Nemosengineer 

Well this was not a bargain, but it is something I have been after for years. A 1988 3Rensho Katana, mechanically perfect, zero rust. zero dents, with scabby paint, in my size and I'm so happy I'm willing to gloat a bit .



: Mike

merziac

There's plenty more, I could go on for days.

I've posted many stories with my bikes.

He has the build sheets posted so many of them can be dated exactly and who they were built for, original components and much else.

Last year at the show in Anacortes Wa. 3 people said it was worth the trip just to see one of his bikes, I had 2 there, 1 person didn't even know who he was but did know what they were looking at. His bikes always attract attention.

He has a FB page with tons of info including current projects that are way above the paygrade we normally see.

I'll add some more later.

merziac

I believe so, not original but could have had one when it was built.

jetboy 

that is gloat worthy at any price

Korina

We have a half dozen or more breweries up here. Lost Coast, Mad River, Redwood Curtain, Six Rivers, I forget the others. If you like beer, Humboldt is a good place to go.

OldManJones

So I got a great deal on this today. Fits and rides great, also has Tange OS tubing which I found out is very good stuff.

Should have taken a better photo on the way home.

Unca_Sam

Someone listed a pair of used 7 speed Suntour command shifters and a Superbe pro RD for $40...

jamesdak 

Probably my best was this sweet Prologue bought for $50. Full Dura Ace setup.

Here's how it looked the night I brought it home.



And after a few years when I sold it for a fair amount more.

https://pbase.com/jhuddle/image/169146760.jpg

drpaddle

Well, maybe not quite so spectacular, but I bought an all-original 1970 P-15 Paramount off Craigslist in another town for $500. When it arrived, I realized it had Campagnolo "pista con dente" pedals. I sold those on for $400.

RobbieTunes

You are a good man.

RobbieTunes

(….we won't talk about the Sports fetish.....)

Nemosengineer 

Time to gloat. I found this Sturmey-Archer FM 4 speed hub laced to a 26 inch Dunlop alloy rim while looking for a control rod assembly for my alloy FM hub. It was a good day on ebay as the SA wingnuts are in very nice condition (the left wingnut is 4 speed specific) and I got everything for way less than the wingnuts alone. Any way I will let the photos do the talking.

Unca_Sam

What did you pay for it?
If any old SA cog will work back there, that's a great find.

Nemosengineer 

The total came to $130.90 with shipping from the UK, and yes any SA cog will just plug in. The goal here is to overhaul my alloy FM and use all the tasty bits from this wheel and hub to accomplish that.
The alloy hub is dated 50 - 9 new hub is dated 60 - 11, so 10 years apart, lots of compatible parts as I understand. Somewhere in a box I have a BH Airlite front hub from the early 50's so that has be thinking about a 50's bitsa club bike. We will see how things work out...

: Mike

repechage

the Mark I Pro was a road bike. It came with tubulars, the geometry was English influenced but I would not call it twitchy racy. For that one would have to wait a few years and get a small UK builder by Special order.

the first gen Pros were not imported in great numbers to the USA- that would change.
Part of the draw is they are few - and before the bike boom pressure against quality.

pcb 

Wasn't there also a "thing" where, for who knows what reason, dealers could buy a fully Campy-equipped Raleigh Pro for less than the price of a full Campy group? Many Pros were sold to dealers, many Pro framesets were left to sell after the Campy bits had been stripped.

pcb 

I haven't really fallen into many downright killer bargains, but I've had occasional arbitrage success, and a nice surprise or two. More often than not, I'll get a frameset _I think_ is worth $500 for $200, but after I've had it a few years and try to sell it, I can't even get my original $200 out. Buy high, sell low.

My best nice surprise was this 2001 Waterford RS-11, that I watched go unsold on ebay a few times as a complete bike before I snagged it as a frameset. It wasn't a bargain, but I didn't feel like I overpaid. I never feel like I overpaid. When I was cleaning it up I noticed the initials "DW" stamped in the bb shell. Emailed Dave Wages (Ellis Cycles) who confirmed he built it when he was at Waterford, not long after he left Serotta. Those two initials and $5 will get you a cup o' joe at Starbucks _and_ very likely less money than I paid for the frame.



My 2nd-best surprise was a much better story, but I didn't keep the frame---this Jim Merz. I've told the story more than once, so the quick version is the bb had kind of a weird ser#, and after I emailed Jim Merz about it he told me it was one of the first frames he "built," as a commuter for himself. "Built" in quotes because it was originally a couple of trashed Raleigh Pro frames that he cut up and made into a single non-trashed frame. Back in the day Raleigh USA gave him some of their junked warranty-return frames, which he used to practice brazing. It had heaps of weird braze-ons, for a generator mount, headlight wires, the top tube housing guides were purposely off-center----it definitely felt like a frame somebody was playing with. The weird ser# was his birth date, so he knew it was his original frame. I couldn't keep it after hearing that story, sold it to him for what I paid, then he went and removed the weird braze-ons and made it beautiful. I'm completely jealous about how it turned out, but we're still buds.

