Hey Erik, Welcome! Offer that shop a $100 down or something and make payments on it. That way in 6 months it will be yours!
cheers,
Rod Kronenberg
Fort Collins, CO
> Hello- I'm new to Classic Rendezvous and the wonderful world of classic
> lightweights. I'll tell you a little bit about myself and how I came to ap
> preciate these steel beauties. My name is Erik Olsson, I'm from Rochester,
> New York USA. It all began this past April when the left rear wheel fell
> of
> f of my car, and I found myself without transportation. I went down to my
> l
> ocal bike shop and bought a used 1988 Trek 400 for $175. Not a bad deal as
> it is in good condition with all original components. I subsequently fell
> i
> n love with it. Now, obviously a 1988 bike won't qualify for Classic
> Rendez
> vous but it didn't take long for me to realize that there was a whole
> world
> of bicycling appreciation out there and that I was just scratching the sur
> face. Since then I sold my car for $1000 to buy a 1985 Gios*torino "Pro"
> in
> near mint condition with a Shimano Dura-Ace group, Cinelli stem and bars,
> Selle Italia Turbo saddle, and Mavic G40 rims. Still however, a 1985 is
> not
> a 1983. I am currently obsessed with trying to scrape together enough mone
> y to buy a GEORGEOUS pearl white N.R. Eddy Merckx in excellent condition
> th
> ey've had at the same bike shop for a couple of years. Its an older
> Merckx,
> '80 or '81 (old style branding with underlining Y and M), but it'll be a w
> hile before I can make that happen. I ride by that shop window almost
> every
> day to see if its still there. It would be a crime if someone buys it on a
> whim to save a couple hundred dollars off of what they really want. It des
> erves to be with someone who would prefer to store it in thier bedroom
> rath
> er than in thier garage. (If anyone in Rochester is reading this please
> don
> 't find it and break my heart). Its funny how my appreciation for these
> fin
> ely crafted machines deepens and goes forward as thier date of manufacture
> goes back in time. I've found cycling to be incredibly invigorating and
> ref
> reshing. Someone pointed out to me that the latin root of the word
> "respira
> te" is shared by the latin root of the word "spirit" which makes sense to
> m
> e. For me cycling is like a meditation. My guess is that the Italians
> picke
> d up on that spiritual connection when they perfected thier frame-building
> techniques. Anyway, right now I'm having trouble finding pictures of those
> older Merckx frames online. The one at CR is beautiful with those chrome
> lu
> gs. Also, maybe I'll pose a question- Does anyone know of a different
> onlin
> e marketplace for purchasing classic lightweights besides eBay? They have
> g
> reat stuff but I'm getting a little sick of logging on to that site for
> bro
> wsing. Looking forward participating in this forum -Erik Olsson
> Rochester,
> New York USA