Where/How to look for a men's road bike?

Okay, so this is for my SO not me. I am usually good at hunting down bikes for people and doing a bit of maintenance work on them to help them out. I did this with a Specialized Hard Rock Comp I "inherited" this summer from a prof friend. Beautiful bike but it had almost no parts. I put most of it together myself and then kept it (minus a screwed up back brake I couldn't do). I've helped a couple other people find MTB's and commuters locally (Craigslist, usually) but now my SO is looking for a road bike. He's very tall (over 6') and currently just has an old MTB which I've had to overhaul since he never learned to take care of a bike properly.

We're looking to do a few tours in the future and he realizes he will want a road bike, too. His budget isn't huge (less than $500.00 but preferably about $300.00) so we want to do it on the cheap. He wants an older steel frame bike, so that helps us. But I am unaware of how to size him. For a commuter, this is so much easier for me! He's never had a road bike and is clueless. The only shops in town I trust with sizing are new-only and don't have used road bikes. He can't afford a new road bike and doesn't want anything that spendy. He would also like to learn a bit about the process of upkeep in process (he's finally believing me about bike care!). But man, that puts me in a bind because I don't know how to find him a good bike to ride 100 miles on!

Where should we begin? What should we look for? Will the LBS fit an older bike for him just like they would a new one (for a given price of course)?

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

You should post this on Road Bike Review, that way some guys the same height will answer. Also, try the fit calculator at Competitive Cyclist, you'll have to help measure him. (Should be fun). ;)

I'm guessing size 60 or so. Maybe even 62. How far over 6 feet is he?

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Thanks! He's gonna hate it but it can help!

Sounds like you want a decent steel frame for touring/commuting - not racing. A race type shop is going to suggest a much smaller size than a touring/commuting shop.
Here is the Bike Hermit's piece on sizing and measuring someone to help determine size. We just found an older Bridgestone MB5 on Craigslist for our son to use as a commuter for $95 and it doesn't need much additional work so once you decide on frame size I would suggest searching for Bridgestone and see what comes up.

That's awesome. Thanks.

Racing is definitely not where we are headed. We are looking to tour together :)

That's a really nice bike. I like that one a bit. I'd be super jealous if he got a cross bike before me haha. I will keep that in mind for later.

Still too high above budget, though, since we are looking at something he can bomb around on an abuse. I'm not sure how into this he's going to get and for that reason, we're trying to keep the budget low and get something cheap now. I have a feeling he will want to upgrade when we have more cash flow and I get a real job, though.

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

I see matching cross bikes in your future.

And that red is lush.

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There is a high likelihood of this haha. I've wanted to do cross for AGES. And I'd love to have a cross bike as my "other" bike. BF would also appreciate a cross bike. I think that may be our first "big" purchase after I get a "real" job.