Ken Wallace raises an interesting topic. He wrote:
"While looking throgh a local Sun City newspaper, I spied a listing for a Miyata Professional racing bike. The owner had bought it from a 75 yr old man, and the new owner had never even straddled it and knew nothing about bikes. All he wanted was $100 which was what he had in it." <after which is a description of a fabulous value"
About 1980, my friend Mel spotted a triple at an upstate NY garage sale. He didn't want it, but we decided to go look at it. It was early Sunday, and the old beast was lying on the grass, incomplete and unloved. 23"/23"/23", fully lugged, 1-3/8 tubing, part of an old head badge, clearly turn of the century. When we roused the homeowner, he wasn't happy, but explained that it was his neighbor's and she wanted (an extremely low sum). I made a couple of perfunctory responses about it being incomplete and rusty, but then paid in full. The bike, a Davis, was restored by folks in Columbus, Ohio, with a grant from the Huffmans -- Huffy was a successor company.
I have never felt any remorse about buying at that price, or any sense that I had taken advantage of him. I met his expectations, and left him feeling good about his negotiating skills. The bike needed complete restoration (rusty cotterless cranks from the 1890s). It took several years just to find 5/16" block chain, wheels, pedals, and other parts.
What I am hearing is that Ken met the seller's asking price. Indeed, since that is what the seller paid for the bike, the seller suffered no harm.
harvey "not a saint" sachs
mcLean va