Rookie thrift store bike mistake.

[[email protected]]

Dear Folks:
Made a rookie thift store bike find mistake. The bike itself was a
honey -- Univega Gran Sprint, lugged steel frame, Suntour Cyclone
derailleurs, front double Lawee Signature crank, rear 6 cog going from
about 13 to 28, Dia-Compe 400 sidepulls. Selle Italia saddle. Stem was
screwed up (like someone had used an English system allen wrench in a
metric allen bolt), but the lovely white handlebar wrap was almost TOO
prestine compared to the faded paint on the top-tube (like someone had
stored in a garage, next to a window). In the thift store, it had just
barely adequate standover. $49. A few weeks later I got around to
project-biking it by riding it (up Juan Street!) for a refit at a NOT
so local bike shop that does a lot of retrofits and refurbs (as opposed
to repairs).
When I arrived, we discovered that it had inadequate standover. What
happened? I'd inflated the tires. Here comes the WORST part: Bike was
too short for everyone else there, too.
Eventually I traded it for store credit at a used bike specialist
(and coffeehouse!) over by 68th and University -- because the quicker
he can move it, the quicker it can get back on the road with a
right-sized rider, where it belongs. Any difference between
prices/opportunity costs I'll chalk up to the expense of education.
Adding insult to injury, the thrift store I got it at has a new
pricer -- who's setting Murrays and Huffys at about $125 to start.

Robert Leone [email protected]

 

[Ken M]

[email protected] wrote:
who's setting Murrays and Huffys at about $125 to start.
>

Well nobody I can think of would pay $125 for a used Murray or Huffy.
For that price just go to the local X-Mart and pick up something new.
And maybe even save a few bucks.

Ken
--
Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed
with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with
the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike
and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a
good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from
the finals? - Lance Armstrong in "Dodgeball - A true underdog story"

Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] writes:

> Eventually I traded it for store credit at a used bike specialist
> (and coffeehouse!) over by 68th and University -- because the quicker
> he can move it, the quicker it can get back on the road with a
> right-sized rider, where it belongs.

There ya go. Maybe you were unwittingly pressed into service by
Mysterious Powers That Be, in order to to guide that bike to where
its and its future guardian's paths eventually, destinally cross.

I like to believe in that stuff. It's sort of like that
"having entertained angels unawares" thing. It's a nice
way to think about it, anyways.

I've done (and been the recipient of) a number of give-aways
in that vein. Sometimes the joy of being the temporary foster
parent of a bike is in sending it back out into the world, rather
than the possession of it. I figure if I got selfish and/or greedy
and started hoarding stuff, it would either stop the flow, or it
would open the floodgates to the point where I'd be buried under
more old bikes than I could deal with.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- "You get what you need" -- The Rolling Stones
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