Thinking about my options for a suitable bike, I was going to have to either find one for free (most likely an unwanted shed-based object) or source a super cheap Ebay purchase, as with the Rome bike.
Sat at home in the Christmas run-up it was a bit difficult to see inside the sheds of friends and colleagues so some idle Ebay browsing was a tempting way of passing the time. I guess Christmas is not a time of year when many people are interested in acquiring a new bike project so when a garage clear-out priced at just 99p, with no bids and just two days left to run showed up, my luck was in.
Although the photos were a bit unclear there was definitely a road bike amongst the collection. Well, the front end of one at least…
I dropped my bid in with ten minutes left to run and not long after I became the proud owner of a heap of bikes and associated bits and bobs!
A week later I’m setting off at 6.00am in pre-dawn darkness to drive down to Bury St Edmunds to collect my loot. Arriving nice and early so the seller, Tony, could get on with the rest of his day I found even more than I bargained for. In total 3 frames (one road bike and two MTBs), a couple of saddles, two sets of handlebars and ten wheels of various sizes and ages were crammed into the back of the car. I felt a bit awkward giving Tony his pound coin but I guess he’s not the first person to get a bit less than they hoped for when flogging their stuff!
After 6 hours of driving I was unloading everything into my lock-up garage and did a bit of a stock take. The road bike is heavy steel and I’m not sure on the frame size until I get a seat post to fit it and test it out properly. More worrying is the gearing – a double rather than a compact, but luckily one of the wheels has a 28 cog on the rear cassette! Otherwise though we have a functional bike with the sort of basic but (hopefully) reliable mechanicals that should last the distance…
4 Canaries for the Price of One 