Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 02/19/2021 02:55 PM |
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If you have any used bikes you are thinking of getting rid of, now is the time to do it.
With the complete lack of new bike inventory, the used market is a seller's dream right now. People are completely overpaying for stuff....it is crazy.
I have my old Cervelo up on eBay right now. Dated parts....10 spd Di2, old school Zipp 404 tubulars (like really old school...not even dimpled, let alone Firecrest), rim brakes. Currently sitting at $1750 with 2 days left on the auction. I don't think I could have gotten $1K for it last year before the pandemic.
Now trying to decide if I want to get rid of my tri bike....I don't see any triathlons in my near future adn I don't really race TT's....and it is an old frame (2009). Now may be the best chance for me to get a decent price....
Anyway, if you got stuff you are looking to unload, do it now. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 02/19/2021 03:19 PM |
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That's fine for you, CK. I imagine you have no problem selling off your family members to strangers. Hey, that's okay. We are the way we are. Maybe you could part them out -- I mean, it's more painful for them, but hey, you make the big bucks... A kidney here, a lung there, maybe some bone marrow...
Actually, I'm tempted, but my recent bike exchanges on eBay have been a pain in the butt. Sold a bike of my wife's a year ago and issues with the transaction lasted six months as UPS lost the wheels, forever, and they are charging a $4itload for shipping now. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 02/19/2021 03:31 PM |
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LOL, huck...the good news is that I am also restoring other family "members". Currently rebuilding my Schwinn Paramount Ti frame (built by Serotta) with a Campag Chorus grouppo. Pretty excited about it, TBH.
And of course the plan is to use the funds from these transactions to fund a new gravel bike.... |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 02/19/2021 04:26 PM |
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Huck, a kidney here ... I just read about two co-workers who happened to go back to their offices at the same time to get stuff for in-home work. Got talking. One needed a kidney. They discovered they were the same blood type. Went to the hospital over the holidays and made the transaction. Wow!
Bone marrow - I've never done it but I've known about it since 1976 when the Red Cross recruited me for platelets. Most of mine were going to research. I'd go in every two weeks. My racing days. Worked out really well. BP and quick physical twice a month! Twice I was informed my platelets were a good match for a patient and would I please stay healthy; they were needed. (This was before both the full typing and anything like a "bank" to draw from. Patients got whoever's. But after a few of those, they would develop antibodies(?) to poor matches. When a good match; ie no issues came along - well I got to be that. This was long before patient/donor confidentiality. The nurses drawing my blood would go to visit the patients. I would get updated every two weeks on how mine was doing, including name, hospital and room number and open invitation to go visit. (Never did and I probably wasn't ready for what I would have seen.) Still ... It was both an honor and responsibility knowing I was carrying around someone else's life inside my skin.
Years later, in Seattle, I'd go to give platelets. Now 6 times a year, two weeks before doing a whole blood, to get the needles down from 100/year to 12. Every so often, a complete stranger would walk up and give me a great big hug. Someone in donating for a family member who knew I was a community donor just doing it because. |
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 02/19/2021 05:35 PM |
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| I'm starting to think that way too many of you take me much too seriously ; ) |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 02/19/2021 06:01 PM |
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| As long as no family members are getting parted out ... |
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 02/19/2021 06:58 PM |
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Brought me a chuckle. First the white stem, bar, and tape. Not being a Fred or maybe I am. But not something I would do if that is the bike. To each their own. 
Libertyville. I was stationed at Great Lakes in 69 for boot camp camp and A school. Was driving around there a lot and found it so strange that lots of cars had some light hanging from the mirror. Never seen anything like it before or after. Car after car with this lite inside. I assume the sailors were vandalizing the cars.
I assumed that us sailors were vandalizing cars at the time. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 02/19/2021 08:08 PM |
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With the thin-ness of bike market I am retaining redundancy in my stable.
