Why did you buy/sell that bike?

[boomforeal]

Cruising the forum last night I came across a post where someone mentioned they were selling their custom frame because their seatpost bag rubbed the seatstays, and another where a guy bought a custom frame to match some cranks he wanted. Got me thinking about the weirdest reasons I've bought or sold a bike, to wit:

• I bought a Kogswell model f frameset because reading matthew's posts about the design of the p/r in the KOG ownership group made me realize i wanted to be a bike nerd
• I bought a 53cm Marinoni 10 speed to tour across Canada because the frame looked perfectly proportioned (I'm 6'2")
• I bought a v1 Chromag Surface because it has a seat tube angle steeper than 73*
• I sold a Soma Fogcutter frame I had just picked up to a friend who had been wanting a steel road bike with a curved fork and disk brakes for over 10 years

What's your story?

[jimcav]

usually I sold just to buy/try something else. new-bike-itis hits me regularly. A few times unexpected, early navy moves created financial stress and I really needed the cash. The 2008 move was terrible as the mortgage crisis put us underwater, so we couldn't sell our house.

saddest was selling road bikes to fund a kirk jks 10th anniversary and having to suspend that when I was on the list (another impending navy move and financial stress), managing to finding one later, and never even riding it because my C6 radiculopathy developed.

In similar vain I do miss my responsorium I sold in part due to the fact that after hip surgery I had trouble with hip flexion--just can't bear to do a fredly stem.

my last favorite purchase was a vintage Masi reminiscent of the Breaking Away movie bike--I was inspired by that movie and always wanted one, but no shop near me carried Masi in the 80's.

This forum has allowed me to ride bikes I never otherwise would have (thank you and RIP Jack)

[theboucher]

Paging Clean39T.

[mhespenheide]

When I moved away from Seattle, I sold two cyclocross bikes (a Specialized S-Works 'cross and a Lemond Poprad) in the anticipation that there wasn't much of a cyclocross scene down in Santa Barbara and canti's weren't my favorite brakes. That was short-sighted; as soon as I got down there, I wanted them back in order to explore backroads and dirt roads.

After moving back to Seattle, I started poring over eBay and Craigslist for a Poprad that I could use as a fendered/winter bike.

I just bought a 1980-ish Austro Diamler "Inter-10" frameset because the fit should work for me and since it was designed for 27" wheels, it should fit 700c 35mm tires. Do I need that frame? Absolutely not. I've got another frame like already waiting in the basement... But it's a beautiful dark-red, almost cromovelato finish, and it was too cheap to pass up!

[boomforeal]

Originally Posted by mhespenheide

I just bought a 1980-ish Austro Diamler "Inter-10" frameset because the fit should work for me and since it was designed for 27" wheels, it should fit 700c 35mm tires. Do I need that frame? Absolutely not. I've got another frame like already waiting in the basement... But it's a beautiful dark-red, almost cromovelato finish, and it was too cheap to pass up!

i saw a daimler set up with 650bs in montreal while driving across canada last summer. that paint job is dreamy

[makoti]

What is this "sold" you speak of?

[cmbicycles]

Originally Posted by theboucher

Paging Clean39T.

Are you trying to crash the server?

[wyatt_]

I think I’ve sold, had stolen, and broken an equal number of frames over the years. I think miss the one that was stolen the most (a nothing-special Fuji mid-80s road bike) but mostly because she was like a girlfriend who never said goodbye.

That said, I am relieved I sold the Bianchi Pista with no brakes and 46x16 gearing. Never need a fixed bike in my life again.

[rccardr]

Just because.
No other reason is required.

[oldpotatoe]

Sold my Ciocc to a buddy, he rode it for a while, didn't love it, so then I bought it back...kinda the same.
I bought a Merckx Century, didn't really like it so sold it back to the gent that sold it to me..kinda the same..

[Turkle]

Well, I bought my last bike because I had a pretty silver Campagnolo drivetrain that had been sitting in a closet for two years, and I had always wanted a green bike, and I wanted to ride rim brakes again, so when I saw a nice green steel frame for next to nothing, I had to buy it. I justified it as a "get well" present to myself. I have no regrets!

[madsciencenow]

I've been "influenced" to buy certain bikes here by a certain irrational desire to ... This was a great experience for me and I'm not at all bent about this. I really enjoyed owning and riding my F8. I sold it because the clearance on the size I owned for the rear tire sucked and I just wanted to try other bikes.

Probably the dumbest reason I sold a bike was that the horizontal campy style dropouts on the rear of the bike bugged the **** out of me. These have been around forever and worked fine for many, many bike owners but I hated them and couldn't be troubled to figure them out so I sold a reasonably well, not perfect, fitting Sachs that I didn't hate.

[deluz]

This was a really long time ago, bought a track bike an old Carlton from a local collector.
Rode it on the local velodrome a few times and discovered I hated track riding and sold it back to the original owner who gladly took it back.

[d_douglas]

Originally Posted by rccardr

Just because.
No other reason is required.

That is the main answer.

I bought a beaten old Slingshot wayyy back because I wanted people to think I was cool, but it was the worst bike I ever owned - scary to ride.

I have sold a number of bikes for financial reasons - some when a poor student and I needed $500 at the time. Others when I was getting together a downpayment for my house and we needed $8000.

I bought a Kona Sutra to beat on and vowed it was so great that it was be pointless to sell it and buy a handmade bike, because I would just model the handmade bike after it. Lo and behold, I did just that - sold it, and then paid 5x the price for a Rock Lobster frameset. I love my RL, but clearly, it isnt 5x better!

[woolly]

Originally Posted by makoti

What is this "sold" you speak of?

Funny, I get the same question from my wife on a semi-regular basis. Odd coincidence. . .