Mark,

Your objections are certainly valid, but there are a few points here I think you might be missing.

First, Pogue's friend is scouting for bikes for him, not purchasing them (if I'm understanding correctly). If I were in that position, I would rather get told about a few dogs than miss out on the really good one that I wasn't told about because the Reynolds stickers were worn off.

Second, Pogue rarely pays more than $20.00 (quite often much less than that) for his acquisitions. Even a Schwinn Varsity is worth that if it's in really good condition.

Three, we're just brainstorming. Pogue knows as much about good bicycles (if not more) as nearly any of us. No doubt he'll go through the exercise of weighing the pros and cons of the suggestions that we're making and figure out what makes sense to put on that little 3x5 card he's going to hand to his friend.

Z