DEFEAT OF THE DAY

[Rat Rod]

I wish I was posting the "DEAL" of the day, but unfortunately this one got away.

Yesterday I happened to notice that there was going to be a large rummage sale a few miles away at a big convention center near by. It was put on by the Jr. League of America.

I decided that I would take two of my girls with me bright and early and see if there would be any deals. I get everyone up at 7am, get us all dressed and we head out. We make a quick stop by the donut shop for a bit of sugary goodness and then we are on our way.

We get to the convention center at about 8:20...they opened at 8:00. We pay the entry fee and head inside to the giant room filled with tables of junk. I see a couple of cheapo girls Wal-Mart bikes and continue to scan the room. I don't see much of anything related to bikes and decide it was a bust. As we are leaving I notice right up near the front where you check out a complete survivor chrome 83 Diamondback BMX leaning against the wall. My heart starts pounding and I head over to give it a look. When I get there I see a sign on it... HOLD FOR PATTY. I think....crud! So I ask the attendant standing close by if the bike had sold. She said they were holding for a lady named Patty. I ask her how much the bike was and the girl looks at the tag and says $15. I give my name and cell number to the attendant and tell her to call me when the lady comes to get the bike.

We wait around for about 30 minutes and I finally see the woman walk up with all of the other junk she had gathered and she grabbed the bike. Here's how the conversation went...

Me: Excuse me Maim, I was wondering if I could buy that bike off of you?
Lady: Oh, I don't know...my son wanted a bike to fix up for his son.
Me: I'll give you $50 for it.
Lady: Well, let me call him, he probably won't care...just wants an old bike to fix up.
Me: How old is your son?
Lady: He's 30.
Me: (Wondering what the son will say when he hears some guy is trying to offer more on this old bike his Mom found)
Lady: Well, he said he wants it and not to sell it.
Me: I'll give you $75 for it.
Lady: (Covers Ears) Oh no...he wants it so I have to buy it.
Me:

So, me and the girls headed out to the car....feeling depressed..ha ha! Hopefully her son will fix it up and his son will ride the wheels off of it. I'm sure he's searching the Internet right now figuring out why this guy wanted the old BMX bike.

Not the way I like to start the day, but at least I was able to hang out with my girls.

 

[schwinnmesa]

:? Bummer! A 1983 Diamondback, oh man that sounds nice. What would be even cooler is if it had rattlesnake tires on it. :mrgreen: Maybe the son's son will post some pictures of it here in the next few days. :lol:

 

[icyuod2]

you have to let them slip away once in a while, that way, when you do snag a deal, its that much more rewarding! :wink:

 

[B607]

I've hunted balloon tire Schwinns for about 25 yrs. I wonder in that time how many of those $15 Diamondbacks or similar I've walked by and never gave them a second look...simply because I didn't have a clue what they were. Somehow that saying, "Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all" is popping in my head but I can't quite tie it together with your flea market. :wink:
Gary

 

[Rat Rod]

If anything, it just gives me hope that others will pop up eventually, they always seem to.

I also learned that I need to be at those types of events when the doors open.

The only real twist of the knife was knowing that they had no clue what they had and were just looking for any old boys bike.

Wished I would have had that 98 GT Interceptor in the van while we were there...could have offered a trade. :mrgreen:

 

[Bendix]

I'd like to hear about more misses!

....years ago we had a crusty old fella ("brad", short for his last name- 'bradley') who used to come in to the shop for used wheels he'd make into squirrel feeders. well, most of the younger guys were a little intimidated, but behind his rheumy eyes and salty language-usually ramdom outbursts directed at metric threads- he was a pretty cool guy. one day we were chatting and i found out he had once run a salvage yard on the outskirts of town. he informed me of a treasure trove of old bikes with fat tires, springers, and tanks just sitting there for the taking! on my next day off i found the place, now a thriving construction business run by his adult children, went in the front office and inquired to his daughter-in-law about my classic bike bonanza. "oh, that brad- he forgets things. there used to be a pile of bikes" she said, "but there's a d-6 parked on top of them now". a year earlier the bikes had been buried when they brought in yards and yards of fill to expand their hillside property and provide more equipment parking.......

 

[Rat Rod]

This is the bike...an 84 Viper.

 

[StephenH]

Hey- you saved $75 today- sounds like a good day! That paid for the doughnuts 5 times over!

 

[Rat Pilot]

I feel your pain. I have been hunting a Huffy Vortex or years, and my dad tells me a few months ago...

Dad - "I saw one of those crazy bikes that had those wheel covers that Santa brought you when you a kid at yard sale".
Me - "A Vortex!?!"
Dad - "Yeah."
Me - "Dad, I have been looking for one of those for years!?!"
Dad - "Well, you didn't tell me that."
Me-

:wink: He is right though, I had never mentioned it to him. I never asked him what they wanted for it. I don't want to know.

For those who don't know, this is the mighty Vortex!! :lol:
If you see one, let me know!

 

[mybike1]

Nice Vortex!
never saw one til now.
Here's my sad story...
When I was about 7 years old, my dad bought me a bike from a garage sale.
It was a used purple Schwinn (stingray style) with the rear derailer and a broken
shifter on the top tube. The broken cable was taped to the frame so that it
wouldn't flop around. I spray painted it black and rode the wheels off of it until
It finally ended up in the dump.
Recently I was reading up on my Schwinn history and apparently there was a
small promotional run of Purple Krates called "Grape Krates" and nobody has been able
actually produce one today to show proof that they were actually made! Looking back
I'm pretty sure this could have been one.
I have more storys like this... it's sad. BUT!... I did just score a mid 80's Titan titanium
bmxer last week, great condition... still has the number plate attatched. so... I guess you
win some, you loose some. life is crazy.

 

[blacksheep]

My first "real" bike was a chrome Diamond Back Viper that I got new around '84 or so. Most of the kids I hung with had freestyle bikes, but I absolutely loved that Viper. Rode it for several years.