I’ve mentioned before that most of the bikes I own were bought second hand, and, as long as you’re careful about it it’s a great way to get yourself some awesome kit without having to shell out the thousands it would cost you new!
I’ve spent hours online searching out good deals on places like ebay and gumtree and have picked up a few tricks on how to weed out the good from the bad (Click here for my tips on how to search for a quality second hand bike online) – if you’ve ever done much searching yourself you’ll know there’s a shedload of the bad out there! It takes a bit of advanced search terms to find them but it’s well worth it and I’ll be setting up a couple of pages which will automatically search some of the better resources out there using the right terms to pick up some good bikes.
Click here to search quality filtered mountain bikes
The link above is a tester which shows you one of my normal searches. Feel free to bid on anything in there, it’s the full ebay site simply linked from here using a special search. This is one of my searches for general bikes, just to pick up some of the more unusual ones out there, but it weeds out the low quality ones by looking for specific components. You can click on and bid on the bikes below no problem so if you see something good then go for it. Just make sure to check the feedback first – as long as they have a minimum of 50 you’re covered by paypal up to £500 so you’re a lot safer that way. Click the link to start the search in a new window, and good luck!
UPDATE: I’ve discovered how to include a feed on my own page, have a look at the range of XT parts online just now:
Thanks for the tip(s) and link. But I think I’m still more comfortable with seeing the bikes with my own 2 eyes, instead of relying on photos posted on eBay.
But I still think eBay will help in searches for bikes for people like me who’s in the market looking for a good 2nd-hand bike, or a cheap (hard tail, cheaper than a full sus) brand new one 😀
Cheers Craw – there’s no substitute for seeing a bike in the flesh… or in the aluminium I should say… but shopping for mountain bikes on ebay just saves so much money that I think it’s worth the risk.
Each to their own though! Any luck with your own 2nd hand searching?
Colin
i just bought a second hand specializedm4 stumpjumper full suspension. juicy 3 breaks. dart 3 rockshocks front and fox air rear. not sure of age or true value, whats the maxprice? please let me know. thanks
You!!!!!! oh so lucky and blessed person, if you already bought it, and do not like it, then now sell it to someone who actually knows what it is, and how best to use it, otherwise cuddle up and love your new baby 🙂
I’m keen to get into mtb. Any recommendations for womens bikes? I read that a good bike has suspension that costs £500 on its own and that a good bike with good suspension is a must?