wrk101

Yes, if a bike is under-priced, you should not buy it. Instead, let the person behind you grab it..........


Myself, I PREFER to buy bikes that are NOT my size. That way I am not tempted to keep them.


Would you bend over to pick up $500 left on the ground? I would.

jonwvara 

See post #19 .

tkamd73 

Usually, when older people do something really stupid, they don’t post it for all to see, that’s the domain of millennials or below. I guess you really are, young at heart.
Sorry, but maybe I’m just bitter at not being able to find a Paramount, in a similar state, at three, or four times the price.
Tim

thinktubes 

Wrong question to the wrong crowd.

since6

Walking away, letting stuff go, I think I'm starting to get this.

There's only so many days in a week, and as you age you do need rest between rides to recover. So what are you getting into in collecting vintage bikes? I don't know about investment, it's such an up and down market it seems. IMO I think it should be about what draws you, makes you smile when you walk into that room, garage where they all hang, but then there does come a moment when I ask how will I ever ride them all?

When I think about what's real for my body MWF for big rides getting up to 3-4 hours on the local bike trails and T/Th for rides with the wife on the tandem say up to two hours in the evenings in summer, that's pushing a lot onto my body, so at most three bikes get ridden, one of which will always be my Stevenson Custom, so only two vintage bikes make the rotation. Then there's fit, we all have bikes we've fudged on, too nice not to buy and then work out the fit through changing crank arm length, stem length and height, seat post height to get as close as we can to our sweet spot. Some do and some come close and some don't, butthen there's Hamlet's rub, older joints and connecting tissue don't like to put up with being "close" they tell you, especially when you're up to 3-4 hours.

So some you keep just because they are works of art, or were the impossible dream bicycle from 46 years ago when you looked in through the LBS display window. I say nothing wrong with that, again does it make you feel good, done. Half ot vintage group of anything fit into this, and you get to take your art to bike shows and see others enjoy them as much as you do. Great place to talk and make new friends too. But the riders that you stretch to ride?

I feel myself changing, growing perhaps in this hobby. Now its more and more about does it really really fit, if it is going to be ridden and/or is it something on a cold windy rain in the darkness of winter morning that just makes me smile, feel gratitude, and take a moment to look at what a master craftsman/artist created, if it is an art bike.

This is what holds back my hand from the bid button, lets me walk away from the thrift store or bike swap and allows me to let got of a bike I have.

Maybe I'll find that moment someday, when I have spoken for vintage bikes for my six grandchildren, and say four that alternate with my Stevenson through the weeks of the spring-autumn when I can ride outside. In the mean time the grail search and the letting go will continue, so that moment can arrive.

jonwvara 

Tim, maybe I'm overly sensitive, but "stupid" seems just a tiny bit harsh. I gave serious thought to buying the bike, then decided against it, for reasons that I outlined in post #19 . You're not me. Your tolerance for risk is probably different, and no doubt you would have decided differently. But I don't think that a decision made by me is necessarily stupid because it differs from the decision that someone else might have made.

Good luck finding a Paramount, by the way.

gugie 

Whenever I see a great deal in a 57cm frame or bike, I buy it.
@Andy_K still has room in his garage.

xiaoman1 

jonvara,
We have a great group on this forum, I hope that you feel that you are receiving all of the support that you deserve.
Best, Ben

Bandera

If that pick up required handing over $150 of my cash, hours of my unpaid labor in disassembly clean-up/overhaul and/or more $ outlay for parts with further time spent in Flea-bey or C-listing waiting and waiting some more on that payoff in a declining C&V market that may never come and/or be far less than that theoretical $500? No, I would pass rather than truly "get bent over", as they say.......

