View Single Post
Old 07-25-13, 07:29 AM
  #8  
Phil_gretz
Zip tie Karen
 
Phil_gretz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Fair Oaks Ranch, TX
Posts: 7,004

Bikes: '13 Motobecane Fantom29 HT, '16 Motobecane Turino Pro Disc, '18 Velobuild VB-R-022, '21 Tsunami SNM-100

Mentioned: 26 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1465 Post(s)
Liked 1,542 Times in 806 Posts
Originally Posted by gc3
$300 asking price...for the classics fans...

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...919392738.html

I've bought once from this seller. Runs the shadiest of mega flip operations. These dudes rent a residence and convert the living room to a show room. The grab up seeming truckloads of police auctions or fleet sales (saw seven identical rental bikes, I think, in the house as they were packing up to "leave") bikes, and sell them off. Some have received a spruce up, like the one above. Others, if a stuck seatpost (likely the above), get shoved aside and sold off. The featured ones are overpriced for the real work that went into them. But there are gems hidden as well...

I bought a 1980 Centurion Pro Tour 15 from him for $85. It had issues everywhere, but through patience and chemistry, all of the bound up and corroded parts came free. The frame was gorgeous underneath it all. The parts were all (mostly) serviceable, but these guys couldn't be bothered to take the time to do a complete strip and rebuild. Turnover is their key.

Also, they change addresses each year, I've noticed. Wierd, but not illegal. Unless the source of the bikes is shady, but I'm not saying that.
Phil_gretz is offline