How to buy a used bike on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji: the checklist

Searches that work

A broad search for “bike” brings back exercise bikes, kids’ balance bikes, racks and helmets. Be specific.

• Brand and model. “Trek Marlin”, “Specialized Rockhopper”, “Giant Escape”, or a Canadian brand: “Norco”, “Rocky Mountain”, “Devinci”, “Brodie”. A brand and model often names a whole bike (“Trek Verve 2”) even when the word “bike” is missing from the title.
• Size. “54cm”, “medium”, “17 inch”, “size L”. Sellers write sizes in different ways, so try two or three.
• Type. road, gravel, hybrid, commuter, hardtail, “full suspension”, e-bike.
• French. “vélo de route”, “vélo de montagne”, “VTT”, “vélo hybride”.
• Words to block. exercise, stationary, spin, peloton, trainer, rack, helmet, “for parts”, wheelset, and kids unless you want a kids’ bike.

Facebook Marketplace’s app can’t exclude words, so the block list only works on a computer with an extension (see how to exclude words). On Kijiji, pick the Bikes subcategory first; it clears out most of the noise by itself.

From the listing: five checks before you message

1. A serial. Is it in a photo or in the text? If so, search it now on Bike Index and CPIC. If not, ask for it before you travel. A seller who won’t share it has told you something.
2. A size. No size in the listing means a question in your first message. Our frame size chart converts cm, inches and letters.
3. The components. The groupset says more about price than the colour does. On road bikes, Shimano runs roughly Claris, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace. On mountain bikes, Deore, SLX, XT and XTR from Shimano, or NX, GX and X0 from SRAM, mark the step-ups from entry level.
4. The photos. Taken at home, in daylight, from both sides? Or one blurry shot in a stairwell or a parking lot? That’s context, not proof, but it shapes your questions.
5. The price against similar bikes. Open three or four listings for the same model and year on both sites. A high-end bike far below the rest is the moment to slow down, not speed up.

Does it fit?

Road and gravel bikes are usually sized in centimetres, older mountain bikes in inches, and most newer bikes in letters. Roughly:

Brands size differently, so check the maker’s chart for that model and year. The full frame size guide has rider heights and how to check fit at the meetup.

At the meetup: the inspection checklist

Bring a phone light and a rag, and give yourself 20 minutes.

• Frame and fork. Look for cracks, dents and bubbled paint, especially at the welds on aluminum, around the head tube, bottom bracket, seat clamp and dropouts. On carbon, look for chips, cracks and crushed areas; ask directly about crashes. On steel, check for rust inside the seat tube.
• Headset. Hold the front brake and rock the bike back and forth. A knock or clunk means play in the headset.
• Bottom bracket. Grab both cranks and push them side to side. Any play or grinding means a repair.
• Wheels. Spin each one: no wobble, no rubbing, no loose spokes. Grab the rim and push sideways to feel for hub play.
• Brakes. Squeeze hard; the lever shouldn’t reach the bar. Check pad thickness, rotors for scoring, and hydraulic calipers for oil leaks.
• Chain and cassette. A rusty chain is cheap to replace. A stretched one also wears the cassette and chainrings. A chain-checker tool takes seconds; if it drops in, budget for a chain and maybe a cassette.
• Shifting. Click through every gear, front and back. Canadian Cycling Magazine’s advice is to “click through all of them” before you hand over money.
• Suspension (mountain bikes). Push down on the fork and shock: smooth, quiet, and back up at a steady speed. Look for oil rings or scratches on the stanchions and ask when it was last serviced.
• Tires. Cracked sidewalls and worn tread are easy discounts.
• Test ride. Brake, shift, stand on the pedals, and listen. A bike that’s been looked after is quiet.

Cosmetic things like bar tape, grips, tires and a saddle are cheap to change. A cracked frame, a worn-out fork or a seized seatpost are not.

Pricing a used bike

There’s no Canadian blue book for bikes, so price it from the market.

