Yes and bails and bails of drugs too!

I recently got a set of Ambrosio bars from England shipped with the poly sleeve (that they orig. came in), plus a bit of paper added, but only on the ends and the center sleeve. They had been scarred (not on the sleeve, thank goodness) and I complained to the seller, who sent me another pair. I paid for the second pair also, sans shipping cost. I guess nobody's heard of pipe insulation over there. Comparing the two, I can't see any actual bending damage -- but I don't agree with that method of shipping.

Well, if it isn't a Criterium, dokydoky must be right - Cinelli track drops.

-Kurt

In response to Citoyen du Monde´s excellent post:

1) The frame was sent with Hermes Versand. I can see nothing on their website recommending that bike frames not be packed into boxes. And in any case, I would pack a frame in a box were I to send it to someone, regardless of what the shipper´s advice was. Now, at the very least I would have expected the bikeframe to have some protection other than polythene on the seat, top and down tubes.

2) The frame isn´t damaged, AFAIK. In the sense that it appears uncracked, undented and basically sound. Maybe the long, deep scratches across the top tube where the polythene had come adrift were there already. I don´t know. Maybe the scuffs on the chrome round the seat clamp were already there, and not from being dropped or scraped in transit. No way of knowing.

3) R.e. the signature - I´m not making a big deal about it. The seller did in his item description, about how it had been signed by Der Jan himself, and how that added value to the frame ect ect. Doesn´t really matter to me - but if he lied/was mistaken about that, what else is he withholding - or will be misleading about in the future in his item descriptions...?

4) I´m not too worried about the headset, in fact I´m quite looking forward to stripping it down and rebuilding it - it´s not something I´ve done before and if I have difficulties with it I´m sure the LBS or you guys will help me out. It´s a good excuse to improve my nascent spannering skills! My point is, I feel the seller should have at least have mentioned that it needed a wee bit of work. I would have done.

5) I think my bike terminology went a bit askew - I meant the seatpost clamp, not the seat post itself, was scuffed. The chrome is scuffed up. I´ve got a nice carbon one ready to go on it here.

All in all, I am happy with the frame and the deal (only €66). I just feel it got to me safely despite the seller´s packaging, rather than because of it! When I sell on eBay I try and give a full and frank description of the item, maybe I was naive to expect this guy to do the same.

I´ll post piccies when the bike is fully assembled. I´m just working out whether to turn it into another TT/tri machine, or have it as a roadie. Either way, it´s going to be a lot of fun putting it all together. My first real build!

Cheers all,
Simon

I build a wooden crate for the bikes I ship, you can stand on the box. The bikes look essentially like the polish seller's bike, but with the crank still attached and a wooden framework encasing everything, it's far and away the most compact arrangement that keeps the bearing adjustments intact. Like him I always make a handle as well to encourage the shipper to handle it correctly. I never think to take pictures, I'll have to try to remember next time. It costs about $50 through UPS to ship, and about $25 for lumber, screws, pipe wrap, zip ties and tape. The only complaint I've had was one guy suggesting that if I used bubble wrap instead of pipe insulation it would have saved him a few bucks He's lucky I don't charge by the hour.

Just to round up this thread, here´s a picture of the frame built up as a triathlon trainer.
It´s a bit of a Frankenbike, but (kind of) qualifies for C&V status courtesy of the NOS Biopace crank I put on it.



The frame cleared up beautifully with AutoGlym Paint Renovator, SRP and EGP. It´s a bit grimy on the picks from recent use!
It´s a solid and comfortable bike for my training rides, and I reckon I have spent about €180 all up.

It's good to see it looking ready to roll down the road. Thanks for the 'endpiece' of the story.

East Hill

[QUOTE=Chris_in_Miami;8261353] he explained that the only feedback he cared about was God's and quoted a few lines from the Bible.QUOTE]

Sorry but that is hilarious!

I too had a bike shipped poorly packed... No pictures, but when the box arrived there was nothing but newspaper lightly thrown into a box. I saw bits and pieces of the bike sticking out of the box. Thankfully all was good, but man it's worrisome buying a bike on Ebay...

What's your guys' stance on being a buyer? Do you shoot the seller an email asking to please reinforce forks/dropouts etc.?

Sorry. That seat post completely undoes any vintageness that the Biopace rings may have conferred.

Those rings don't look elliptical to me.

Frame shipping here is expensive. My local hardware stores sells the plumbers foam lengths at 6$ for three feet. In order to safely ship a 60-62CM you need a lot more foam...Time materials, tape etc...

I will never ship a bike for under 75$ again. Its the amount of work involved. Cutting/taping the hell out of the box. I'm wondering about the package job with the paper cover. What kind of thickness is that stuff? It looks like it might be easy to deal with.

You should have your eyes checked.

It's worth noting, however that BioPace isn't "elliptical" so much as "squared-off" a bit.

that is the best packaged bike i have ever seen! you are so lucky!

Maybe I should. Those rings look totally round to me.

Round or not, they have the Biopace logo on them. Case closed

-Kurt

Shoot, I thought I was the first.

The rings are definitely Biopace and slightly square.
The seatpost is completely non C&V - sorry! But it does a good job of butchering road bike geometry enough to get a more ´aero´position. It´s a profile design ´Fast forward´.
The fit isn´t too bad, so I´m pretty pleased all in all. The brakes are Tektro, and excellent. Shim 105 mechs, Sora/Tiagra STI, 8 speed MB cassette for the hills (11-28 I think), it all shifts smoothly and is a fun bike.

There're 2 versions of Biopace. The original and Biopace II. Biopace II is more suited for high cadences as the out of roundness isnt as extreme as the original version.

Barchettas bike probably has Biopace II rings.

+2

That was my first thought also, the freewheel scratching up the seattube.

Precisely. Padding a tube to beat hell is not going to solve anything if there exists a sharp part right next to that tube, ready to rip the padding to shreds.

-Kurt

I thought the same thing last time to the hardware store, the loose insulation was 5 or 6$ for 4 feet based on thickness, but right next to it was the 4 pack of the same for 5$. keep your eyes peeled.

Those are good examples of bad shipping. However it is not as bad as what happened to me. I bought a 1955 Phillips in great shape on ebay recently and waited for it to come. Turns out the shipper sent it to the last guy who bought a bike from him. And the guy kept it. So the prize for poor shipping goes to the guy who wraps with the wrong address!