Stocking Up

   Not that my shop was exactly empty of bicycles, but about a month ago I was down to two finished bicycles for sale. Last autumn I had seven bikes, some complete and a couple in need of a few parts, and I was amazed that all but two were sold by the time spring rolled around – unfortunately they were the same two bikes mentioned earlier.

   I still have the Pinarello Prince, but a gentleman from Belgium offered a nice amount of money for the frameset on the Cipollini bike, and I was tired of seeing it sit around here for the last year and a half, so off it went! I still have all of the detail parts and might put them to use on a similar, less expensive frame if I can find one.

   I was stunned with the fastest sale I’ve ever made, as a local rider made a nice offer on the Bottecchia ADR team replica bike I wrote about last week. The story was that he had one just like it back-in-the-day and regretted the mistake of painting it, then selling it. He actually contacted me before I had even completed the work on the bike. I finished up on Friday and the bike was gone Sunday afternoon!

   After I had cleaned the Bottecchia, I found that under the grime the paint was in nearly perfect condition, but for a scratch on the top tube, probably from leaning it against something (WHY do people do that?), and some marks where the Silca frame pump was installed. I think that the grimy condition was really to my advantage, as the seller kept the price low, probably thinking the bike to be in worse shape than it actually was.

   I also completed the Triomphe group on the bike by replacing the respective SunTour parts, and during the process I have become a bit of an expert on the very subtle differences between Campagnolo’s Triomphe and Victory components. I gambled a little by purchasing on eBay a couple of small lots of parts in order to acquire the pieces I needed, but after reselling the extras, I ended up with quite a deal overall!

   As a bonus, I popped a new battery in the color-coordinated Avocet computer that was installed and found that it worked perfectly! Here are some photos taken just a couple hours before the sold bike was wheeled out my door:

   I am very budget-conscious with my business, but a little cash in my hand can be a dangerous thing – not because of how much I spend, but how much “damage” I can do with relatively little, particularly when I have a streak of luck with my bargain finds.

   I’ve hooked up through eBay with a dealer from Ceprano, Italy, who sells unique bikes that he finds at estate sales. I’ve purchased bikes from him in the past, and we’ve both saved a good amount working with each other directly to avoid the eBay fees. He tends to ship on-the-cheap as far as packing materials go, but I’m certainly not expecting anything pristine at the prices I’ve been paying, and I can touch-up or repair something if necessary.

   The Pinarello mountain bike and Fausto Coppi bike came from Giovanni, as did the recent Olmo purchase. Last week I saw that he had a silver Wilier Triestina bicycle for sale – I’ve never had one, and I couldn’t resist. More on that bike in a later post.

   I also got an incredible deal on a Colnago Mexico that was being sold at the Newark Bike Project, an interesting community shop that has racks of donated bikes, offers mechanical classes and holds “open shop” sessions for D.I.Y. repair work. The bicycle has an incredible mix of Campy parts, including Record, Super Record and Corsa Record (better known as C-Record), as well as some Shimano Dura-Ace brakes! I’m not sure what direction to go with this assortment, but individually the parts have great value.

   The Mexico has some paint issues, but more of the spot touch-up variety. With the relatively small price I paid for this bike, I was tinkering with trying out one of the high-end repaint companies, but then another job came my way, and I changed my mind.

   I received a call from a guy in the D.C. area who had seen the Pinarello Veneto I had on craigslist. He had a Veneto himself, although of a deeper blue color and MUCH poorer paint condition. He asked my opinion on what to do, and after seeing photos, I laid out the cost of having it stripped and painted. We had several enthusiastic exchanges of questions, stories and photo samples of past work, which eventually led to a visit/drop-off from Paul on Saturday morning.

   I haven’t had time to take some pics, but you will definitely be seeing plenty of his bike in the upcoming months!