Dilemma
 

As many of you know, I’ve been hunting for an Aerospoke wheel for some time. Now, I’ve found one on another city’s CL and I’m all set to have a friend go check them out on Saturday. Now, the seller just informed me that he has another guy coming tomorrow to check them out.

So, should I snipe the guy and send the money tonight, wheels uninspected? Or is that too risky and I should just let fate takes its course? The cheap price has me a little weary, but the seller has already admitted that the rear is slightly out of true (read: basically useless). And since I don’t really care about the rear, that might explain the low price.

What do you all think?



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...aerospoke2.jpg

(I didn't resize the pic because I wanted all your keen eyes to point out anything I should be worried about)

Aerospoke/solid wheels are lame. Next.

Next indeed.

I have never wanted an object enough to take this kind of silly risk with my money.

I mean, yeah. That obviously makes sense.
But people buy stuff on ebay all the time without first inspecting it.

if it sucks when you buy it on ebay, you can always dispute the charge on paypal or something. at least you have a choice, and there's a feedback mechanism to keep people slightly honest. you don't even have a guarantee this guy will GIVE you the wheels. i would inspect first.

wait...why would you not care about the rear wheel being out of true?

there's rumours of aerospoke reinstating their trackhubs...but it is only heresay for now. what you could do is that you could remove the rear hub and put it in a new aerospoke wheel--that is, if you have the cash to blow for that sort of thing.

if you do end up swapping hubs, realise that current aerospoke models have a deeper dish section to them, so they will look slightly different!

edit: their hubs suck. whatever cartridge bearings they use, they never seem to break in...or it could just be my wheel. i got like 1000km on them, and the bearings are still as stiff as they were out of the box. all my other wheels can spin forever by hand, where is this would only move a little! boo.

All I am going to use is the front.
As I described to [165], just for pure novelty.
I'll probably keep the rear around for fun, though, but I'm not concerned with it.

Exactly. Plenty of crooks on ebay, but at least you have some recourse in theory. The whole point of Craigslist is that you pick the stuff up in person and can check it out before you throw your money down.

Good point.

I was planning on having [165] headbutt the guy in the sternum.
I think that would carry more weight than negative feedbacl ;)

And on a side note, the one time I did get dicked over on ebay (bought a DVD, guy sent me a ****ing burned copy, which I immediately returned and demanded a refund). Since I did not get "proof" of shipment, I got nothing. Good thing I ripped the DVD before sending it back.

Depends on the cost, ask the guy possibly why he is selling. Maybe he just thinks they are scrap wheels and thinks they are sellable just because of the novelty. If he is into the fixed "scene" then he would probably realize how fashionable the front wheel would be (if it wasn't junk) and wouldn't be selling it. Basically, just find out why he is selling them, that may point to the condition a bit.

The price is $100, for what it's worth.
I mean, with the rear being out of true for someone going to use them for their intended purpose, time trials or road racing, they're essentially worthless.

And I just did email him asking for detailed condition and why he is selling.

Ask him if he would ride on the front wheel and be confident, if he says yes, and he seems like a decent guy. I would buy 'em.

Am I stupid for not being able to tell which is the front and which is the rear? Regardless this doesn't look too good to me:

nah, not stupid at all. Thats the rear wheel. The front one has the quick release.

Yeah, it looks like that one (the rear) had a bit of a lip on the hub, but I wasn't sure. Anyway, if it's the front you're after. . .

Every Aerospoke I've had experience with (4 or so) has had damn smooth bearings, at least for cartridges. Perhaps a fluke?

100 isn't a bad deal, and "out of true" does not mean completely worthless in my book.

do it

if the rear is out of true what does that mean for the front and the kind of use it may have seen?

if you do end up getting it, i'll buy your rear hub!

couldnt you put a surly fixxer in the rear wheel? isnt that what those are for? i know those are kinda pricey but if the rear wheel is any good it might be slick to have the set on your bike.

i bought a fixxer for this exact purpose. doesnt fit. you know how the fixxer is a female end? where splined male contact points are supposed to go into the fixxer? well the hub on the aerospoke is the same female end....the freewheel has the splines.

essentially, if i were to use the fixxer, i'd be affixing a cassette freewheel to it. how silly :D

it is a track wheel to begin with

oh
word