the very first bike i sold on ebay, close to two years ago, was a colnago master that i'd put together from scratch and owned for well over 10 years. it was not a rare or unique frame, but it was in beautiful condition, and some of the components were quite nice and unusual.
shortly after the sale, i started to see "my" components being sold on ebay. it was hard to accept that my buyer didn't appreciate the bike the way i had. in fact, i think that philistine had bought my bike just to get his hands on the tires! the tires were ultra-cool gommitalia yellow tread tubulars designed by ferrari for colnago, complete with a tiny prancing horse logo - way cool - and as far as i could tell, the frame and the tires were the only things the guy did not sell off. i definitely felt some sort of betrayal and resentment.
but that was a long time ago. while not exactly jaded, these days i have learned to accept and understand "parting out." it wasn't a "significant" bike, and like lou said, it belongs to the other guy, so i try not to judge him for what he does with it. for all i know, he parted it out in order to finance other bike purchases.
another thing i learned, is that I SHOULD'VE BEEN THE ONE TO PART OUT THE BIKE! i would have done better than i did selling it as a whole bike. if i had that bike to sell again, i wouldn't hesitate to part it out.
ray dobbins miami florida
Chuckdds@aol.com wrote: I know this is silly, and I know that many of you have had this happen. But this the first time for me.
I spent 3 long years getting together all the parts needed to put together a NOS Alan Record. All super record parts, everything on the bike NOS! I needed some cash about a month ago, so I had to sacrifice one of my "ladies". I put it up for auction on Ebay and sold it to a guy. He busted my balls about making sure that I packed it correctly "so I would not damage this beautiful bike"- Low and behold, I see the thing parted up on Ebay today. I got such a pit in my stomach! He is even lying saying that it was a demo bike that was in a shop.
I know that this is common, but it feels like someone took one of my children and parted out their organs! OK, I know that is stretching it a bit. I just feel betrayed. Oh well, I had to get it off my chest- hopefully you guys/gals can empathize with me.
I will go and cry in the corner,
Chuck Schlesinger
San Diego, CA