With so many bikes being sold that are obviously rip offs it lends another
reason for sniping on E-Bay sales. Rather than bid early in a sale, it is
often best to see if the bike in question becomes the subject of discussion
among classical bike enthusiasts.
It is too bad that this takes away from the time and space available to
discuss other things, but perhaps it is an important function of having a
community of collectors. The keen observations and alertness of fellow
enthusiasts may well save one of us an occasional soaking at the hands of
some jerk.
This has caused me to re-think my earlier discomfort with folks being overly
critical of E-Bay sellers. I hate having to be skeptical of offers from
folks I don't know, but it now seems necessary.
I wonder if there could be a web site posting of sales that members have
spotted something fishy with, or would this become a witch hunt and open us
up to liability when the inevitable mistakes do occur and some honest
person's sale is questioned?
I guess I long for a perhaps more innocent time when we could adhere more
closely to discussing bikes rather than financial and ethical complications
associated with their sales.
Darn if I can see a way around this.
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi