I have had a few repeat customers over the years, when a former buyer sees something else he or she sees something new and interesting that I've been working on through my blog or Facebook page. I had yet to have anyone ask to swap old build for new, until this week, when I had TWO!
Five years ago I had assembled a mid-1990s Colnago Superissimo for a nice guy named Dan. He was living in the York area, but was an Allentown native. After sharing some stories about our respective childhoods, we realized we were kindergarten classmates!
A nearly fifty year break left us a lot to catch up on, and when Dan stopped in last weekend to take a look at the Rossin SLX bicycle I had built, the conversation was flowing freely once again. He had brought along the Colnago and asked if I might consider it as a partial trade in. He had taken good care of his bike, and only because the rarer Rossin was a more expensive project, did we agree that a bit of cash would be necessary to even out the deal.
I listed the Superissimo shortly after Dan left, and by that evening I already had a couple inquiries about the bike, including from my friend James, for whom I have built several bikes over the past few years. He told me that he was having some back issues and that he felt much more comfortable on a couple of the slightly-smaller-framed bicycles in his collection.
Tuesday afternoon James was here with the late-1980s Olmo San Remo that I had converted to a more modern compact drivetrain setup about a year ago. After a close inspection of the Colnago, he gave me a "thumbs up", and he kept me company for an hour or so, while I swapped out a few of the parts he wanted to keep.
Again, a bit of cash was included in the deal, not only because the Colnago frame was a higher quality grade of Columbus tubing, but also because I had expressed some concern about being able to sell such a large bicycle as easily as the average 54-58cm-framed machines I usually put together. James conceded that the Colnago name also carries more of a cachet than the Olmo.
That said, James is a lot like me, in that he is very meticulous in caring for his vintage bikes, and I don't think the (excellent) condition of this frame has changed at all since I sold it to him. The bike is remarkably light for how big it is, and James had added a pretty VeloOrange seatpost and stem to go along with the Campagnolo Chorus 8-speed group already on the bike.
I'll say goodbye with some photos of the San Remo, and hope that it finds a new home as quickly as the last two bikes I've listed...and don't rule out a swap for something nice!
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