Classic & Vintage - Wacky Centurion

Okay, I've found a lot of crazy stuff on craigslist, but this one confounds me. First, the craigslist ad:

"touring 10speed

10 speed lemans,quick release,531 tubing etc,good brakes, 35$."

I'm the first caller and the owner says that I probably won't want it because the tires are flat. Anyway, I get down to the trailer park and find the bike, which is actually a Centurion Le Mans 12. Here's where it gets strange: the bike looks awful. It has goofy stickers all over, rust spots covered in nail polish, and duct tape holding the cable housing to the frame. Yet it has beautiful 600 cranks, dura ace downtube shifters and derailures and brand new continental tires! Now, I'm no expert, but I don't think the Le Mans ever came with that group, and I know that the previous owner didn't put them on . . . or did he? In the ad he mentions 531 tubing but nowhere on the bike does it say 531. Somehow he must have known that 531 tubing was a good thing, so why didn't he mention the dura ace stuff? Any ideas? Your first though might be that it was stolen, but I've bought enough craigslist bikes to know when a person is a thief and this was an old guy with a road bike, and maybe thats all it was.

So wait did you buy it ?

So wait did you buy it ?

exactly and pictures or it didn't happen!

So wait did you buy it ?

No, the dura ace and 600 components were a dead giveaway that the bike was not worth 35$. I told him, go find yourself another sucker! Truth is that despite those parts, the price was pretty accurate. It will be fun for a beater, but it's too far gone to do a proper restoration.

I think the parts are worth the $35. Especially if you get two new Continentals in the bargain.

Why not soak the frame in oxalic acid to get rid of the rust, and then do touch up paint on the scrapes? Nothing like a solid, sort of ratty looking bike, for knocking about.

If you have the parts, put it back together, but keep the nice components in your spare parts bin. I've sold bikes that looked a lot worse than that, especially to college students that want a bike but don't want it to be stolen;).

I'd have bought it.

I'da definitely bought it. Despite him not knowing the tubing on his own bike. $35 is a good price for what you got pretty much anywhere here in the US.