spanky4x4

with regards to the optimistic craiglist seller I humbly submit

the ebay idiot

mind you its only my opinion,and he may not be an ididot,but it would seem to me he is!

mswantak

You're kidding, right? THE Rodney Rom???

How much you wanna bet his wife's been giving him sh*t about "getting that pile of crap out of the garage", so now he can say he made an effort.

Either that, or he's a legend in his own mind, or this is some hillbilly version of the Nigerian cashier's check scam..

suntreader

He must need the money to buy more crack. Sheesh!

luker

looks a little rough. I wouldn't say it was worth a penny more than $9K.

Noah Scape

Quote from the auction: P.S. Although the end of the hall-of-fame story mentions my keeping the bike in the family, serious financial times require serious financial decisions.

Translation: Need to hire lawyer for my trial – charges: production of meth. Incidentally, he is also a member in good stead in the Meth Hall-O-Fame.

Just kidding… he’s probably a nice guy… he just has a profoundly distorted sense of his own accomplishments. Very amusing.

Noah Scape

Here's the pic. Starting bid: $10,995.00

USAZorro

What I'd like to know is how this "historic" bike has drum brakes, comes with "the original brake calipers", and only one apparent set of brake levers. Will be interesting to see what happens with the auction. If somebody does buy it, we should report them to the Treasury Dept, as money laundering would seem the only reason for paying more than $50.00 for that old piece of junk.

Noah Scape

Okay, one more post and then I'll quit. I checked out the link and all the content on this bike was posted by the seller. The dude nominated himself for the mtn bike hall-o-fame. This is the most unadulterated mixture of delusion and desperation I've ever seen on ebay.

Mhendricks

I'm one of those guys that pretty much will pay for something if it's worth it when it comes to bikes, parts, services, etc. So I ask a lot of questions and research stuff before I buy. However in this case I just had to ask this seller a question and this was his response:

You asked:
"Is this for real? I've seen bikes like this in Thrift Stores for $25."

He responded:

Thanks for looking! If these Thrift Store bikes were one-owner/builder bikes and included all the documentation to prove their unique place in the mountain bike historical community, I sure hope you were wise enough to purchase them and either save them for yourself or donate them to a deserving museum. Time and history will prove how "real" this is. Buy now or regret forever...

I guess I'll be regretting this the rest of my life. I'll have to settle for buying my old Trek.

mswantak

I just sent the website the following message:

Re: Hall of Fame nominee Rodney Rom

Wondering if you're aware of this character who, with no deficit of self-esteem, nominated himself for the Hall based on a dubious tale of how 40 years ago, he hacked an old Schwinn Varsity into what he now claims was the first MTB.

Based on that, he may seem like a harmless, self-delusional BS artist, but it seems his self-promotion here was more calculated than that. It appears it was done to create an illusion of corroboration for his re-telling of this whopper on eBay, where he's undertaking to sell the aforementioned piece of crap for $10,995.

While I seriously doubt anyone will be taken in by Rom's tale, it certainly was the aroma of attempted fraud about it, and were I you, I'd be less than pleased that he's using your website (and in the process implicating you) to help do it.

I know nobody's going to buy that thing, but audacious morons like that just get up my nose.

schiavonec

Sadly, people will buy anything on ebay so I give the guy a big thumbs up. If you think 11k is foolish for that POS think about some other ebay brilliance:

There is a laddy that made 2500.00 for advertising space on her derrier for a wrestling tournament. One of her adversaries also entered with the same MO and made some $$ too.

Then there is the dullard that tattood some insipid slogan on his forehead for 40+k.

How about the avid collectors that pay big $ for old campy stuff. There are some pretty insane things on ebay, but hey, let the market sort it out.

In short, the 'deals' on ebay are very few and far between. There are too many individuals that see as a source of income to make it worthwhile for most of us. At least CL is person to person for the most part vs pure profiteers.

ofofhy

This line alone should be enough to get him laughed out of that place.

Also is it just me or is that Hall of Fame a gas station? Wonder if they give you the key to the men's room on a cinder block and chain.

Gardener

The world is filled with people who've come up with excellent ideas, even done them, and not received the marketing publicity that makes creates carbon fiber idols for leotard clad alpha males to spend their paycheques on.

I don't find his story unbelievable at all. And that's just it. Orville and Wilbur Wright weren't the only folks flying airplanes. History is an artifice of civilization. I think the whole mountain biking thing is obnoxious anyway, my opinion. So, I personally wouldn't pay eleven grand, and I kinda doubt he'll get it because apparently it's too late to get on that glorius bandwagon called mountain biking history.

