Sad I sold it...
 

How many people have sold an old Ten Speed only to regret it later? My guess is almost all of us. After finding, rebuilding and riding a lot of vintage road bicycles, I regret selling two of them and one did not even fit me all that well. The bike that fit like a glove and was a treat to ride was an early seventies Atala Record 101 Professional that I bought for twenty bucks. The other, a very nice 1971 Carlton "Professional" that I got at the Dump. I wish I had them now...

So what did you let go that should have never been sold?

I wish my mom hadn't sold my Sekine 30 years ago at her garage sale.

When I was 5 (in 1968), my grandparents gave me a new Schwinn (fillet-braised, of course) w/ training wheels. When I was 7, I won a Kent w/ a cool banana seat at a church raffle, and I had to give the Schwinn to my sister. I quickly realized she got the better deal, but it was too late. She talked my Dad into putting a banana seat on the Schwinn, so her bike was cool, too, and she didn't even pop wheelies on it, so it was going to waste, and meanwhile my Kent was always breaking or bending or rusting in ways the Schwinn wasn't. The Kent was lighter, though, so it was better for jumping.

The Scwinn could still be alive somewhere, for all I know. The Kent? No way.

There's only a couple of bikes i miss, but mostly just an old Raliegh 3-speed. It was too small for me, and a friend was looking for something just like it, so i gave it him before i moved away.

I wish I hadn't given away my old UO-8

The only bike I wish I would have kept, but I'm not all that broken up about it, is the Schwinn I had in college.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ycle08/20a.jpg

It was a fairly generic bike and I can't even remember what I did with it. I may have just given it to someone in my fraternity when I graduated, or maybe traded it for beer. I rode that bike a lot in the hills of eastern New York State when I trekked the 11 miles from the fraternity house to my (now) wife's parents' home.

I thought nothing of that bike. I probably bought it used. It was just a tool to get from Point A to Point B. Once I bought a car I didn't think I would need it anymore. (As it turns out, I bought a new bike about a year later.)

That bike would have sentimental value to me now but I couldn't care less about it at the time.

I kind of regret selling this ... a $15 auction purchase.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/ima...S/62carl_3.jpg

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bri...Carlton_GS.htm

I really regret selling this (back to the fellow I bought it from for the same price).

http://www.oldmountainbikes.com/bike...1/com03_sm.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/myritchey2/1986/86com1.html

Bob

I had a great Puegot that my parents paid comparatively a lot of money for in about 1989 - the year I turned 15. I rode the bike for 6 months at best, and it was a great bike, really a fine machine - then I let it rot once I got my license. About 10 years later I sold it at a garage sale for maybe $10 - at the same time my mom sold her nice Fuji.

c'est la vie. Ask me about my MG.

1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 351 Cleveland 4 bbl with 3:50 posi rear end clipped to a C6 trans.

the others are any bike I did sale. I would not be happy till I owned yours too.
V

Closest I came to regretting a sale were - the Miyata 210 that holiday76 now has, and the slightly-too-small Bob Jackson that I sold to a fellow in NYC for 4 times what I paid for it after a full season of riding it.

Neither of these quite qualifies though.

SR Semi Pro
Univega Gran Turismo

I didn't sell them, rather donated them when I moved so I suppose it's hard to call it too big a regret.

I've posted my regret before: '74 Raleigh Comp Mk II left at the curb.

I don't really have any regrets. Most of what I've sold would either never fit me or was replaced by a better bike. I've been thinning the herd more lately, though picking up the two frames I got at the swap aren't helping... but I'm likely to find nothing at the next few swaps and get rid of few, that's the way swaps go...

Some stuff I own is pretty much untouchable; I'd never sell me Peugeot PFN, for example, or the Eisentraut.

No regrets thus far really.

PS: that atala? is really nice!

In high school, college and grad school I rode a metallic gray Peugeot with orange decals. No idea what model it was, and I never maintained it in any way - never oiled the chain, never put air in the tires, nothing.

When I got my grad degree and moved to a New York City neighborhood and apartment building that were not bike-friendly, I abandoned the bike in the basement bike room of my old apartment building. Wish I had kept that bike.

