I've brought a few items from Ben's Bikes, and have had good results.

If you buy a frame off ebay make sure you ask the seller to pack the frame properly with a block of wood or something between the rear stays and the forks. Sounds obvious but I have recieved a frame where the rear stays had been bent in due to improper packaging. Not an expensive frame, but still annoying.....

Other than that I have had mostly good experiences on ebay. As mentioned before - ask lots of questions!

Don't buy from Applecart. All his hubs are loctite wonders. And if you think a loctite hub is king..
https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/78570-stripped-rear-hub.html

I've bought from Applecart (and know him informally) and had no problems.
I bought a 1973 Eisentraut from him, full campy for less than $300.
Yah I gladly paid the $35 packing fee. Bike came with all tubes wrapped in foam pipe insulation
and then bubblewrapped. Fork was properly blocked, not just at dropouts either.
Although it wasn't double boxed, there was plenty of additional cardboard reinforcing
the box. So for me it was worth it. Ok, not a fixie, so I can't comment on the Locktite.
I bought a set of campy tubular rims from Bensbike, and by mistake they sent
me someones new mavic reflex rims (the ceramic high zoot ones). I contacted
them and they asked if I minded shipping to correct buyer. Then they sent me
a 20 dollar bill wrapped around one of the rims to cover the shipping.
First class all the way.
Marty

Exactly. I'm no expert, but almost any time looking at fixed web resources will clue you in to the BS in applecart's auctions. Note the use of phrases like "top quality components from the era" "top of the line model"-- stuff like that. The bikes are pretty average-- old trek/peugeot/takara/etc that would be a good deal for $25 at Goodwill or Vinny's, but sell for $50-100 with a few geared components removed.

Re-dishing a real wheel costs a six-pack if you know a mechanic. That and the price of a cheapo cog does not make a $100 bike.

Two words:free market. Applecart will continue to sell and make money on the bikes as long as anyone buys them. If you don't like his bikes/him/his business parctices, don't buy.

$25 garage sale bike (probably worth more)
$10 cog
1 hour redishing a wheel or $7.00 Six Pack for your buddy
4 hours disassembling, cleaning, lubricating bike

If your time is worth even $10 per hour nobody is getting rich here and those that do not have the time, expertise or would just plain rather be riding that tinkering in the garage are getting an entry level fixed gear bike.

Shipping, handling & boxing charges are a different story...

I have nothing to do with Applecart, and I'm not defending him. It just seems $100 for a decent old steel fixed gear is not that unreasonable.

Applecart's bikes aren't even that low end. They're mostly good - decent qualtity straight gauge cromo steel, or even in some case butted tubing. The parts are ok too. These bieks wee once middle of the road - low end bikes from the late 70's - 80's, perfect for a fixed conversion. His business practices of boxing / packing fees and the locktite cog are another story. They are good starting point if you wanted to build your own bike.

Aren't there more people out there riding a loctited cog and BB lockring than a track hub?

As FGG Dennis says: "You can always build a new rear wheel with a single-gear specific rear hub such as a Surly 1x1 or a track hub, but I think it's more in the true spirit of the fixed gear to make use of something you have or something that somebody gives you."

Well, true...they're not the worst bikes in the world, but I wasn't saying that. You can get some amazing deals at thrifts/garage sales/curbs on trash day/your apartment building's basement.

But they're not "track" bikes. Nor are they "track legal" as some of the items were described. Don't know if the seller still lists things the same way or not.

My point is that there are a lot of resources to learn from before getting serious about building a bike up.

I didn't have a good experience with the "Bike King," stay away from him if you can.

Here's a tip. Go to Cycling > Road Bikes and check the box for title and descriptions but don't enter anything in the search window (you'll miss a lot of bikes with fixed gear potential if you search for track or fixed). Click search. In the Sort By drop down choose Distance (nearest) and you'll see all of the bikes nearest you. That is if the seller has registered with their location. Save on shipping by picking up the bike in person. Email the seller though. Some sellers will not back off the shipping fees.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting

Nice frame here. I haven't bought yet frome EBAY. I liked PAYPAL when they were not part of EBAY! My old riding buddy tells me he had only one bad experience with EBAY so far after 6 yrs dealing with them .

Maybe I will try one day but til then regualr forums like this will get me what I want. So I will support forums like this and else where on the NET.

S/F,
CEYA!

Ebay sucks compare to the deals I get at my local swap meet.

No shipping, No hidden charges AND I get to inspect the bike right on the spot AND get a super good deal.

I just got a fixed geared Bianchi from the 80s for $80 with handbuilt Mavic wheels with RX100 hubs, it had a sweet San Marco seat too.

You cannot find deal like that on ebay. Shipping would cost $40+ easy.

I had a long term assignment in a different state and didn't bring a bike with me. (I recently sold my old fixie (built up myself) so I wanted another one.) After several months of doing the garage sale, thrift store thing I gave up and went to ebay. I ended up buying one of the fixie conversions w/ the packaging fee. Here are a few comments on the experience:

I first auction win didn't work out. The looser wouldn't sell to me. (Hey, I was new to ebay and even emailed him to see what could be done to prove I am not a scammer. I never heard back and even offered to send him money up front.) The real reason may have had to due with the $$. It would have been a $28 Peugeot(sp?). His boxing fee was larger than the win price. Even given the shipping and boxing fee, I would have had a decent beater fixie for $100 or so.

I then tried another attempt and won one from someone mentioned in the first post or so (applecart). This time, the applecart seller was easy to deal with (IMO). The bike itself wasn't a stellar deal, but ya get what ya pay for. BTW - I kept doing the thrift store thing, but didn't find anything worth while. I completely agree that the $35 packaging fee is bs. There were some .99c plumbing insulation foam on ALL of the tubes (Maybe $8.00 + 5 for the fork and rear dropout braces. The box was used. (I didn't expect a new one.). So $13.00 in material + 23 in labor? Perhaps this is fair depending on the time spent. .5 hours where I work bill as 50-250 and hour so it seems fine from that perspective. The front brake thrown in was 'thrown out' hahaha and the overall condition was exactly as noted in the add. Overall it was like $135.00. Now, on the dishing and wheelset: amateur at best. The same spokes were used and the chainline wasn't right, not are the spacers adequate to make it so. front is actually set up for 42mm, but the rear is 49 or so. All the spacers were on the same side. Anyway, I've been replacing stuff on this bike and it is now a nice ride (phil hubs up front, new seat, post, bars......), I'll fix the chainline issue when the cheap suzue hub goes out and get a phil.

Again, for $135 one cannot really complain. Sure some can brag about finding the nice lugged Eddy frame for 10$ at the garage sale, and just scouring the parts bin for a build up cost of $10. Besides, I'm a working professional and being away from my wife meant that I didn't have the weekly fine dining costs to tend with, so it was justifiable. Wouldn't do it again though.

My opinion of ebay is that some deals can be had, but they are very few and far between. Ebay is a PITA. CL is a much better wired option, but both pale compared to the thrift thing/swap meet (depending on your location).

Just my 2c.