Vintage Leader Cycles?
 

This bike is for sale not 10 miles from the village I come from in Devon, England. My brother could go and pick it up and I could use it whenever I go home to visit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll....cBID.m312.lVI

I've asked the seller for more info but get no reply - maybe they're away on Easter holiday (is it still Easter in the Christian world?).

I've done a couple of searches but only come up with cheapo frames on eBay. Anyone heard of the old Leader Cycles firm? What is a 'Wedglock bottom bracket set' and what tools are needed?

The bike looks nice to me. Reynolds 531 can't be bad, or Campy hubs with a (presumably) vintage Brooks saddle. A bit small but I'm hoping the 22" is c to c and I can ride it around the country lanes of my yoof.

Any ideas? Impressions? Warnings? And what's the difference between a 'training bike' and a road or racing bike?

Thats one monster 22" looks more like 23.5 or 24"

I don't know how you can tell but if it is, that's good news! :D

Not sure if that bikes related to the Leader company that you're looking at those new road frames on ebay.. just a guess since that bike is "leader cycles"

Leader is a brand based in Montreal, Canada if I remember, not sure how long they've been around and im not too sure what their lineup was like, but I found an old kids banana seat bike by them once which was obvliously from the 70s, so they probably made a whole range of bikes.

Thanks. I see what you mean. The only Leader Cycles I can find is a shop in Australia, listed in umpteen business directories. And a reference to "Eric+Rodrigot Montoya ( Leader Cycles)" in a www.cyclingnews.com list of entrants in the "Grand Raid Cristalp 2002 Switzerland, August 25, 2002". They came 917th in the Men's 131kms.

if you (or your brother) can get it for anything close to the current bid, I'd say "just buy it!". You can't go wrong...unless the price really climbs, there are a fair number of bidders already.

Pray, unworthy1, from whence your enthusiasm?

I can't imagine it climbing much - or am I a bicycle fool? Unless there is a secret and fervent Leader Cycles fan club hidden away from Google I can't see many people going for it.

The first bidder initially tried their luck with a bid of 99 pence ($2?) I bid the princely sum of £10 and the 1st bidder then painstakingly increased their bid pound by pound 7 times to equal but not beat it. A 3rd bidder has joined the fray and pushed the current bid to £10.50. It's now at £15...

I would decide what a 531 frame is worth to me an bid accordingly. It looks to me like something that possibly was built by a small shop. Interesting bike to say the least. If I were bidding on it I would certainly consider as high as $100usd YMMV

Aaron:)

The bike is categorized as 60 cm which is probably much closer to the real size. I would guess the 22 was a typo and should be 24.

The bids will probably go up significantly based on:

1) 531 frame

2) Campagnolo

3) Brooks

I strongly suspect that there are at least a couple snipe bids in the queue already. But, I hope you get it!!! :)

EDIT: I just noticed the selller has zero feedback, so this may keep the bidding down. If not for that, I could see this possibly going for 100 pounds. Of course, that os based on the US market, I am just guessing for the British market.

How would a 'snipe bid' work? I think I understand the basic principle... someone bids at the last moment, seconds before the auction ends, right? Presumably, the sniper will only enter the max they are prepared to pay so if another bidder's highest bid is higher then the sniper will lose the auction. Or is there something else I haven't thought of?

You understand sniping correctly.

The reason for sniping is you keep your interest a secret. Otherwise someone could submit incremental bids and bid higher than you.

A sniper loses to someone who submits their maximum bid and it is the same, but if there is no such bid, they can sometimes get the bike for a lower bid than if they had bid earlier. I used to just enter my max, but now I think for major items I will use something like AuctionSniper.com to make sure I get my bid in at the last moment and avoid someone bumping their bid up.

Also with sniping, you have the option of changing your mind without consequence (i.e. tick marks for withdrawn bids).