Your Greatest Find

[fogrider]

I have found lots of good stuff on ebay and craigslist! but I would say it's the experience as a whole: I found an old steel frame stripped it down and rode it around with parts from the bin, then had it repainted and rebuilt it.
https://www.flickr.com/cameraroll

[Black Dog]

Picked up my dream bike of many years, here. A 1991 Serotta Colorado II F/F/HS that had been sent back to the factory for a respray in 97 and to have the rear end spread and sat more or less unused since then. Exactly my size too. Came with Steel and Carbon F1 fork, Dura-ace and Record Head Sets. All for $400!!!!!!!!!!!! It gets 1/2 of my rides.

[Beans]

Pegoretti Duende on ebay. I was flush with bike money after a severe collision with a car and spend a lot of time scanning ebay while I was recuperating. The seller posted terrible photos, had zero feedback, and almost no item description. I got it for 600$ and it was mint after I detailed it.

Rode the piss out of it for 6 years before selling it. Probably my all time favorite bike.

[wallymann]

needed a new downtube, but still a nice deal! how it originally looked before refinishing in molteni livery.

[msl819]

Over the years I have found some sweet deals. The best was a Tommassini Super Prestige. It was not my size so I sold it to a buddy with plenty of room to make money on it when he sold it. It was listed on a local CL with a misspelled title and no pics. That was a good $100 purchase.

I bought a Serotta CRL with Dura Ace 8 speed for $450ish including shipping off eBay. That is what sent me to this site. It is still one of my favorite bike that now is with a buddy waiting the day one of my sons hopefully rides it. It is a shade too big for me so hopefully Cooper grows into his large feet!

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showth...erotta+CRL+62L

I picked up a Ritchey Road Logic that was not my size for the Campy Chorus group that now hangs on another CRL that I bought (this one my size). I bought that CRL for close to what I was able to sell the Ultegra 9 speed parts that came on it. The Road logic I built with an older Ultegra group that is also on loan to a buddy in hope of getting him back into shape.

I love finding good deals but seldom try to flip for large personal profit although i have mad some profit on them. Not mad at those who do. Oh yeah... I also bought a Basso that was less than the value of the Ultegra 9 speed parts on it. Hard part for me at 6'3" is finding those bargain in a size that I can ride and enjoy!

[jet sanchez]

This 1986 De Rosa was posted on Craigslist for more than a week at $500 before the seller lowered the price to $375, which I happily paid. I'd have paid the $500 but I didn't notice the ad since he'd misspelled "De Rosa" as Derosa.




I figured 400 euros was a good price on a Record equipped Merckx Leader but it turned out to be a team bike, ridden by Olaf Ludwig, the seller didn't mention that information in the ad.

[DCilliams]

Wow. These are some awesome finds. Thanks for sharing! Jet Sanchez you're killing me. I have to now purposely misspell my searches.

[4Rings6Stars]

I've had some good ones over the years.

When I was in college I flipped bikes to pay for groceries...and then ultimately nice bikes for myself. Most of my big scores were mid level 80's and 90's road bikes purchased at yard sales or scooped off craigslist with bad pics or no details for sub $50 that I would clean, tune and sell for ~$200. I've scored a couple keepers too though...

I picked this up at a used bike sale hosted by a LBS. Had a garbage mix of parts (only thing still there from when I purchased it is the headset) and was dirty but I figured it was worth $275.




I didn't think I was getting such a smoking deal on this one...but after selling the 2 sets of Phil Wood pedals it came with, I ended up with a cool vintage tandem for only a few hundred bucks.

[paredown]

Best I've done--I saw an ad in the Craigslist Free section for Campy 700c wheels--about 1/2 hr from home.

Drove over--the guy gifted me a couple of 9 spd era rears an 8 spd era rear and front. None matching, but hey, the price was right.

He was cleaning out the house and downsizing for retirement and just wanted stuff gone. He ended up giving me a couple of other bits and bobs as well.

The Confente story reminded me that I did alright on my filet brazed Simonetti (built by Mike Howard of Masi fame)--I had a $200 budget for a good frame and I think I paid <$150 and picked it up. Still rocks my world, too.

