A few years back when I was first getting back into riding I wanted a bike but couldn't afford a good one. At the time my idea of a good one was the type of bike you'd get for $150.00 at xmart. You know the story, I wasn't sure I'd stick with it and couldn't justify the cost, so I put a wanted ad on freecycle for old bikes in hopes I could fix up something to ride. That was successful in getting me many xmart junkers to play with and I did get a bike to ride from that.
The other techinique I used, which is the subject of this post was to put an ad on Craigslist in the wanted section stating that I was wanting a bike to ride but really couldn't afford a good one but would pay more than scrap value on old bikes. This was in hopes that some scrapper would see it and see a way of increasing their profit. What happened is I ended up getting an email from a guy who offered to give me his old 78 Motobecane Nomade. He and his wife had gotten new bikes and he had not ridden the Nomade in a while. He saw my post and thought I'd make a good owner for the bike.
The front wheel had a dent in it, but other than that the bike was functional. Sure it was entry level, but it was also a better quality bike, and closer to my size than anything I had ridden. Even though it was too small, the rides I took on that bike over the summer were great, it was so smooth, it sort of reminded me of skating or when you catch that perfect glide on x-country skis. I tried so hard to make that bike fit me, I put pedal extenders on it, I put an extra tall stem on it, I even hick-a-billy rigged a bmx layback seatpost into it, and it almost worked but in the end I had to admit defeat. Of course this was only after I'd gotten my Fuji that fits me.
Still his gift lives on. After I began riding, I started getting my bandmates to take a pre-practice ride every week when they'd come over. One of them got hooked and bought a brand spankin new Huffy mtn bike. Not surprisingly he has had no end of trouble with it. So last summer I fixed it up with new cables and swapped the bars and gave him the Nomade. It fits him like a glove and he loves it.
The bike as I tried to ride it:
The bike as he now rides it:
