So I received the Masi that I've been looking for for a while. It's a 74 Gran Criterium from Italy. It was shipped in a single box with the wheels removed. The rest of the bike was wrapped in bubble wrap includ ing the rear dérailleur which was still attached to the frame. Th e box was in pretty tough shape, and when I unwrapped everything it was clea r that the RD had suffered significant damage. Here are some pics of t he RD and the box.
http://www.wooljersey.com/
The bike is clearly not ridable as is. The seller shipped this bike us ing the Italian postal service, so I assume that US Postal delivered it to m y door. I'm not really sure what can be done about this. Can the RD be taken apart and be bent back into a usable condition or am in he mark et for a Nuovo Record RD?
Do I have any recourse with the seller on ebay? I do think the way in which the bike was packed led to the damage during shipping, although to be fair the box must have suffered a significant blow to have bent the deraille ur to this extent.
I'm sure this is not the first shipping horror story. Any help would b e appreciated.
Steve Shaw
Millbury, MA USA