| I've heard of a few possibilities for finding a cheap bike.
It depends somewhat on your confidence on fixing them, but
repairing a junked bike can be pretty cheap.
FREE:
I'm told that the cheapest place to find a used bike is the
Wellesley town dump. It's a reletively affluent town where
bikes are likely to get thrown away if the chain rusts or a
wheel gets bent. You can probably find another wheel nearby.
$20?
The second cheapest place to go is a police auction. For some
reason the theft of a bicycle is considered "petty theft" and
since there is no registration, most seized bikes and up at
auction. Look them over carefully of course. If it doesn't fit
don't buy it.
$45?
The next cheapest place is the want ads. In metro-west, pick up
a copy of the want advertiser on Wednesday morning. Also
scan the classified_ads notesfile and item 2 of this notesfile
from time to time. The hardest part is trying to explain over the
telephone that you want a certain frame size, when they keep saying,
"It's a size 27 inch bike."
$70+
Probably the least risky way of picking up a used bike is at a
bike shop. It will at least be cleaned up and have all the parts.
I know that Broadway Bicycle School (in Cambridge) and Charles St
Bicycles (in Boston) carry used bikes. I'm sure there are others.
-Jeff Bell
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