I'm sad you didn't sell me that Carlton.....

http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/s...9/snowy062.jpg

My Razesa. Not really sad that I sold it but sad that I couldn't get it to fit me after trying all sort of different setups. That bike was so well-constructed and so solid and so fast....dang, it was fun, even at a size or two too small.

1984 Trek 760. Fit me and still had the original paint in reasonable shape. Mostly original group, too.

My Schwinn Apple Krate from about '68 or '69. Not that I would ride it now.

I wish I had all of the ones I've sold, but the two above would qualify for the permanent collection, like the Frejus I just obtained. Qualifications --> Original paint, original group, some collector value.

:eek:

I bought a beautiful handbuilt ZINN in 1988, Columbus SL, FULL Mavic SSC group right down to the rims, bars/stem and seat post. It fit me perfectly and I rode it constantly (single, no debt, worked for myself). Married, debt, FAT and obsessed with vintage bikes I sold it to a young kid a few years later. He went on to win our Provincial RR Championship and made the National Team so at least it got put to good use. I cry to think that it might be a fixie now....

vjp

So far, I have never been sad when I let a bike go. My basic rule is that I only replace a bike in my personal fleet if something better comes along. So in with the "new" find, and out with its predecessor. This has worked well so far. A bike that is no better/worse ends up on the flip pile to find a new home.

My basic Trek 800 has morphed into a nice lugged Trek 950, my basic U08 was replaced with a sweet Lotus Classique, my Schwinn Criss Cross got replaced by a pristine Miyata 215. It would be hard to let the Lotus and the Miyata go as they are super clean bikes.

My '85 Peugeot PGN10 (I think that was the model) that actually was not sold but went to the dump. It was in excellent shape but the rear wheel and brake caliper were not original. I wasn't able to ride it when I got to Colorado unless I changed out the gearing but I didn't know much about the bike and before I invested any money in it I figured I'd ask around. I found this forum (this was back around 2001 maybe) and posted asking for information. Everybody that answered in the first couple of days said it was gaspipe junk and not worth putting any money in. I lost interest and while cleaning the garage one day I set it out on the curb minus a few parts that I scavanged. A couple of years later I found my way back to the forum and found that old thread and a bunch more folks had answered, folks who I know know are the real Peugeot experts, who all told me what a nice bike it really was. And now with my knowledge of eBay and such I could have easily picked up the rear wheel and brake caliper. Oh well. C'est la vie.

I actually have a couple of bikes right now that I am thinking about selling. The fact that I will later regret selling them is what holds me back. I always used to buy brand-new bikes, and road them for about 1,000 to 3,000 miles. I was always meticulous in maintaining them, but would part with them after they collected a few scratches. Never missed one of them. There are a few really sweet cars I had, however, that I had wished I had kept.

Funny, I was out of town (working away from the computor), and was thinking about this very subject.
In the early 80s I owned several bikes that were sold to finance climbing trips or moving etc. It didn't seem to bother me when I sold them, however now in my "mid-life" I am kicking myself!

Woodrup giro-tour: light blue with almost exact matching blue Blumels fenders. TA triple, Huret Duopar
RD, Campy FD, Ideale 90 sadle, Phil Wood hubs and BB, Leyotard #23 Platform pedels, Univirsal #61 brakes
(later Campy NR).

Gitane TDF: Early 70s Full Campy except for the hubs, they were High Flange Phil Wood. Sold it to my roomate when I moved out of sate, he is still riding it 25 yrs later.

Lotus ???: Can't remember the model, it was Cromloy and had chrome fork tips. At the time it was my "bar"
bike...It was too good for that, Universal brakes (from the woody) Phil hubs, and Aloy Blumels fenders.
Sold to a very good friend when I moved out of state, he too still riding it 25 yrs later

Cheers,
Chris

I cry when I think of my loss,1970 Holdsworth "Pro" in orange,with cinelli bars and full Zues groupe,(nr copy) I dont wanna talk about it anymore ,I feel a tear clouding my eye !