It’s a pittance anyway in big scheme of things unless you’re really strapped for cash. |
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 02/20/2021 02:08 PM |
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| Need some advice. I have 50 years of odd end parts, tools etc that I will be no longer using. Everything from park Tool Torque set to dozens of little bits, and pieces. I know almost everything has no real value for a single person Should I just take the whole shebang to a local bike shop and give it to them. The torque wrench and sockets along with some of the other good parts no. Stand, speed pedal grease gun, stems, my beloved 20 year old brooks saddle will try to find a new home. or just put the whole thing up for sale? What say you? Thought of taking all my bikes and parts etc. to the the Sea otter classic. Thinking they would have booths for normal people. LOL 5 grand or more. Where's the garage sale tent.? Stupid me. What do I know. |
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zootracer
Posts:833
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| 02/20/2021 07:23 PM |
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Mondonico..Maybe you could try a local bike club, such as The Sacramento Wheelmen or The Sierra Foothills Cycling Club?
You stopped riding completely? Say it's not so. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 02/20/2021 08:57 PM |
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I get more compliments on that bike than any other one I have, mondonico....taste is obviously subjective. Sitting just under $1800 with one day to go. Pretty happy with that.
As for the lights on cars thing, I have never noticed it, but we didn’t arrive here until 1999, so it may have ended by then. I’ll ask around.
Still lots of sailors from Great Lakes hitting the town on weekends, though....that has not changed!! |
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smokey52
Posts:493
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| 02/20/2021 09:30 PM |
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Libertyville! My mother was born in Liberytville. She met my father on a blind date while he was at Great Lakes learning Navy. She was a USO girl, and they fell in love. The rest is history and herstory.
As I like to keep these posts on cycling, my Mom and Dad did Bike NY when in their late 70s. We were joined by my kids, some siblings, and their offspring. It was a hot day for early May, and we needed a lot of water to avoid heatstroke. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 02/20/2021 10:46 PM |
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Wow...small world!!
Who knew our little burg would have so many connections on this forum....very cool!! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 02/20/2021 11:03 PM |
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Bikes and the Great Lakes - I've ridden along three of them. Not Superior or Erie. (I paralleled Erie riding Ontario from Niagara Falls to Windsor.) The days before I rode along Lake Ontario. Later, a ride from Minneapolis to Saginaw MI along the north edge of Lake Michigan and across the Mackinac Bridge. Down the palm to the base of Saginaw Bay. (I've both sailed and ice-boated on Erie and swam (very briefly!) in Superior.
And sailors in town. I've been one of them in Victoria, Vancouver Island. Swiftsure. Now every June (pre-COVID anyway) the Navy, Coast Guard and Canadian counterparts send ships up the Columbia River to Portland for the Rose Parade. Been happening forever. Now I used to live on the island of Alameda, San Francisco Bay, when the Navy base was in full swing. (USS Coral Seas, our last non-nuc carrier and Enterprise were home-ported there. Real navy town. The sailors were often called (not to their face!) squids. Fast forward to Portland and the month of June. The annual returning of the squid to spawn.
Edit: Smokey, my ride across NY State happened in the early 70s (last century, not my age!)
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 02/21/2021 03:23 PM |
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Mondonico, here’s a thought regarding your unneeded gear: Do you have a local free or nearly free bike repair and exchange? I’ve donated stuff that is potentially useful but I just don’t use anymore to my local version. Half worn but otherwise good tires are the most appreciated, but also some of those old tools, the odd spoke, etc. Good to see it used. (As for the likely useless stuff like weird French stuff from the 70s, maybe a museum?)
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 02/21/2021 08:01 PM |
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| Sorry, did not mean to denigrate your bike. Overall it looks like great bike. Im just not a fan of white cockpits. But who cares about my sense of style. Happy o hear you seem to be getting a good price. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 02/21/2021 08:33 PM |
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All good....took no offense at all.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 02/21/2021 08:50 PM |
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What LSD said. Donate. There’s always folks who can use our partially used stuff.
At front end I stocked up today on things I might need this season before things turn crazy again. The LBS said things are already heating up, they sold five bikes in first hour they were open today. Signs of spring! |
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 02/24/2021 07:00 PM |
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| Hey hello. I have kinda stopped riding. I retired a year ago and that was the last riding on a daily basis. Every day to work and back. Kept me somewhat engaged.
Since then not much. Today I wrote to the local Costco to pick up a script for our dog. Only two miles. But the hardest two miles I have ridden in decades. My balance is $4it, my legs are dead. The joy of riding a bike I've know for over 60 years was not there. It was work.
