Saw this bike on the Tampa Craig's List. Although I live far from Tampa, FL and have no where near the means to purchase this bike, I was curious about this bike's story, etc.

https://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/bik/1289081243.html



Does anyone know anything about it? How did it compare to steel PX-10s?

Thanks!

I smell a re-badged Vitus.

-Kurt

I just read that Peugeot never exported this model to the USA...

I don't think vitus would have changed the 979 design at all for peugeot, so really it is just a re-badged Vitus. But I do like it! here's another one but with more stickers.

there is also a great example on eBay right now.

They are great bikes, way ahead of their time. It indeed is a re-badged Vitus.

I've been over to the sellers place a few times nad realy dont know what to say. He's a prolific CL seller in Tampa and no one knows where he gets his bikes from. Its almost as if they mysticly appear at his house. He never sells anything new, in fact most of his bikes are low end 70's and early 80's bike with the occasional late 80's and 90's bike thrown in.

He doesnt do anything to them when he acquires them aside from maybe rubbing them down with WD-40 and garden hose. He listed a Miyata that he acquired the day before and didnt do anything to it. It was still dirty and the seat post was jammed down as far as it could possibly go.

Awhile back there was somewhat of an uproar on the local CL about his selling habits and where he gets his bikes from. He stopped selling for awhile and I think its because the heat on. Whats strange is that he very rarely re-lists his bikes. I have a hard time believing that he sells every bike he lists the first time out which has lead me to believe he's up to something funny. Granted, my bikes, when I have them, are more expensive than his but my bikes have been completely rebuilt. I've often thought he has an 'in' with the local police department or the local thrift stores but that's unlikely. To be honest, I think he has 'shill' sellers and 'shill' buyers. Money laundering?

He also takes 'trade-ins' which puts him in the buisness category. Odds are he doesnt have buisness license.

He a prolific CL seller in Tampa and no one knows where he gets his bikes from.
The owner of the local bike shop wont tell me whare he gets his bikes from, he sells classics only. I dont tell him whare I get mine from. Is he a thief? Am I a thief?

what is a shill buyer? or a shill seller for that matter?

Accepting trade-ins doesn't mean you need a business license, it just means you need to balance the worth of the trade in with the allowance you give.

One possible honest explanation for the amount of bikes he sells may simply be that he knows people in several states. I used to swap items around with friends in other states. If you live in an area where certain items are high dollar, and a friend lives in a place where those same things are dirt cheap, you can sometimes make a decent income buying in one state and selling in another.
Some of the prices I see on craigs list in different cities makes it sound worthwhile to buy a truckload of bikes here and make a run out to California.

Ken.

edit, After taking a quick peak on CL for richmond, might load up a few when I head to Virginia next week!

Sometimes I get the feeling his transactions are pre-arranged as a way to 'turn over funds'. If it weren't for the fact that he had an issue in the past I wouldnt be so skeptical. Lets face it, there's only so many places to acquire bikes such as garage sales, CL, Ebay, thrift stores and flea markets. There are alot of active CL flippers in Tampa area (I'm small time compared to them. I've bought 1 bike in the past month) that dont have anywhere near what this guy has.

I could be wrong.....

I'm not going to disagree with you but there's a line that needs to crossed...this guy crossed the line a long time ago. Buying in bulk out of state? That crosses the line. I've been to his place, he's not an out of state buying kind of guy.

No disagreement at all, in fact I agree that there IS a line.
I know nothing at all about the seller listed, I just offered it as a possible explanation.

Ken.

"He a prolific CL seller in Tampa and no one knows where he gets his bikes from.!

I don't know where most of mine come from - luckily (for me), people in my village now offer me their old bikes for free before loading them into their car and queuing for around an hour to dump them at the local council recycling (scrap metal) tip! Some are in terrible state - others are just no longer wanted. There's always something usable on any old bike and I haven't scrapped any frames yet - although there is one with bent top and down tubes that I'm thinking of cutting the BB shell out of to fix another frame and will most likely recycle the rest.

I didn't know Peugeot marketed the Vitus 979 = I've got a lovely old 979 and am on the lookout for a spare frame & forks just in case the unthinkanle happens. Does anyone know the model name that Peugeot sold these as?

So... about the bike?

They were never sold in the U.S. but in Europe they were PX10DU models. I have no clue on threading.

What about it? Campy Nuovo Record derailleurs with Stronglight everything else, needs full servicing including new tires. Rides like a Vitus 979. Should be a smooth comfortable ride with crisp handling. Not overly stiff.

$800 is very, very steep. He had it listed for $1300 a few days prior which tell me he has no clue as to its real value. Just to give you an idea of cost a Vitus 979 frameset sell for ~$100 on Ebay. I figure a savy buyer/flipper could build up a complete bike with nice components (105, 600 Ultegra, mid leverl Campy) for $250-300.

Its on Ebay right now with an opening bid of 299.99 and a $125 flat shipping fee. He doesnt take Paypal....which only helps to comfirm my previous suspiscions.

did peugeot "rebadge" these themselves or was it just whoever bought the bikes?

looks like peugeot did it.


(velospace) They also did carbon fibre vitus frames.