• Compare like with like. The same model, a year or two either side, in similar condition, on both Marketplace and Kijiji. Searching the exact model name is the quickest way to see a real price range.
• Start from the original price. A bike’s age and original price tell you more than its asking price. Brand websites often keep archived models with specs.
• Add or subtract. Recent service, new tires, a better wheelset or a fork rebuild add value. Worn drivetrains, old suspension and missing parts take it away.
• Sold prices. eBay’s sold listings show what similar bikes actually sold for, though shipping changes the picture. In the US, Bicycle Blue Book is a common reference; it doesn’t cover Canadian prices.
• Too cheap is a question. A carbon road bike or full-suspension mountain bike priced at half of what others ask needs an explanation, and a serial check. Our guide to judging a fair price goes further, and how to negotiate covers the offer.

Stolen-bike signs, and what to do

Ask where and when they bought it, whether they have a receipt or a registration, and why they’re selling. Honest owners answer easily. Canadian Cycling Magazine flags listings with “very little information at a very low price” and sellers who don’t have answers to your questions.

If a serial matches a stolen report, don’t confront the seller and don’t arrange to meet. Save the listing and the seller’s profile, and call your local police; Calgary Police tells theft victims not to contact the seller or meet them themselves, and the same caution makes sense for a buyer. Our guide to checking whether a bike is stolen has the full steps.

Copy this setup

Here’s a bike hunt that keeps your searches short. It uses Sift on a computer for the parts the sites can’t do.

1. Start a hunt › Bike in Sift’s options. It saves a “Bike hunt” preset with the frame-size filter on and the parts pack, which hides “for parts” and “not working” listings.
2. Pick your sizes, for example M and L, and choose to show bikes with no readable size (many good listings forget to say).
3. Block words: exercise, stationary, spin, peloton, trainer, and kids unless you want one.
4. Distance: 25 km from your home, or whatever you’ll actually ride or drive to.
5. Price: set your maximum in the site’s own price filter.
6. New only: turn it on once you’ve seen what’s out there, so tomorrow you only see what’s new.
7. One watch per type: “road bike”, “hardtail”, “gravel”. Narrow searches make better alerts.

Alerts for your size and budget

Good bikes at good prices go in hours, so alerts matter.

• Kijiji sends search alerts once a day from the website; the app lets you choose daily or weekly.
• Facebook Marketplace can notify you about a saved search in the app, but it decides when. See Marketplace notifications.
• Sift watches up to 10 Kijiji searches as often as every 15 minutes and up to 5 Facebook searches no faster than every 30. New listings pass through your filters first, including the frame size, so you’re only told about bikes that might fit. More in new-listing alerts.

With Sift on a computer

Sift is a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji. Its Bikes kit switches on when a listing is a bicycle (road, mountain, gravel, hybrid, e-bike, BMX, cyclocross, fat bike, or “vélo”) and adds what a careful buyer would check:

• A header on the details card, such as “Bike · size M (54 cm)” or “size L (19 in)” for inch frames.
• A frame-size filter with XS to XL chips. Hidden bikes keep their reason (“Frame size L” or “Frame size unknown”), so you can peek at them.
• “Check this” flags for “no serial”, a lock without its key and “found it”, and a green “Serial shown” chip.
• Bike Index first in “Check elsewhere”: a serial search when the listing gives one, otherwise stolen bikes reported near the listing’s city for that brand and model. Bike Index measures distance in miles, so that covers about 80 km; your own home is never sent.
• The everyday tools: hidden sponsored and sold listings, price-drop badges, reposted listings marked, and deposit-first or “text me” flags.

Exercise bikes, dirt bikes, scooters, racks, locks and helmets are left out of the kit, so they never get bike checks.

What Sift doesn’t do

Sift can’t tell you a bike is stolen, or that it isn’t. It reads the words in the listing and opens the registry search for you. A Bike Index non-match proves little, because most thefts are never reported or registered. It doesn’t inspect frames or test rides. And it runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer, not in the phone apps. Sift is independent and not affiliated with Meta, Kijiji, Bike Index or any bike brand named here.