Yes. Something completely different than the standard ebay sucks thread.

While perusing vintage parts, I happen across this. An exact match for my 1933 Frejus. Not only will the rear hub be an excellent spare, one of my Frejus-branded wing nuts is broken. I had someone suggest I could repair the broken wing nut. I considered it because what are the chances of finding an exact match for a ultra-low quantity wing nut made in Italy 80 years ago?

As it turns out, my chances are great! All because of ebay. And a seller willing to ship to a third party in Italy who shipped it to me. And for CdM who provided that third party (thanks again). The alternative - spending several thousand dollars on a trip to Italy and getting completely lucky at a scambio.

The condition of the hub is horrible and will need a lot of elbow grease. I paid way too much. I am happy as a clam.

Woo-Hoo! I love it when this sort of thing happens!

Super cool!

If ebay didn't exist, neither would my garage full of Paramounts.

iab makes a good point. Just in the past week, eBay has provided me with the exact NOS bar end-caps I needed, and a replacement housing for a cracked Universal 68 brake lever.

( I still hate ebay though. )

+1 As much as many of us knock fleecebay, how else was I going to find a 1987 Prologue, in the color scheme I wanted, in my size? Seller was in Logan, UT. Without ebay, that entire transaction would not have happened.


My most recent keeper pickup on ebay was a 1992 Paramount Series 9, in my size. That's one rare bike (Kestrel carbon, one year model). Seller was in MA.

ebay is also providing me a venue to sell oddball garage sale finds. Right now, I am selling theme sweaters, that I picked up for $1 each at a garage sale (30 + of them). I've sold about half the pile so far, anywhere from $15 to $90 each.

Ebay is the personification of good and bad. Good, because it will help anyone, even me, find vintage bicycles and/or components that would, otherwise, be pretty much unavailable. But...

Ebay is also the main reason for the incredible increase in the interest in vintage bicycles. Because of Ebay, people who know little about a vintage bicycle's value are listing their old mounts for absurd sums. Sadly, even less informed buyers are buying. This drives the price up for all of us, unless you have sound bike hunting skills or simply get lucky.

And, today, thanks to a friend and B4H volunteer, I got lucky. This old Stucchi came my way, but I still don't know what it will cost me.

And, on my second trip to the dump today, a box of this and that was sitting in the dumpster. The box contained some pretty neat stuff including two NOS pumps, a used Ofmega CX bottom bracket with very little use on it, a set of the stupidist/coolist brake shoes (literally), an original Schwinn spoke wrench and a set of NOS DiaCompe inverse brake levers, a Power Brake thingy that I know little about and some NOS Shimano cable sets.

Wonder what the Easter Bunny will bring me tomorrow???

Randy you encourage me to make my first trip to the dump today at easter,
I have not been since last year,
Our spring has not come yet so spring cleaning has not happened = no gold at de dumpé
I got to do my spring cleaning myself and get rid of some bikes that will never make it back on the road.

mike in finland






"Hey supermodel, set the rest of us free,
There ain't no genie in the bottle, or in that magazine."

Good for the seller.

DRY HUMP

returned from the dump almost completly empty handed.
spring has not sprung

a nice aluminum chaingaurd,
2 26" polished stainless fenders
dyno,front and taillight.

2 wingnuts for wheels-60's style............was not worth the trip.

There is a bit more to this story. The hub was actually originally part of a complete wheel, which included a termite infested wood rim. The seller was not willing to ship outside of Italy, nor was he willing to accept Paypal (In Italy it is still possible to sell on Ebay without be obliged to accept Paypal).

After first coming up with a way to pay the seller, it was then necessary to work out the shipping logistics. Had the seller been willing to ship that whole wheel, the already expensive cost would have been prohibitive. The removal of the freewheel that had been fitted for over 70 years without damage was also not a simple matter and required somebody with the proper tools and the proper experience.

I'm glad that the whole thing worked out well.

BTW, should anybody be planning a visit to Italy, I would highly recommend the following hotel as a place to stay: Hotel Virgilio in Riva del Garda

It belongs to the family of the friend who arranged the trans-shipment of IAB's hub. He has a very nice little bike museum in the hotel and can also arrange for bikes to be used while staying there.

Sorry to hear about the rim. Hopefully your friend can use it for a wall queen.

I love Ebay, personally - as a buyer. However, with all the crap going on in the last couple years (buyer-skewed rules, Paypal's strange new tactics...), I have ceased selling.

I'd much rather sell here on the FSOT thread. So far, I've bought and sold here and every transaction has been fantastic. Besides, one gets the chance to actually "meet" people on here - and one also has a much better sense of trust here since we already "know" one another.

The icing on the cake is when one sees a bike with something one of us traded/sold on it - you know it's getting used and the story continues. If you get my drift

Lastly, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to facilitate a recent Ebay transaction - this would be my first. A Canadian member (who shall currently remain nameless) and I have been coordinating a bike purchase and now it's complete. I'll be delivering it this coming Saturday

DD

Congratulations, Iab! You done good. It is good to have a friend in CdM, obviously, but that has nothign to do with Ebay.

I am a big fan of Ebay. I understand the sellers' complaints, and have some sympathy. I have also got screwed by some sellers. I'm not in favor of gambling, but ebay is a form of gambling I'm willing to participate in. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't, and I don't complain either way. Ebay facilitates a hobby that would otherwise be pretty much impossible for most of us.