[bikingshearer]

I've scored all of the frames in my normal rotation via eBay at fair but by no means cheap prices. But the bike I rode in this year's Eroica California (not in the normal rotation) has the best story.

It was 1974, and I was a teenager just recently introduced to serious cycling. A friend told me that our neighbor (we lived in the country) had an old bike I might be interested in, as it was too big for him. I went, I saw, I went home with it either for free or for negligible money. It was a 45-speed blue Bianchi. No, that is not a typo - someone had put a triple cottered crank on it and had built up a three-speed hub with a five-speed freewheel. I never rode it in that configuration. Like an idiot, I removed the paint and rattle-canned it. I was doing some very low level racing, and I built it up with an amalgam of whatever components I could afford to hang on it. The forks were bent (someone clearly had crashed dead-straight head-on into a wall or parked car), which I manged to get straightened by a friend of a friend.

I rode it for a year or two, at which point I got a minimum wage job and scraped up the money to buy a Bob Jackson frame and moved all the parts over to it. The Bianchi just sat there, a dull rattle-can red. In the various moves to and from school and then out into the world, it traveled with me, sitting in a garage or storage bin, largely ignored, looking like this.



Finally, a few years ago, I decided to try to restore it to something of its original glory. I had Ed Litton repaint and redecal it, and I buffed up the head badge. Ed identified as a 1961 Competizione, the "entry level" Reparto Corse club racer of its day. I have since hung more-or-less period appropriate stuff on it, and this past April it took me the 40+ miles of the Eroica short course.

So here it is now. Yes. it is too small for me (I grew a little after 1974, the frame didn't). It doesn't get ridden a lot, but it puts a smile on my face when I look at it. And I had a blast at Eroica.

[Ti Designs]

I found an IF in my basement, but the damn seatpost is stuck...

[weisan]

I had several "awesome" finds in the past, not sure if this is the "GREATEST" but definitely up there...

A used Ortlieb classic that costs me 10 bucks.


And definitely this $750 complete Shimano DA 9-equipped Merlin Cross that two forum pals helped with locating and faciliating the sale...
http://forums.thepaceline.net/showth...ghlight=merlin

[F150]

Originally Posted by Ti Designs

I found an IF in my basement, but the damn seatpost is stuck...

Steel frame? Aluminum post? Ship it to me, I'll get it out! Getting pretty good with the caustic lye approach.

Bill

[pbarry]

Farm auction in Boulder County a few years ago: Most there were bidding on an incredible collection of old, valuable bottles, like a 19th century Boulder Whiskey Co example. In the corner, under a dusty tarp, was a mint- Roberts with NR components and Rally RD. One other bidder for that and a nice mid level Nishiki as a lot.. $25 for the pair got them. Sold both at less than half true value to riding buds. We all made out. Both are ridden regularly.

[phoenix]

A good number of years ago I was trolling Craigslist and saw an add for a “Schwinn bike with Campanoli parts” for $200. Pics were shoddy and couldn’t really make such out due to poor lighting, camera, camera angle etc. It looked and sounded interesting. I called and spoke with the owner who said he had had the bike in storage for 25 years or so in hi rafters. He stated I was the first person to call. I asked him a few questions, but the big one for me was about the rear end of the bike. I asked him if he were to remove the rear wheel, could she remove and replace it from the rear, or, would he have to install from the front and pull back. He said it was open in the back and could just slide it in from the back. BOING!!! Told him I wanted it and could meet him anytime. We set up a time within the hour for me to swing by his house. Something happened and I ended up running late. I called the guy to let him know I was running late but was on my way. He said good, because in the past 45 minutes ha had gotten about 15 calls about the bike! I got over there and checked it out. It was beautiful. 1976 Paramount Track, all original, all campy, sans any cockpit. It was all dusty and wrapped up in old dried up dilapidated cardboard that would fall apart if you looked at it. We chatted for a few minutes, I gave him the $225 he was asking and went on my way. Deal of the century. Kind of a novel, but I do enjoy telling the story....


Condition it was when I picked it up


Peek-a-boo






Final build, also ran it with a Cinelli 2a