Late Spring 2010, I was buying lots of bikes. I ended 2010 with about 55 projects / for sales. In June I was scanning random ads and came across a classified for a few pieces of furniture and a "Rosana" Italian bike, no price/pictures given. It wasn't listed anywhere in regards to bicycles, and had been up for some weeks - I gave him a call. He still had the bike, but couldn't remember the brand of it and his eyesight had gone bad, and he could no longer read the brand name - his best guess was "Rosana". He explained how he had raced it in the late 80s and how it was an expensive bike at the time. Being only a few miles, I drove over. At this point I had no real idea what the bike could be, besides "Italian" - no big brands close to Rosana.
Arriving, he pulled a black garbage bag from under the stairs. The clank of steel tubing and aluminum bits really had me confused at this point. The plastic coffin opened and birthed from the darkness was a frame with some questionable paint. Inspection showed me it was a Rossin Ghibli, with fluted tubes, but the paint was confusing. Upon inquiry, the gentleman explained he was learning to airbrush when he got the bike, and decided to "customize" it...that is, remove the 6 color fade Rossin was so famous for and replace it with a thick layer of metallic charcoal. This new facade was chipping away, and left corners and edges to the elements.
Completely disassembled, he then reached for a box laying under the stairway grave which had housed the frame and fork. "Here's the parts off the bike, you can have whatever you want. I took off some of the crappy Campy parts and put on Dura-ace (7401)." Mortified a little bit, I dove into the box to find he replaced the drivetrain, but the rest of the parts remained C-record (including the crankset and BB) - who wants a Gen 1 C-record RD anyway?
The whole time feeling out what he might ask for the bike and parts, I still had no idea. He kept mentioning how expensive it was back in the day, and was so proud of his upgrades made to it (note: while arguably functionally better, the C-record bits certainly retaining far more value than 7401 pieces - roughly 2-4 fold). No looking back. How much? He'll certainly high-ball me. Won't he? He will. 500? 1000? With inflation his numbers would certainly put it at 3000. He was then throwing in some extra parts and tools. What have I got myself into?
He: "How's 200?"
Me: "200 is fine."
Pulling out the aged and weathered leather...count, count, count. 5. 10. 20. 30. 50. 70. 120.
"I'll have to go to the bank."
Seeing me count it out, "We'll how much do you have on you?"
"Only 120."
Without hesitation: "120 is fine - you don't need to make a special trip to the bank."
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