Bike bought for $5 at yard sale belonged to Floyd Landis

[Rat Rod]

By Chris Chase

The bicycle at a Kentucky yard sale had two flat tires, broken pedals and carried a $5 price tag. That didn't stop Greg Estes from buying the bike in hopes of flipping it for a small profit. He should get his wish, to the tune of a few thousand dollars.

It turns out the broken-down bicycle was originally owned by Floyd Landis, who rode it in a race in 2007. The bike was built especially for Landis, complete with custom pedals that look foreign to those unfamiliar with professional cycling (hence the original seller's belief that the pedals were broken). It retailed for $8,000.

Landis rode the bike in a mountain-bike race one year after winning the Tour de France. That title, of course, was later stripped after the American cyclist tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Landis is currently banned from the sport, but has stayed in the spotlight with his accusations against Lance Armstrong and other athletes.

Estes told the Owenton News-Herald that the bike was found abandoned on an interstate and nobody ever reported it lost or stolen. He says he'll return the bike if someone claims it. For now though, authorities say it belongs to him.

I can understand someone thinking the bike wasn't worth a few thousand dollars. After all, how many abandoned bikes are custom-built jobs for Tour de France winners? But five dollars? That seems a little low. If I were having a yard sale I'd have probably put a $5 tag on the bike's water bottle. Even if the bike were an actual piece of junk, wouldn't, say, $25 be a more appropriate asking price?

Anyway, just like he said, the Owenton, Ky., resident showcased his new bike at his own yard sale. Estes' asking price? Six-thousand dollars.

 

[schwinnmesa]

Amazing.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I got to call fake here, any idiot would know it's more than a $5 bike, I mean disk brakes, full suspension, 3 piece crank, the weight of the bike, nothing about that bike says $5 to me. If he'd have said he scored it for $100 it'd be at least believable.

 

[Rat Rod]

Meant to post the follow up article to this story...

Solved! The mystery of the $5 Floyd Landis bike
By Chris Chase

Last week we shared the story of Greg Estes, a Kentucky man who bought a broken-down $5 bike at a yard sale and eventually discovered it was originally an $8,000 custom-built bicycle for former Tour de France champion Floyd Landis. The bike had been discovered on the side of a highway before it was found and sold for the bargain-basement price.

The obvious question at the time was, how did a bike built for Landis end up abandoned on the side of the road with two busted tires?
Consider the mystery solved.

Brad Cobb and Jamey Hurst met Floyd Landis at an endurance mountain-biking event in 2008 and offered to transport his bike between races. They locked the bike on their rack, but when they arrived at their destination, it wasn't there because a gust of wind had blown it off the back of their vehicle. Hours of backtracking their route didn't turn it up, nor did a call to a friend who worked as a Tennessee state trooper. The pair eventually had to tell Landis they lost his bike. They were surprised at how understanding the disgraced champion was.

At first Landis didn't believe them, Cobb says. They had to convince the infamous cyclist that it was true. "He started laughing, and said 'dude, that's awesome,'" Cobb told the New York Daily News. "He said pick up a case of beer, we're going to watch the race together."

Landis eventually called a contact for a new bike to ride at the race.

Cobb was unaware that the bike had been found until Landis emailed him a link of the story last week. He says that the bike's eventual resting place was "right where we were looking."

Estes can expect to get a few thousand dollars for the bike, presuming nobody comes and tries to claim their lost property.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

cool story, I just still can't believe someone sold it for $5 at a yard sale!