I applaud the guy for his thinking and initiative to make something and go have fun with it.

mswantak

Oh, come on; the only thinking or initiative this yahoo has shown was in coming up with a bogus backstory for that garage sale reject, and planting 'corroboration' for it on the MTB website. Tell the truth, Gardener; would you buy a used car -- or anything -- from this guy?

USAZorro

I don't even see what it is about his bike that makes it a mountain bike - or how he would have even been close to the first person to ever make modifications to a bicycle for off road use. About the time this clown bought his bike, my buddies and I were riding up and down hills and through the woods on our 20" bikes. I was even dumb enough to try going over the temporary hills of dirt - trying to get some air before crashing (yet you don't catch me nominating myself for the BMX hall of fame) that were around the nearby development site on my Fireball.

History may well be written by the victors - which would seem to rule this chap out of the process.

Noah Scape

I don't think this is about whether the story is true or not. Why don't you offer him $5k... he might be willing to deal. You could own this glorious piece of mountain biking history!

Poguemahone

I don't actually doubt the guy's story either, but then, I was hauling thru the woods on my Huffy long before the repack guys too... I suppose this makes me their grandfather, although I think I'm actually younger than any of them. Hauling a bike thru the wilds is no new idea, kids have likely been doing it since there were bikes, and I suspect more than one has modified a bike to do it better. My friend Mike was a tinkerer at a young age, and had he not gotten into dirt bikes (the motorcycle kind), I suppose he would have MacGuyvered something suspisciously mountain-bikey up. I'm sure more than one person did so pre-repack.

What set the Repack guys apart was they developed it into a larger movement. Neither Rodney or I did, no one followed our adventersome spirit. We spawned absolutely nothing.

I do find the pricing to be a bit ridiculous. Well, not a bit, but I wish I had that Huffy, because it might be worth enough to buy me a Rene Herse. A trade I would gladly make. And if one of you guys would nominate me for the Hall of Fame/Gas Station (I'm too shy to do it myself), I would appreciate it greatly.

cruentus

Think so? A few months ago I saw an eBay auction for a chunk of porcelain. The guy selling the chunk of porcelain claimed that his grandfather, a WWII veteran, brought it back from Germany in 1945. Supposedly the piece of porcelain in question was part of Adolf Hitler's toilet!! Opening bit was $2K. It did not sell. I think there may be hope for human kind after all.

KleinRider

The guys has 100% feedback with 67 posts. He is apparently somewhat trustworthy, if not completely delusional.

(I wouldn't buy it.)

BTW, no one bid on it...imagine that!

outakontroll

just say no!

mswantak

I got this e-mail from Don Cook at the MTB web site:

Hi Michael
thank you for letting us know about the ebay thing. I had no idea. Rodney
must be something in person but I have never talked with him, just
e-mails so far. I don't have time to go to ebay and check it all out
right now, so do me a favor and let me know what he's claiming in his bid
to sell his old steed. he is a nominee on the hall of fame ballot this
year, as he was last year........he did not get even a single vote last
year and we will watch carefully for anything conspicuous this season.
So far he is the only one who has ever self nominated oneself (is that a word)
and the voters seem to know.
Again, thanx for the heads up. If people are checking our site out
because of this, well, that for us is a good thing, if he is claiming
anything besides his nomination(which as you stated was a self
nomination) then we will have to know about it and do some repair work.

Ciao for now
don cook

classic1

I'm sure Rod Rom will get all the due credit he deserves

myxbyx

back in the 60's in toronto we used to crash a 20" wheel bike into and over dirt piles-if I could find that bike (or maybe a repro.....hmmm) and sell it on ebay.....

Boogs

If you folks think this is silly, you should check out auctions for vintage guitars and their parts. I've seen auctions where the pickup *rings* (yes, the plastic rings that pickups mount to) of a 1957 (or 1958, or whatever the Holy Grail year for these things was) Les Paul went for thousands... and sold! Completist vintage nuts have their own industry, and it's scary.

Of course, this guy is an ass, but still, there are more legit people out there who are asses as well.

Totoro

Really, don't be so hard on the guy. He follows a long line of very respectible people who claim to see virgins on mountain tops and shrouds of burial cloth that covered a dead diety. And to receive great blessings, you only need make a donation to the local prelate. As a bonus, you can get a small bottle of miracle water that will cure any illness for those of a right mind. And believe it or not, the dollars pour in - in the MILLIONS. Just witness the temples on the tops of hills and in the depths of valleys the world over. Just because he is hawking his goods on Ebay shouldn't make him any less respectible. Perhaps we should find him a marble tomb to bury him in when he passes on to the other side. The father of mountain biking deserves no less. Amen.