OK, earlier this week I put in an impulse snipe bid on a Paramount. I had just picked up two, so I needed a third one, right? N+1 after all.

Anyway, I have been burned 100% of the time on bikes shipped by ebay sellers. In my limited experience, the sellers just don't know how to ship a bike. I tried to have a conversation with the seller, no reply. This was not looking good. And the seller only wanted $30 to ship ANYWHERE in the US. Lucky for him, I was not on the west coast (seller was in Kentucky).

The Fed Ex box was sitting on the front porch when I got home, wow, that was fast! Bought the bike Monday evening, and it arrived Thursday.

One side of the box looked great, although the center was bulging. Here we go again. Sure enough, there were parts sticking out the other side of the box. My main concern was the handlebars, as one brake lever was sticking out, and it looked like it had been slapped around a bit. Depending on how the handlebars were secured, I envisioned damage to either the top tube or the down tube.

Initial look in the box did not look good. The handlebars were loose in the box, no protection on the down tube at all, and just a packing blanket on the top tube. And the bars were resting on the frame tubes.

But somehow, a miracle. The bike was fine! And it was in much better condition than I thought. The picture is 10 minutes after arrival. Only thing I added were pedals and a saddle.

I will probably move the eight speed Shimano 105 STI group over onto this bike, and retire the donor (Fuji).