Maybe if I get out every few days and ride around the block things will change. But I have never felt this way riding a bike. It scared me. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 02/24/2021 07:08 PM |
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Sorry to hear that Mondonico.
My parents are 80 and still zipping around on their ebikes. But it’s Netherlands so they ride with regularity which probably is a huge game changer. Upright bikes too so perhaps easier to keep doing. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 02/25/2021 08:49 AM |
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That's tough, mondonico...sorry to hear it.
I think your suggestion about getting out every few days for very short spins is a good one. Slowly rebuild the muscles and skills....I'd be willing to bet the joy returns before too long.
As for the topic of this thread, the f*cker who won the auction never paid me so I'm gonna have to relist it. Foooook. |
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 02/25/2021 09:44 AM |
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I used to love eBay - but over the recent years have had not so great experiences.
Better luck, CK. |
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zootracer
Posts:833
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| 02/25/2021 10:45 AM |
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| Sorry to learn that Mondonico....that's tough. I remember we bought our bikes at the same LBS way back in 2002. I went with a Master X-Light. I could have purchased a Mondonico, but did not want to wait 4 months. Back then old man Mondonico made all the frames. I bought a Trek Domane e bike end of last summer. My 78 year old body is not so young anymore. Not a good fit for a 25 year old brain. The electric assistance helps me get up the hills. I can hang with anyone, accept on the flats, as the electric motor turns off at speeds over 20MPH. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 02/25/2021 08:43 PM |
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| One happy eBay story: I spent a lot for something that never came. eBay covered the loss. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 02/26/2021 06:39 PM |
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| Whoops, correction to the last post: I payed with PayPal, who covered the loss. |
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 02/27/2021 05:48 PM |
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| Just had a case on eBay. My first sale ever. Have bought many things the last ten years. Sold a nice computer for 700 bucks. Along with a headset and nice thrust master controller. Winning bidder paid the same day auction was done. Shipped USPS the next morning. Four days later tracking said delivered left with individual. Sent him a message asking if everything arrived OK, Sat. No response, Sunday did the same, Monday did the same thing, no response. I starting to think I'm getting scammed. He got it but going to say he never did. Finally on Tuesday I get a response. He lives in Texas and his power was out for four days. But he still says he never got it yet his ring showed the carrier taking the package back to the truck. My wife and I both worked for the Postal Service for over 35 years each. So we went to office I shipped from and had the clerk do a internal report. It showed that the carrier first scanned delivered but then three minutes later scanned undelivered no person home. The basic costumer tracking on web site did not show the undelivered scan. It stops once it shows delivered. Anyway today, a week later, I finally got a message that he picked up the computer and all is well. The carrier must of not left a notice and just took it back as attempted. |
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Nick A
Posts:625
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| 02/28/2021 11:52 AM |
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A long time ago, when cycling was more niche, I had good luck with eBay. Then, years later, with Alfa Romeo parts in the US (also niche), it worked out well. I think you were dealing with other cycling people, or other Alfa people. However, once cycling started to be mainstream, it was the same cesspool as everything else eBay. I only have the account now for that weird $8 cell phone part that I want to take a chance on, and can't find anywhere else.
I've donated to my former, local, community run bike shop, and that seems to work the best. I feel for you mondocino. I haven't ridden in close to a year, by the time my bike comes out of storage with all of our other belongings. On my road bike, I switched to spd shoes/pedals, and very low first gear...
Nick |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 02/28/2021 12:56 PM |
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| My one Ebay experience was to buy Gillette Track II blades. Went well. I'm stocked for a few years. I liked the shave of those blades from the first try and 30 years ago, my brother had really nice and nicely weighted German razors engraved with our initials. After 20 years of just minor touching up (full beard) I'm back to the full shave and again loving that razor and those blades. Got to my last remaining old one, went to Costco to see what was out there and had a near heart attack seeing what I would have to pay for a razor with more blades than my cassette has cogs. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 02/28/2021 01:13 PM |
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| Seems like eBay is like the brief “talk to the internet” rage (I have some friends who got rich of this when AOL bought them) which then became instantly obsolete with emergence of smart phones. Except eBay is still sticking around in some lonely corner of the internet. The talk to the internet speech recognition AI could not handle my Dutch accent, that was funny when we trialed it. |
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