never buy at night or in the rain ....

[clerkkent]

is a rule for buying cars and should apply to bikes. I picked up a 1950s AMF bike that had a skiptooth Schwinn drivetrain that I saw pix of on a craig's list ad. I meet the seller at 9pm at a well lit gas station, and the drivetrain was frozen, but otherwise looked okay. Today I began to dismantle the bike, and first the skiptooth chain was so brittle that wherever I attempted to break the chain, the link would crack. Then when I got to pulling the crank, the bottom bracket on the frame split along the seam. Finally the fork that was little bent in the pictures is not cooperating with my fork straightening equipment.

This was not the seller's fault, it was my overeagerness to get the bike. lesson learned.


What's your biggest lemon?

 

[dougfisk]

Show us your fork straightening equipment!

 

[clerkkent]

like this, but replace 'car wheel' with 'workbench vise':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q7LmVSgIPk

 

[Brisk Eddie]

I'm a car guy, and l have given this exact advice for years.

I also add that you shouldn't pick your wife in the dark or in the rain, too!

 

[thom]

Just think how much easier it would have been to jack the car up and then let it down onto the forks. And do it on the concrete. But then if he doesn't have a mower maybe he has no jack either. :roll:

 

[schwinnmesa]

like this, but replace 'car wheel' with 'workbench vise':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q7LmVSgIPk

Hahaha, guilty!!!

 

[SSG]

I usually buy the worst bikes available so I've never really had problems that I didn't already expect. The key is price, offer what you want to pay and you'll never get a bad deal.