Before:



After:



I got this '72 Screaming Yellow Paramount P-15 on ebay, as a swap for a '98 Schwinn Peleton Pro I had listed. The Peleton was probably not worth more than $500 or so at the time, so just in terms of intrinsic value I was ahead on the swap. Paramount guy wanted a modern Schwinn, I said sure. The Paramount was essentially unridden, like-new components. I got $375 each for just the wheels and the Campy triple crankset, both from guys basically saying: "I know this is stupid expensive, but I'm tired of losing out on auctions and I just want to finish my damn Paramount." I was happy to oblige. Maybe I sold the original Record SL pedals, too? Definitely sold the Grand Turismo rder, haven't seen that around here in ages. I had more than enough lightly-used Campy stuff on hand to replace what I sold. I eventually sold the Paramount, can't recall if it went frameset only or complete, but either way I didn't lose on this one. Original equipment photo here. It's a pretty small file, so not a lot of detail. Looks like I shot these 15yrs ago, so I wasn't working with a lot of pixels.

repechage

more urban legend. Lygie and Atala, and sometimes Windsor (had Italian threading) were the basis of Colnago builds.

JaccoW

What do you consider average sizes? Honest question here from the land of the tall people. 60cm sounds about average to me.

SJX426 

From a full bike perspective, the Bike Friday was the best deal. I paid $125 for it with a broken attachment.

The bike:
P1010347 on Flickr
The break:
P1010348 on Flickr

Stripped the rear triangle down. Emailed Bike Friday asking for the part, head badge and decals. Had the part replaced by a local guy. Powder coated the triange and assembled with new head badge and decals. Kept the pedals and replaced them with some I didn't want.
P1010773, on Flickr
P1010822 on Flickr

Sold it on CL for $925.

This is a sad story because it doesn't have an ending yet!
Picked up this 1984 Trek 760 for $100. Campy Tipo hubs, NISI rims, SR post, NR RD and FD, 600 crank, 105 brake set and an unusual SR quill stem with TI bolt and the stem cored out. The stem was also branded as a Superbe Pro stem, IIRC. It was painted black.
Terrible pic but that is all I have.
1984 Trek 760 60cm as acquired on Flickr
WP_20141102_015 on Flickr

Oh and a Giant unicrown fork which now has a replacement of a 1985 760 fork found on the bay for $25.

Sad part is that it is still hanging in the garage. Good part is that I have a near complete Suntour Superbe Pro group to put on it. The stem is too long and I would need a stem, post, HS and BB to complete the group. Should start looking. I do have a Superbe bb just not the Pro.

I have not paid more than $500 for any complete bike at this point in time. The Colonago and Pinarello were both just under that amount.
1983 Colnago Superissimo on Flickr

Pinarello after conversion from DA 7400 to Campagnolo Chorus with Ergos (good buy!)
P1030663 on Flickr

The De Rosa was a good deal from my perspective, The frame set, thanks again to squirtdad , Ergos, thanks notenoughdaylig , and complete Record/Ambrosia 10V wheel set for $130 on CL, kept overall costs down a bit. All the other parts were a bit more than I really wanted to pay. But hey, I have removed another bike from the top5 of the bucket list of Italian bikes to own!
P1030593 on Flickr

I don't know if this is gloat worthy as the value in the end may not be even break even but my goal of having a SS/FG was satisfied with this $50 Langster frame set with brakes, crank set and frozen post.
2010 Langster Steel 61cm on Flickr

BFisher

I suppose it really does depend upon where you are. My experience in the NE US with buying and selling has been that sizes 56 to 58 sell quicker and for more cash. I have had frames taller than that for sale that never got a single call, and I've seen really nice bikes in the 60 to 63 cm range sit for months and months at very low prices. Average height in the US is about 5'9". I'm just over 5"10". Funny because my 13 year old son is about 5'8" with a 11.5 (Euro 45.5) shoe size.

pcb 

In the C&V road bike heyday, I'd say 56cm was the single best seller, followed by 58cm. That's when/if a decent cm-size scheme existed. In the bad old 19"/21"/23"/25" days, 23" was royalty.

I'm not as familiar with ATB sizing, likely 18" though?

SurferRosa

This tricked-out $300 Trek purchase wasn't my best ever cash deal, but it's one that has proven to be a lot of fun, beefed up one of my keepers, and easily paid for itself.



First, I pulled the Brooks Pro, Chorus crankset, and Victory pedals for my Miyata:



I also use the Trek's long saddle bag on occasion.

I already sold the Trek's frameset ($100), bottle/cage ($55), bars/stem ($45), fd ($35) and rims ($20) for $255 total.

I still have the Trek's Record hubs to sell or build up:



The skewers don't match, but the races and cones are perf!

And I still have for sale the Trek's Chorus/Athena brakeset, NR rear mech, NR seatpost, Record shifters, DA freewheel, and Blackburn rack.

Quite an amazing Campified haul, where he basically paid me $450 to take it off his hands.

JaccoW

Yeah the average Dutch man is ~181cm (5'11") but many are taller than that and my girlfriend is not considered extraordinarily tall at 182cm (5'11"+) and rides 57-60cm frames. But she has short legs.
I myself am 195cm (6'4"+) My father is about an inch taller as well so maybe I didn't get as much fertilizer or hormones as he did.

Anything between 60-64cm gets picked up pretty fast whereas 57cm frames and smaller often get unsold for longer periods of time.

All of this is in the West of the country, one about the size of New York state, and people on the east or in the South are often smaller and people in the North often taller. Which is a shame because the nice tall frames often show up on the other side of the country.

EDIT; Now that I think of it, my girlfriend has ridden my 64cm Batavus a few times. All the way with the saddle down sure, but she still managed. Huh.