bonz50

was searching Craigslist and ran across a 2013 C'Dale Synapse Carbon 4 with Ultegra pedals, bottle cage, and a tail light. spoke with the owner's wife, said she had bought it for her hubby to complete his last century ride (he was diagnosed with parkinsons, I felt bad as my dad recently was diagnosed also) but was unable to do make the try so the bike sat for about a year, appears to be perfectly functional and pretty darn clean, so after a quick negotiation I made an offer at $1000, which they accepted.

after much deliberating and then a bit of schmoozing the wife (and promises not to upgrade anything for at least one year) I made the long drive to go pick it up. Bike was in excellent condition, only down side was that the previous owner had put bright Red Vittoria trainer tires one both wheels. ACK!!! has red bar tape also but I can live with that...... Pics forthcoming

one question, how serviceable are the trainer tires on the road? not ideal, but I made the agreement with the wife and I'll honor it since she allowed me to get the bike. Now off to sell the GT

datlas 

I am confident that the tires are fine for now.

Congrats on the bike.

Nachoman

I guarantee you that the guy's wife does not care if you change the tires on your new bike.

TrojanHorse

She extracted a promise not to upgrade anything for a year? Who cares!

Anyway, tires are a wear item... replacing consumables isn't an upgrade, it's maintenance.

bonz50

for clarification, it was MY wife who said no upgrades.

dr_lha

Well if they're trainer tires they're not appropriate for road riding so are a necessary replacement (not an upgrade).

greenlight149

Say it's for safety, it justifies everything.

bonz50

ya, she doesn't see it that way.

best I can hope for is that they cut down while I'm out riding and I have to do a "repair"

which could somehow be arranged

RALPHFELT

He made a promise to HIS wife that he would not change anything.

Congrats on the new ride, tires are fine. Ride the heck out of it.

dr_lha

Or, you know, explain to her that riding on inappropriate tires could lead to your death. Or maybe she's OK with that.

bonz50

we laugh about this kinda stuff, I tease her that I don't have a big enough life insurance policy for her to delay the 911 call. I love her very much and we have way to much fun and laughter together. my one complaint with her is things like this. she doesn't get why I didn't want to buy a used GMC Denali. she doesn't get why a $75 craigslist strat wasn't 'good enough'. she has no idea why I insist on good quality shoes when I can just "grab some from walmart/payless for $15". insufferably cheap sometimes

dr_lha

"Insufferably cheap" and "Cyclist husband" are not a good combination. My advice, buy the tires, you need them.

BoSoxYacht

your wife is wrong.

bonz50

to be fair, for her it's not that I'm a cyclist, its that I HATE buying cheap stuff just to 'get by'. as I keep telling her, I can't afford to buy cheap stuff. she's slowly getting better, but it has been a painful process.

bonz50

not an argument I'm going to make though LOL

rms13

Well that changes everything!

K.Katso

^ this. I don't believe the trainer tires have any type of flat protection. So unless she wants you to spend a small fortune on tubes, she should just let you replace the tires. Tires are not expensive, but are rather important.

bonz50

you are suggesting I use Logic and Reason in an argument with a woman???

seriously??

dr_lha

Here's my play: When logic and reason fail, just do whatever the f*ck you want to do and just prepare to catch the flack for it.

bt

great pics op

bonz50

ya, well, the problem with that is that I've played that card a few to many times over the past 17yrs of our marriage. LOL

took me a while to figure out that "do whatever you wanna do" really doesn't mean to do whatever you wanna do

dr_lha

Well, you need the tires, otherwise the bike is a wasted purchase. Online you can pick up a pair of passable road tires for <$50 if you shop around.

Bah Humbug

This. I have that tire. It's heavy, no flat protection, super thick, hard to get on and off, and specifically says "not for use on the road" on the sidewall. I wouldn't try it. Replace them. Can probably get some take-off Vittoria Rubino Pros cheap.

Shuffleman

Congrats on the new bike purchase. That is really exciting for you. Just curious though, what GT are you selling?
I really love my old GT's that I have had since the early 1990's. I recently bought a new Giant 29er and entertained the idea of selling my old GT mtb. I just could not do it. I love the old Triple Triangle. I took off the shock and put the original fork back on it. I then put on road tires and a new stem and handlbars and it is not the perfect hybrid to tool around on. I still have the original parts and will convert it back to a mtb when my son is old enough for a 26". If you have one of the old GT's from the Gary Turner era I hope that you find a way to keep it. They were great bikes. I do confess to buying a new GT hybrid about 3 years ago. I did sell that bike when I bought the new 29er. It was a good bike but I had no affinity for the brand after the Dorel/Pacifica nonsense ruined the brand.
Regardless, I hope that you enjoy riding your new bike.

rpenmanparker 

Congrats! Enjoy. Your best recourse is to plead ignorance about the tires. "I got taken!"