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Most expensive cheap bike ever....

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Most expensive cheap bike ever....

Old 06-12-20, 01:02 PM
  #1  
Gillparis
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Most expensive cheap bike ever....

For a Friday night...

I have posted previously about the bike with the bent frame that I picked up for parts for next to nothing. Or so I thought...

Just got a 90 EUR fine for accidentally driving in a bus lane when I got lost on the way there (90 EUR!!!!! It's only 40 for speeding...). On top of that when I got back last week from picking it up I realised I no longer had my engagement ring, so I which must have fallen off. I ring the seller, he doesn't have it but he did notice that the bloke who came after me had a ring in his hand. He rings him and pretends I am his sister in law. The guy has it but lives two hours from me. So today I drive out there, on the MOST EXPENSIVE toll road in France, for two hours in the Friday traffic and use probably a million euros in petrol to pick it up. Then I obviously give the guy something as a reward. Then I drive back on the most expensive toll road road. All I need now is to have passed one of those sneaky speed cameras at 91 in a 90 zone and that will round it off nicely.

Still, I have my engagement ring back and a day out in the lovely town of Chartres 😊

Love to hear any other disaster stories!

Have a great weekend.
Gill
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Old 06-12-20, 01:44 PM
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Boy, I sure can't top that one! Yesterday I had to drive an extra 45 minutes to meet a buyer I made a date with because I forgot to pack the extra saddles I promised to bring along. (d-oh!) Happy ending, he bought the bike for full price and he got a saddle he likes, too.
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Old 06-12-20, 02:32 PM
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Nowhere near as amusing - I picked up a '73 Carlton Raleigh Competition frame several years ago for $80 as a rather nice beater bike. Parts came off the frame I was replacing Rode it, Fun! Rode it on gravel. Really fun! Took it out into the hilly gravel roads. Grinning ear-to-ear fun. But the frame had a couple of issues. Huret derailleur hanger was a challenge for my SunTour derailleur. Seatpin ears were in sad shape. And there wasn't visible braze under the DT shifter clamp stop. (If that's poor, is anything else not up to snuff? This bike is too much fun blasting down steep gravel roads and out here, the hill bottoms are abrupt and severely washboarded. Frame breakers.

So I took the frame to "my" frame builder, asked him to have it stripped, then inspect it, report back and fix the seatlug ears and modify the hanger if it is worth saving. Report? Very little braze in any of the lugs. Two tubes with minor cracks at the lugs - no big deal and easily repaired but clearly due to very inadequate support from the lug and braze. He flowed in the braze that a new frame would take! Work done. frame painted and returned looking like a brand new frame (less decals and stickers) - $1000. For a frame I paid $80 for and that cost as a new bike $500?

Sadly, I've given up gravel riding. Too hard on my brain. I have NFL caliber "loose brain syndrome" (my words) or post TBI susceptibility to further injury. So it's mostly a working truck. (Two racks, 4 panniers; an excellent farmers market bike.) An $1100 grocery bike.

Ben
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Old 06-12-20, 03:09 PM
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himespau 
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Originally Posted by Gillparis
For a Friday night...

I have posted previously about the bike with the bent frame that I picked up for parts for next to nothing. Or so I thought...

Just got a 90 EUR fine for accidentally driving in a bus lane when I got lost on the way there (90 EUR!!!!! It's only 40 for speeding...). On top of that when I got back last week from picking it up I realised I no longer had my engagement ring, so I which must have fallen off. I ring the seller, he doesn't have it but he did notice that the bloke who came after me had a ring in his hand. He rings him and pretends I am his sister in law. The guy has it but lives two hours from me. So today I drive out there, on the MOST EXPENSIVE toll road in France, for two hours in the Friday traffic and use probably a million euros in petrol to pick it up. Then I obviously give the guy something as a reward. Then I drive back on the most expensive toll road road. All I need now is to have passed one of those sneaky speed cameras at 91 in a 90 zone and that will round it off nicely.

Still, I have my engagement ring back and a day out in the lovely town of Chartres 😊

Love to hear any other disaster stories!

Have a great weekend.
Gill
ouch
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Old 06-13-20, 07:12 PM
  #5  
katsup
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The worst for me is when the seller disappeared on me when I was at the meeting spot. ~30min drive, sitting in my car, texting and calling, but no answer. Drive home with nothing.
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Old 06-13-20, 07:21 PM
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madpogue 
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So was there a bus actually trying to use the lane when you got that ticket?
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Old 06-13-20, 07:31 PM
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Follow through...

Last edited by Bigbus; 06-13-20 at 07:38 PM. Reason: Follow through-
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Old 06-13-20, 07:35 PM
  #8  
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This thread is great, but unfortunately I don't have anything to contribute.

Worst luck so far was buying a bike off of CL for what was a pretty good price, only to discover that the top tube had a decent size dent in it (although the bike still rides great and has been fine for 500 miles now). The guy I bought it from was so far from the subway that by the time I got to his place after work it was dark and drizzling (and he was hard to pin down, so rescheduling was out of the question). I had studied the photos pretty well (or so I thought), and basically just gave it a quick once over with the light on my phone because I already knew I wanted the bike before I got there.

Rode it back to the subway in the rain (slowly, because it didn't fenders), and then was sitting on the train very content until I noticed the dent in the top tube. Looking at the pictures one last time, I probably could/should have noticed it beforehand, but, like I said, still love the bike.

Originally Posted by Gillparis
I have posted previously about the bike with the bent frame that I picked up for parts for next to nothing. Or so I thought...
Gill
Oh man, that's rough. I don't believe in this stuff, but I might be inclined to think that bike was jinxed and be scared to ride it.
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Old 06-14-20, 01:08 AM
  #9  
Gillparis
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Originally Posted by madpogue
So was there a bus actually trying to use the lane when you got that ticket?
Oh no. There was not a bus to be seen. Just an empty road. Plus there was no way out once I was in it. Not that I feel hard done by or anything....
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Old 06-14-20, 01:22 AM
  #10  
Gillparis
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Originally Posted by robertorolfo
Oh man, that's rough. I don't believe in this stuff, but I might be inclined to think that bike was jinxed and be scared to ride it.
It is currently in pieces and someone is coming for the various parts tomorrow. At least it is a story to tell 😊 and it shows there are decent people in this world (excluding whoever invented bus lane fines...).
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