-Bandera

tkamd73 

Hey, I said I was sorry, guess I should have proceeded the word stupid, with the word fiscally. I really don’t consider the word stupid very harsh in today’s climate, in fact I’ve gotten quite used it, being used by my wife, to describe a lot of my actions, as of late. From one CVer to another, have a great rest of the weekend! Nice collection of bikes by the way.
Tim

bikemig 

Kudos to the OP for having the fortitude to walk away from a bike that most of us would have picked up . . . .

deux jambes

Your reasons are valid, and I commend your decision to pass on the Schwinn. Certainly it wasn’t the easiest choice to make, but you followed your gut despite the nagging temptation to do otherwise.

I wonder sometimes if some of us draw up more justification to collect more than we could reasonably afford, store, and use, than we really have actual reason to... SIMPLY. RIDE. A BIKE!

It reminds me of the concept “wants vs. needs.” I worked with skills challenged youth for six years. I’ll add the interesting side note that these youths were all in trouble with the law, and were subject to addiction treatment. Anyhow, “wants vs. needs” was one of the many realms of critical thinking which we aimed to coach them in so as to help set them up for success. Now that I don’t work in that field anymore, I’m facing a mirror, and realizing that I too have difficulty discerning between the two ideas. I could really benefit from changing that, while diligently practicing some uncomfortable self-discipline.

Good on you OP. Adulting is not exactly first nature, nor is it necessarily easy to pull off!

SurferRosa

Were the pedals campy, too?

[please say, "no."]

jonwvara 

Apology accepted!

I thought my post would lead to a lively discusssion. But remember that Monty Python sketch where Michael Palin goes looking for an argument and mistakenly ends up getting abuse? I didn't quite expect that.


Although now that I think about it, it would be kind of cool if someone told me to shut my festering gob.

SurferRosa

Had you included the paramount for another $150 + shipping, I would have!

jonwvara 

You know, I was going to call you on that! But I just called and talked to the folks at Onion River Outdoors, and found that the Paramount did in fact sell yesterday--presumably to someone with more fortitude (and certainly with more disposable income) than I have. I hope the new owner starts a thread here so he or she can bask richly deserved adulation.

merziac

See post #16

Were you there as a seller also?

jonwvara 

No, just as a buyer. The event isn't at all a swap meet. There are no sellers present, as far at the buyer knows. Sellers leave off their bikes at the shop before the sale, and specify a (non-negotiable, written-on-a tag) selling price. The bike either sells or it doesn't. If it sells, the shop collects the money, and the seller can either collect percentage of it in cash, or a somewhat higher percentage in store credit. (Not sure what those percentages are--80 and 85, perhaps?) If the bike doesn't sell, the would-be seller has to do the walk of shame back to the store the following week to collect the unsold bike.

merziac

That's interesting if the shops cut is that low. We have a great shop here that consigns a lot of bikes, their cut is 40%, pretty good for them but anybody could sell most anything at 40% below market value even if that is a moving target.

SurferRosa

Shucks.

Well, I have a 1960 I paid $150 for as a single speed. Only cost me another $500 to build it up as a campy double.

But, it does fit me like a glove!

IthaDan 

Let’s see, a bike whose parts alone are worth much more than the asking price, with a desirable frame in a VERY common and sought after size that has no structural, but instead cosmetic issues...

Yep, definitely best to leave that one be, it’d almost be TOO easy to make your money back on that, and, well, that’s just not sporting.

Seriously though, what more does it take to get your to bite?

edit: ah, good, I do still have the yellow jersey next to my name, I’ve got some things to sell.

jonwvara 

You answered your own question, I think. I won't take a chance on a bike if it's "almost too easy." I will only do it if it actually is too easy.

The more accurate answer, I guess, is that I could choose to make money by parting out bikes, but--no disrespect to those here who do choose to do that--but there are lots of things I'd rather do more. I'm 65 years old, so I try not to do things that I don't want to do.

merziac

Still more or less a free country, sounds like somebody else here should have bought it for you, sheesh.

You would think we were discussing drive side BB cups or something.

Oh and yes of course I would have bought it, but I'm not you.

jethin

The wise man knows the difference between a treasure that will lift his spirits and a trinket that will weigh them down.

thinktubes 

Up periscope @IthaDan