That is a gorgeous Raleigh!! The Nishiki/Eagle, I understand -- a rider likes what a rider likes.

I just realized that I gave my daughter a blue 1984 Schwinn Varsity that she never wanted because it had drop bars, and she was afraid it was "too fast". Her older brother would take it sometimes for transportation to his lifeguard job, but she didn't like that because it was her bike. Figure that. I was absolutely against selling it because it was the stereotypical well-preserved vintage bike that the original owner rode twice and then stored in her parents' garage rafters for 25 years because she didn't like the fit -- despite her small stature, it was too small for her. I got it for the typically low CL price, so I thought I had a great bargain. This is it here:



Jump forward to last fall, when my wife bought her younger sister's blue 1977 Suburban, because she didn't want the bike anymore, and it had been hanging by its wheels in their parents' garage for the last 25 years. Only the seat showed wear, because it was at just the right height off the floor for my father-in-law to crack his head against if he didn't duck in time.

Once I cleaned up the Suburban for this season's yard sale, my daughter became very interested and decided she'd like that bike instead of the Varsity. One of my bike-flipping rules is, if any family member wants one of the bikes I've acquired to flip, it's theirs on the spot. I want to encourage interest in C&V bikes, after all.

So the Varsity took the place of the Suburban on the front lawn for the yard sale, and I still liked it a lot, being one of my earliest and best bargain purchases, so I priced it a little high, hoping no one would be interested. Wrong! A pretty and petite teenaged girl was very interested, so I spoke with her, somewhat reluctantly.

She wanted a bike to commute to high school. She already owned a mountain bike, but it wasn't a comfortable street ride. She knew how to fix her own flat tires. And her art teacher is the mom of my son's best friend. She asked for a test ride, and off she went. If I had to sell the Varsity, this young lady was the perfect buyer. And she did buy it a few minutes later from my wife, while I was busy with another customer. She paid full price. One of those nice occasions where both parties are happy with the sale.