Tips for Buying Used Road Bikes part 2: How to Inspect a Used Bike Before You Buy

Jim’s Tech Talk

By Jim Langley

If you read part 1 of this series, you now know how to assess your used road bike needs and how to find previously owned pavement pounders. This week, we’ll cover inspecting used bikes to make sure you don’t get a lemon.

I’m assuming, here, that you’re shopping for a nice used road bike that’s reasonably ready to ride. You might not mind having it tuned up or replacing a worn part, but you don’t want to have to deal with expensive repairs such as new wheels or drivetrain components or a full bearing overhaul.

Take This Guide With You

You don’t need to be a bicycle expert or a mechanic to do this inspection. Simply print the step-by-step instructions here. Then, bring them with you and a pencil. As you perform each step of the inspection, jot down anything you notice.

That way you’ll keep track and if it ends up you want to buy that used bike, you’ll have a list of things that might be bargaining chips for getting an even better price. For example, if you find a nice used bike and notice that the tires are worn out.

Since nice road tires are expensive, you could point out that you’re going to have to buy new rubber before you feel safe riding the bike. And, the seller might drop their price.

Tips for Making a Good Inspection

It takes at least 15 minutes to inspect a used bike and even longer if you like it – because you’ll want to test ride it, too. So, communicate with the seller that you need enough time to do these things. You don’t want to try to inspect and test ride in a rush. You could miss something major.
Pick a location that’s well lit and has room for you to move all around the bike, spin the wheels, try out the gears and brakes. Outside usually works best. I bring a flashlight just in case the bike is in a dark garage or basement, etc. and the owner wants to show it to me there.
Tell the owner of the bike that you insist on test riding the bike and make sure they agree to let you.

Deal Breakers: Avoid Used Bikes With These Problems

Here are a few things that make me walk away from used road bikes and I recommend you do, too. In the steps we explain what to look for to spot these deal-breakers. Thinking a used bike might be stolen is not on the list below because we covered that last week.

• If the bicycle has been repainted, walk away
• If you see serious rust or corrosion on the frame or parts, walk away
• If the bicycle appears to have been dropped or crashed, walk away
• If the components are worn out, walk away
• If the frame or fork are bent, walk away

Step By Step Used Bike Inspection Checklist

Step 1) Judge the overall condition

Here’s where you will spot the deal-breakers, so look closely. The bicycle should have a nice finish on the frame and fork and the frame decals should look good, too. Look down all the frame tubes on both sides and the fork also. There should be no dents or cracks or corrosion or big chips. If you can’t tell looking down the tubes, try touching the frame feeling for dents, imperfections and signs of damage.

Look carefully at the touch-down points – the places a bike will hit the ground when dropped or crashed. Look at the side of the seat, handlebars, pedals and rear derailleur. If you see scratches or gouges in these places, the bike was probably crashed or dropped and that can be all it takes to damage a bike seriously in some cases. You can ask about it to learn more, but it’s a sign to proceed carefully.

Any steel bicycle should be checked for bends in the frame and fork. To see a bent fork takes practice, but it’s not that hard. If you stand the bike up against a wall and back up, you can then look at the front end of the bike from a distance. On a good bike, an imaginary line that bisects the head tube will also bisect the fork. When the front end has been bent, the fork blades won’t be on the line anymore.

Carbon bicycles can get damaged from impacts but this type of damage can be hard to detect. The best approach is to ask the owner if they know of any damage or crashes. And then, inspect the surface of the entire frame and fork. Usually an impact will leave a mark. If you find a mark, you can try the tap test which involves tapping on the frame with a quarter. If it sounds different at the sight of the damage than it does away from it, it’s a sign that the frame was damaged by the impact.

Step 2) Check the wheels

After the frameset, the wheels are the most expensive part of most road bikes. To check them, start by feeling for bearing play. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know about bearings to do this check. All you do is hold the wheel at 12 o’clock and push and pull sideways.

Don’t yank on it, just push and pull with gentle but firm pressure. You’re feeling for play in the bearings. There shouldn’t be any. If you feel the wheel move sideways and especially if it moves a lot, it’s a sign that the bearings need work. Check both wheels.

If the wheels pass the bearing check, the next thing to do is to inspect them to make sure they’re straight (not wobbly). To do this, lifts one wheel at a time and give it a spin. As it spins, look carefully at the rim where it passes the frame so that you have a reference point. You want to see wheels that don’t wobble side to side or hop up and down. If the wheels wobble, it’s a sign of needed wheel maintenance.

On rim brake road bikes, check the sides of the rims, which are the braking surfaces and things that wear whenever you brake. What you don’t want are deeply grooved rim sides, a sign that you’ll need to replace a rim(s) sometime soon. To spot this, look closely at the sides of the front and rear rims for a smooth surface.

