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C&V Addicts - we can get excited by the oddest ads
This was the ad on my local FB marketplace:
Title: Campganolo Gears (yes, spelled just like that) With these 3 attention-grabbing photos, and no further description, except for the offered price of $350.: https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...38839c4dc4.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0f7f9b461c.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c73b732066.jpg Would a normal person think this was of interest, or just skip on to the next ad? I think we all know the answer. But did I have to do a web search on Chinook? And have go see it? Yes, yes I did. Just because of the picture of that rear derailleur and cable housing. What little detail in a crummy ad made you go and buy a bike? |
I got our tandem by spotting part of a Peugeot checkerboard decal in the background of a garage sale ad. The bike was mostly hidden by other items in the picture and there was no mention of a bike anywhere in the text.
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Bicycling magazine did a road test of one, circa 1983, as part of one of their USA Vs. the World articles. If I recall correctly, 1983 was the year the Chinook brand had its debut. It was meant to be a more affordable Bruce Gordon frame in that there were no customer options, othere than standardized frame sizes and colour. MSRP on the frame was right around $500 US. I'm not sure if these used the standard Gordon serial number format of Gxx(m)myy. This one should be circa 1983-1984 based on the Portacaterna dropouts, unless Gordon had a huge supply. Regardless, it's a great acquisition. Enjoy!
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On our local "Next Door" website, in the classified ads, among all the cheapo bikes and kids' bikes. A few pictures and the description "Pinarello Montello, 1988, $400". Seller located one mile from our house. Sorry, I didn't save the pics.
After exchanging text messages, I was over there within the hour. Very nice couple, preparing to move. Original owner. Frame straight. No crash, drop, or parking damage anywhere. The right size. Paint good. Chrome excellent. Original decals gone. Tires and rims good. Columbus SLX. Campagnolo C-Record and Chorus mix. Synchro DT shifters that actually work. Selle Italia saddle like new. Cinelli bar and stem. After a small price adjustment, It was in my SUV and on its way to a new home. After a few tweeks and new decals, it looks great in my fleet. |
Originally Posted by Ex Pres
(Post 22199688)
Just because of the picture of that rear derailleur and cable housing.
What little detail in a crummy ad made you go and buy a bike? |
Originally Posted by T-Mar
(Post 22199746)
Bicycling magazine did a road test of one, circa 1983, as part of one of their USA Vs. the World articles. If I recall correctly, 1983 was the year the Chinook brand had its debut. It was meant to be a more affordable Bruce Gordon frame in that there were no customer options, other than standardized frame sizes and colour. MSRP on the frame was right around $500 US. I'm not sure if these used the standard Gordon serial number format of Gxx(m)myy. This one should be circa 1983-1984 based on the Portacaterna dropouts, unless Gordon had a huge supply. Regardless, it's a great acquisition. Enjoy!
I did find on Bulgier's site a BG brochure from 1981 that included the Chinook line, but have no idea if any were actually in the wild until 1983. |
I have 3 bikes that came through my Garage in the last 12 months where the adds were cryptic at best with photo's you needed to examine to find out if there was something good.
I bought a Gitane (listed as an "Old Italian Bike") since I saw a NR Triple on it. It was full campy and the frame found a good home with Goucho777. I bought a Carlton when I saw it had some Campy parts in a pictures, but it was the NDS picture that showed a long cage (not sure which) that got me to drive over to pick up the bike for a 1st Gen Rally (and all the other parts). The last one was an odd Pugeout. I saw High Flange Record rims in the picture and a price of $40. I was in the car within 10 minutes. It was all lower-end, except for the hubs, Campy pedals, and Ideale saddle. My Eroica Bike has the NR Triple, the Rally, and the Ideale saddle from these purchases. |
Chinook is an AWESOME find!
