J.Higgins 

Its about time someone created a thread in which we can post our great finds and great deals. Steals and deals! Gloat away! Have fun vaunting your latest acquisition. This is the place to boast, brag, crow, and prate your sweet bike! Let it all hang out! Flaunt it! Display it! Strut your stuff!

I'm going to start it out with a trio of bikes I picked up today. Look at the bikes, and I'll post what I paid for them after the last photo.















$175 for all three.

SpeedofLite 

Congrats on your score! What was the situation?
It seems every hobby I've been in has its stories of mother lodes, barn finds, long-forgotten treasure troves, or the "guy who's sitting on a warehouse of stuff that everyone wants".
I love these stories!

Kilroy1988 

Damn. I almost paid $450 recently for a Mark I Professional like the second you picture above. Is it a 22.5" or 23.5" frame? Very nice score! Oh, to live in a densely populated area... That just doesn't happen here in the California sticks.

Eric F

Very nice!! A nice trio of gems waiting to be polished.

mgopack42 

You think Visalia is the sticks? look up 93635, and you will see BFE of the sticks!!!

Kilroy1988 

Yeah, I love going out to the Los Banos area to bird watch, but I usually don't find anything else to do until I'm back in Fresno. 😋

mgopack42 

Kilroy1988 Nothing but bird (and bird hunters) and agricultural lands as far as the eye can see. the good news is that if you dont want to climb any hills, you can have a nice 60 mile ride with less than 1000 ft of elevation change!

jetboy 

it may not be a full gloat: but i scored this for $120 at our local "urban Ore" recycle/re-use center. Usually they overprice bikes but for once they let one slip through.. oh how wonderfully slack it is....

Kilroy1988 

I know what you mean. I'm from Dinuba and pretty much never do any hill climbing. One of my favorite long rides is to go out to Mendota from home. A good 130+ mile day on the flats!

Eric F

If I recall correctly, I did a road race in the Los Banos area about 15+ years ago. The high point was an overpass. I'd done crits with more elevation gain. Not ever being a good climber, I thought it was great. Even better was finishing 1-2 with my teammate.

Unca_Sam

Thread is already derailed. 🤦‍♂️

mgopack42 

I was gloating about the billiards table flat area I live in, does that count?

J.Higgins 

A fellow bike buddy had them given to him. He's a tandem guy through and through, and does not lust-after or appreciate C&V bikes like we do. I told him to give me a bundle price. When he told me $175, it was all I could do to keep my jaw off the floor. I whipped out those bills so fast, I think I got wallet-burn.

J.Higgins 

Pretty rude, huh?

Roypercy

WOW! Well done!

orcas island 

Excellent score on those three above bikes!

In the spirit of this thread, here are a pair of Motobecanes I picked up a few years ago for the kingly sum of $50. Both were Grand Records

Kilroy1988 

Well, if you'd answered my question about one of the bikes it might have kept things more on track? What size is the Pro Mk. I, out of curiosity? They're rather rare in any size, so I think that's the best of your lot!

Kilroy1988 

I've never had a find like the ones posted above but I was super thrilled to pick up this extremely rare 1950 Carlton Continental a year or so ago for about $500 on eBay. I only put some extra cash into it to make it match my aesthetic ideals but it was pretty much ready to ride at that price. Totally original. Posted about it here, of course.

​​​​​https://www.flickr.com/photos/456653...7698063284565/

Unca_Sam

marius.suiram maybe you have a few to share?

mkeller234

Hmm, hope my gloating earlier wasn’t the inspiration for this thread...

Great catch by the OP! That is a rare and awesome haul.

Anyway, not going to pass on another opportunity to gloat. I picked up this low mileage ridge runner yesterday. Not a steal price though.

J.Higgins 

That may be even a better deal than mine! Well played, sir!

bwilli88 

I love this, setup just the way I would use campagnolo, long cage rally RD.
I would take off that rack and put the fattest tires on it that I could and ride it like I stole it.

orcas island 

Thanks, but I think you came out on top. I’d love to find any of the 3 bikes you scored in my size.
Let’s see others post their outrageously enviable finds!

J.Higgins 

For one thing, my town has less than 1400 people, so not really densely-populated. The surrounding towns around me are more or less the same. These bikes were at my friend's bike shop. Although the shop is in a barn and on a dirt road, he is actually a legit shop, fully incorporated with distributor accounts and the whole bit. My shop is similar, but completely different than his. I concentrate on restorations, and his focus is to sell and maintain new bikes. He's a retired school teacher, and I'm a retired USAF and retired machinist. His shop is designed to generate income with a low overhead, and my shop is designed to be more or less a self-supporting hobby. My shop is a fully-functioning and taxed LLC, however, and I do have a couple distributor accounts. Nothing as awesome as a QBP account, for sure! Then again, I like what I do, and I really dont need the money. I really dont want to work too hard, either. BTDT! So I guess when you say, "oh to live in a more-populated area," I say bikes are where you find them! You just never know what is lurking in someone's barn or hanging in their garage for 40 years!

J.Higgins 

That bike has a Campy triple crankset too! Do you think it came like that or was it swapped in? Its always been my impression, not being a Raleigh expert by any means, that the Professional was a balls-out race bike. Am I wrong about that?