Holy baby blue banana seats! That’s awesome! Thank you so much. I’m going to study this post carefully. I hope I can return the favor some tome soon. This is really nice of you. 
I will post updates as I go …
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that looks… unstable? prone to breakage?
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oh, lawd.
the one you posted is not even all that bad. they’re based on this game that’s been going around
and then this guy actually builds them, the absolute madman!
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They’re computer renderings. Cool though. He would have to be a madman to actually try to build them.
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oh, whoops. that makes a hell of a lot more sense. so much attention to detail, I never considered it. the stands for the rear wheel…
still a bit of a madman.
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OK, so what kind of bike does she want? what kind of riding; utility, sport? I assume not off-road in Chi? what do her friends ride so they don’t all rag her for having a weird bike?
Also, am I looking at the Chi metro CL or are y’all off in a neighboring county or what?
Big-city used bike markets tend to be highly inflated. I haven’t looked at it yet, but even so, there will still be deals for good stuff. How many, how often they come up, and how quickly they get snapped up may be an issue, but we’ll see.
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Leaning toward calling on this one. And I like the idea that Bridgestones have a following.
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Interestingly, my bike that I posted ITT is also an 80s Japanese sport-tourer with a casual handlebar. This feels like validation 
Don’t be intimidated by the downtube shifters, they become second-nature quickly (like reaching down to shift a 5speed car, but without the hard part – the clutch.) also, getting some old-school thumb shifters on the bar can be done (but researching compatibility for your old gear set-up is a thing.) but give the DTs a good chance.
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Are there conventions governing the transaction for tranferring possession of the bike? If there’s not proof of ownership, we could memorialize our understanding with a quick signed note of some kind. But what do reasonable private parties do when buying and selling a bike? I suppose some documentation is needed to transfer title, but what about customized or old bikes or if the proof of ownership was lost and needs to be replaced.
eh, neither of the used bikes I bought involved anything other than cash trading hands. given the universal and total indifference police have toward bike theft, the odds of a sale affecting you negatively seems very remote. but screenshotting/saving the .html of the page your potential bike is on before it’s taken down seems like it would protect you legally if it came down to it. There’s a serial no. stamped into the bottom bracket of bikes; after the purchase, if you were paranoid about the seller, you could go to the cop shop and ask if the bike has been reported stolen (but if it was, you’re out the money and the bike, and you’ll have to finger the thief–which you should, but just saying.)
once you get your bike, take pics of you with it and a pic of the serial no. and record that number on your device/a card in your wallet. I etch my name into the seatpost where it’s inside the seat tube, too.
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Okay, maybe 4 or 5".
Or only around 3-4" on the Avanti.
But my Hillman is pretty slammed.
Obviously it’s a bit small for me… I want to replace it with a 55-56cm funny bike frameset, and run it with the drops as my commuter. Because I ride in street clothes, and not usually for more than 20 or 30 minutes, I don’t get on the drops very much, so I set the height on the hoods at the lowest I can sustain, and the drops are just for taking advantage of a descent (usually just an overpass or gentle slope around my way) or for trying to hide from a headwind.
I’m not sure about this hip rotation business; being on the drops that low doesn’t cause me any particular discomfort beyond the fatigue caused by having to either go hard, or take more weight on my hands, or sit up. Maybe I’m rotating my hips, I have no idea. What’s the deal with it, beyond the dread?
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you didn’t want to cut that steerer tube?
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What are drops?
Nah, 1" threadless forks are hard to come by, let alone carbon ones, and that’s a pretty short head tube.
The first time I use the word there I mean drop bars (as opposed to the bullhorn and aero bar combo you’d normally see on a funny bike), and after that I’m referring to the hooks in the bars.
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Those are them.
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For mine, speed x other factors = fun 
Another reason I prefer drop bars (aside from the multiple hand positions) is that they’re only as wide as your shoulders, so they’re safer in traffic and you instinctively know whether you can make a gap.
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Which is weird because it looks as though it should be perfectly possible to design a seat ‘post’ like used there, that adjusted with a couple of M5 pinchbolts - or even QRs.