For me, it was this one - https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0893407b79.jpg FB Marketplace, "Mens Specialized Bike $65." I saw red - as in, "red Specialized = good," did some Google-Fu and figured out it was likely an '88 Sirrus - and then I got in the truck and drove out there. It had been hanging like that in a climate-controlled storage room since 1999 after being abandoned when the son who owned it left for California after graduation and never returned for it. The house had sold and closing was on the horizon, and it went into the truck for $50. |
I saw this ad for a Univega MTB, and this was the only pic. The parallel lines on the fork crown told me it was a biplane fork, so I snagged it.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6daa3c4e4.jpeg |
Originally Posted by onyerleft
(Post 22199947)
I have not had most of your reported experiences because Wifey would kill me if I added another vintage bike to the household. Luckily, I came to the marriage with a formidable vintage collection that can stand on its own.
With a parts bike, I can generally have all evidence gone in under 24 hours. Parts in my parts bins, frame and parts I don't want donated to the Silicon Valley Bike Exchange (hand delivered to a BF member that works there). |
Originally Posted by Ex Pres
(Post 22199808)
After my clean and reassembly, I'm going to post a thread. I'm also going to need a longer post and stem to actually ride it. The serial# is C07683, which I've found two decoder ring interpretations on the web. If it's like what BG posted for the BG series (I found this on the CR site), it's the 7th bike built in June of 1983. But I've seen elsewhere for the Chinook bikes, this means the 76th frame built, also during 1983. So does that mean the 76th frame of the 101 Chinooks that were built, or the 76th built that year? In any case, the component group is all dated '83&'84, so I assume it actually left the shop as a built bike in '84.
I did find on Bulgier's site a BG brochure from 1981 that included the Chinook line, but have no idea if any were actually in the wild until 1983. Regarding the Bulgier site literature, I strongly suspect that it represents multiple years. While the one sheet is clearly dated February 1981, the other pieces are not. The dated sheet lists only Campagnolo equipment including a Nuovo Record Touring group with Rally rear deralleur. Yet the pictured Bruce Gordon Touring bicycle cleary does not use the Rally rear derailleur. It is Huret Duopar and the front derailleur appears to be the SunTour Cyclone M II, which did not debut until the 1982 model year. Furthermore the Chinook Touring model shows what appears to be Shimano New 600EX derailleurs, which did not debut until the 1984 model year. |
Originally Posted by T-Mar
(Post 22200034)
Regarding the Bulgier site literature, I strongly suspect that it represents multiple years. While the one sheet is clearly dated February 1981, the other pieces are not. The dated sheet lists only Campagnolo equipment including a Nuovo Record Touring group with Rally rear derailleur. Yet the pictured Bruce Gordon Touring bicycle clearly does not use the Rally rear derailleur. It is Huret Duopar and the front derailleur appears to be the SunTour Cyclone M II, which did not debut until the 1982 model year. Furthermore the Chinook Touring model shows what appears to be Shimano New 600EX derailleurs, which did not debut until the 1984 model year.
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I went into my collection of Bicycling magazines ands dug out the Chinook review. It's from the September/October 1983 issue ands states," To offer the same performance and craftsmanship at a less awesome price, Gordon this year introduced the Chinook series of production-built touring and racing framesets and bikes."
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This popped up in the boonies north of Seattle as your-choice $5 bikes last week. Not much going on at first look, but sure looks like a full-tilt Monty trials bike with a hydraulic front rim brake in blue in the middle. If it wasn't a 2+hr drive each way, I'd have gone for it.
https://images.craigslist.org/00U0U_...lM_600x450.jpg |
"Bad Ads" Are My Bailiwick
Amateurs.
