RE: [CR]KOF, Elation then Disappointment on Ebay

<jose.villaluz@gmail.com>

I feel your pain.  A couple of years ago I bought a KOF 1988 Mercian King of Mercia and I think I paid $125 to $150 packing and shipping because the seller added $50 for "professional" packing by a bike shop.  Yea h, rig ht.  The "professionals" just threw the bike in a box with minimal paddin g, and worst of all threw the front wheel in loose, neither padded nor se cured.  Not surprisingly, the wheel banged around and put a sizeable dent in the toptube.  I agreed with the shipper on a refund of the $150 shipp ing, and suggested he seek a refund from the "professionals".

Fortunately this frame was repaired by Mike Barry, who repaired the dent an d resprayed just the surrounding area.  Mike also repaired a similar dent in a Raleigh International, also with a partial respray.  In both cases, it is impossible to tell a repair was made.  I've never seen anyone a s g ood as Mike at making a flawless repair without resorting to a complete res pray.  And he would have done it within the $150 refund except that I had to buy the unusual blue/purple flamboyant paint from Mercian in UK.  Mik e's retirement means the loss of a big resource.

This just points out that there are bike shops and there are bike shops.  The special ones like CdO, First Flight, Acme and others associated with t he CR list, and I would add Lickton's, you can literally trust with your li fe.  But unfortunately some shops cannot be trusted at all.  Most are a t least partly staffed with relatively inexperienced teenagers or twenty-so methings, but that was the case In The Day as well.  The difference is th at at the special shops, the owners provide their young employees with the guidance and motivation to do the job properly, hopefully in the process de veloping the outstanding shop owners of the future.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA