Originally Posted by t_e_r_r_y

is that a picture of your cyclops? doesn't look like a 10 speed. i know that's not really an important detail, but it's weird to me that you're putting a lot of value on a bike but got such an important detail wrong in your description of it.

that said, i tend to put more of an emotional value than a monetary value on my bikes, but i'm no collector. i know every little scratch on my rides. i understand that these old bikes are mostly dollar signs to a lot of people, and that can be more important to some than anything else. still, even looking at it with money goggles, it seems like the considerable value you referenced of shipping one bike back and forth would have been less than giving up a bike 4 times the worth of the one originally purchased, but i don't pretend to know much about the worth of these old things.

one thing's for sure, i would also be trying to figure out what i would need to do to feel ok about all of this if i were in your shoes. i hope something positive comes out of it for you!