True Confessions
I have a lot of bikes. And I have some spare frames and what-not laying around.
I decided to put together a Vitus 979 frame I had laying around and sell it because I'm fixing up a small frame to give to a friend. That would give me the dough to fix the smaller size up the way I want it.
Anyway, I put the Vitus together and it was pretty nice. I had a couple of bites on it but nothing panned out.
Then I decided to take it on an easy ride just to make sure that everything was working up to snuff.
Well everything did seem to work OK. But the ride kept getting faster. At one point we were going down a hill at about 30 mph or perhaps a bit more. Then there was this winding road with a fairly large amount of traffic upon which we were riding over bumps and cracks at 25 or better for a couple of miles.
Then we hit a flat (actually slightly rising) piece and were heading back to the car from where we planned on hitting an Irish pub for lunch. I was going about 15 mph when that Vitus frame came unglued at the downtube and seattube and fell apart!
I slid to a halt and looked at the frame and saw what the problem was. I have to tell you that when my pedals hit the ground it gave me a fright. But luckily I kept it up and came to a halt in one piece so to speak.
My friends took off to get their car and I started walking along on the way. This spectacularly beautiful woman picked me up and gave me a ride down to their car and we arrived just as they were about to leave and pick me up.
All's well that ends well. I thanked that young beauty and my friends and I went to lunch (yes I invited the Babe but she had places to go and things to do) and had a great time.
I broke up the frame and it's presently in the recyclable trash can until next pickup date.
What bothers me the most is that someone MIGHT have bought that and not been as lucky as I. What if the frame had come apart when I was over 30 mph on a tricky downhill?
I'll be a whole lot more careful before I try to sell another bike I'll tell you that.