You have so much information! Only my most recent, and this one was easy. A few Sundays ago these photos got me riding five miles to see which Acer Mex product I was going to strap on the back of my similarly sighted '84 620. https://images.offerup.com/53WOgnFR3...bd4115ebf5.jpg https://images.offerup.com/MwmuzzqGd...bc6e7b0683.jpg As I rode up on it, I noticed the probable Crane RD had been swapped out for a pristine '84 SR with the titanium bits. I had no problem forking over $40. Nine holes in the BB shell and a stamped "23" informed me it is a '73 and precisely my size. Shimano "AF" dropouts suggest it is a (sic) Carabela Profesional. Congratulations on your Bruce Gordon! I look forward to seeing closeups of the seat stay cluster when you initiate your build thread. (I invoke Poe's Law with regard to my "Amateurs" aspersion.) Great thread! (Almost every bike I find is through a "Bad Ad!") |
Saw a Craigslist ad for a Bianchi EL frame and fork for $250.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...485eb38acc.png |
I posted this one a couple of weeks ago in the Looking thread. Nothing in the ad mentions the quality of the bike or its components but this looked like a PX-10 to me. Did not buy it. The chrome stays caught my eye. Yep, PX10.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...83416643397427 https://scontent.fric1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...d4&oe=614267B2 |
Last summer there was an estate sale disguised as a yard sale. The seller posted pictures of the bikes that were up for sale, not listing any details.
I caught something about the orange bike in the photos.. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f37afa2883.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fdf8efa189.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2d3c741bad.jpg 1972 Gitane tdf. $40 |
Well I can think of two off the top of my head, maybe 3.....
For sure the Martelly built Ribble bike. Vanilla local ad with no real details but pics were good enough to see the Columbus tubing badge and some of the lugs. It came home for under $200. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...57e24b2129.jpg How I brought it home and after a quick clean. Ribble decals applied over paint and were peeling some. Had no idea what it was. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ab96bfc734.jpg How it essentially was looking when I sold it as I downsized. Eddy Maertens confirmed making it back in 1985. Then there was the ad for the Team Fuji that showed just a filthy bike in a dark garage. Had talked myself out of even going to see it after first talking to the seller. But the seller hit me up with a really low price so I went to look at it. Really filthy, couldn't even tell it had bright colors but I could tell there was something there. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f917bde888.jpg How it looked once I got it home and gave it a good cleaning and degreasing. I was like wow, this is mint. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5e8dc22c81.jpg How I passed it on to a new owner. I really loved the look and ride of it but it was just redundant in the collection. The Schwinn Prologue was another one. Listed locally and looking a mess but at a $50 price. Ad disappeared after a couple of hours but I had printed it. So I contacted the seller. It was one daughter of the original owner and she said her sister decided to keep it. I asked her to keep me in mind if her sister changed her mind and some time later she texted me offering it up. Went that night and picked it up in the dark. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...edf3db32e2.jpg In the house late that first night after the long drive to get it. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f69710881c.jpg How I sold it after several years of enjoying it. |
I prefer browsing bicycle ads over watching television. I don't know that I get excited, but I get some sort of entertainment I guess. Some of that entertainment comes from watching prices change. Sometimes it takes a week for a bike to go from $375 to $75 and still be overpriced (I made a $35 offer) and sometimes it takes less than an hour to go from free to $50.
I guess I may get excited if something actually good came up for sale in my area. |
Originally Posted by Roger M
(Post 22200824)
Last summer there was an estate sale disguised as a yard sale. The seller posted pictures of the bikes that were up for sale, not listing any details.
I caught something about the orange bike in the photos.. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f37afa2883.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fdf8efa189.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2d3c741bad.jpg 1972 Gitane tdf. $40 crazy price for that Gitane though! |
Bad Ads Are My Bailiwick - Part The Deux
Originally Posted by Roger M
(Post 22200824)
Last summer there was an estate sale disguised as a yard sale. The seller posted pictures of the bikes that were up for sale, not listing any details.
I caught something about the orange bike in the photos.....1972 Gitane tdf. $40 Not featured in the photos is a box of all the original bits, intact hoods, cables, water bottle holders, and so on. It's 100% original. October 2019, and the owner wanted to let it go before leaving the country, for Jamaica. "Sold · Vintage '70s Italian Bicycle |
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