If the brake pads have worn into the rim, instead of an even smooth surface, there will be a wear track around the rim. It can fool you, so look closely. You can also use a fingernail to feel the rims for signs of braking wear, such as deep grooves cut into them from a brake pad that had dirt or rocks become embedded in it.

Also, look closely at the tires for signs of worn out tread (“bald tires”), cracked sidewalls or cuts, holes. As stated earlier, tires are expensive so ideally you’ll get tires on any used bike you purchase that still have some miles left in them.

Step 3) Check the drivetrain

The drivetrain consists of the mechanism that the pedals are screwed into, which is called the crankset, plus the chain and the derailleurs. Because all these parts get worn with each revolution of the pedals and because they wear together, you want to find a used bike with a drivetrain that’s still in good shape.

The telltale sign of a heavily worn drivetrain is a build up of grime and gunk caked on the chain, the sprockets and the derailleur pulleys (the small toothed wheels the chain runs over on the rear derailleur).

If the chain and sprockets are nice and clean, it might be because they were recently cleaned. In that case, you may need to ask the owner how many miles are on it to assess its condition. If you’re used to looking at drivetrain components, you can look for smaller pointed chainring teeth and too much daylight between the chain and the sprocket when the chain is on the large sprocket. Those are signs of worn out drivetrain parts.

Step 4) Check the bearings

You already checked the wheel bearings. The other components with bearings include the headset (steering mechanism), the bottom bracket (what the crankset spins in) and the pedals (usually pedal bearings won’t tell you much so there’s no need to check them).

Just like the wheel bearing check, you check the other bearings for play, too. Play means at the very least that the component needs adjustment. If all the bearings are loose and have play it usually means that the bike was ridden so long without servicing that all the grease in the bearing components is worn out or dried up. It can be an expensive repair to have the bearings all replaced with fresh ones and new grease. Usually, it’s best not to buy a used bike that needs that much work.

Besides the wheel bearings, check the bottom bracket bearings. Those are inside the frame and are what the crankset turns on. To check these, stand next to the bike and turn the crankset so one pedal is at 6 o’clock and the other is at 12. Now hold the pedal closest to you with one hand and reach through the frame and hold the other pedal with your free hand.

Holding the crank like this, you push and pull to feel for play in the bearings. There shouldn’t be any.

Lastly, you can also check the headset with an easy test. Stand next to the bike and hold onto the handlebars. Now apply the front brake so the bike cannot go forward if you push on the bars. With the brake held on like this, try rocking the bike forward and backward. What you’re trying to find is a loose or worn headset.

If you feel or hear a knock or clunk when performing the rocking test, something’s not right with the headset (once in a while a bad brake can cause the same feeling, but it’s usually the headset). Sometimes it’s an easy adjustment. But, it’s definitely something to put on your list as it could be a sign to walk away.

Step 5) Check the brakes and gears

To do this one, start with the cables and housing sections. They should be in good shape showing no cracking, bends or fraying in the cables. Also, there shouldn’t be any corrosion.

Inspect the general condition of the parts, too. Things should look new and in good shape. The rubber hoods on the brake levers shouldn’t have any tears or serious wear. The brake calipers (the part straddling the wheel or disc rotor) should look almost like new, no bends or scratches.

You already looked at the derailleurs when checking the drivetrain, but it won’t hurt to look again. Does everything look almost new? There shouldn’t be any signs of abuse or rust or corrosion. The front derailleur cage should not have wear grooves inside and the pulleys on the rear derailleur should have all their teeth and none of them should look worn out.

This is a lot to read, but the actual used bike inspection shouldn’t take too long. Here’s hoping it helps you find a winner. One last tip is to be sure to test ride the bike even if it passed your inspection with flying colors. Only on a test ride can you make certain the bicycle rides and shifts and brakes the way it should. Have fun and good luck finding an awesome used road bike.

One Way to Unload Your Used Road Bike

Got a used bike you’d like to get rid of, but don’t want to deal with trying to list it for sale and then show it to potential buyers? Turns out there is a way, if you are willing to take less money for the bike. In some cases where you wouldn’t bother to sell it at all otherwise, or where you really don’t want to deal with the hassle, it can be worth it. I haven’t ever used the service, but Lars has used it once at a bike shop in Austin and says he found it be easy, even if he was a little disappointed with how much he got for the trade.

Bicycle Blue Book has over 1,600 Authorized Trade-In Partners ready to help you turn your old bicycle into store credit you can use immediately towards the purchase of a new one. The process is simple—just like trading in a car. It works in a similar way, where you get the wholesale value of the bike and not the full retail value. So don’t go in dreaming of getting big bucks. Take your old bicycle to your local Bicycle Blue Book Authorized Trade-In Partner and they will help you quickly and easily find the trade-in value you can apply to any new bicycle or gear in the shop.

Ride total: 8,926