (wheelset, chainset and BB, etc.)
Oh and depending on the frame you may need to spread it to take a modern rear wheel. Not really a problem but you may need to do some hanger bending to get indexing on the shifting working properly.