It looks like I've been a bit of a plum with Ben's bike build. A couple of days ago I took the stem/quill/handlebar clampy thingy to a specialist cycle shop near work. They couldn't match it and the size is a U.S one or something so not readily available in the U.K. My only option was to either get this one sandblasted and painted or source one online. While in the shop I looked around at other parts I'd be needing, such as chain, derailleur, handlebars, grips, gear changer thingys, brakes, saddle, pedals and I know I could "go cheap" but I really wanted to do him a nice bike, so the decent looking stuff would have set me back nearly £100.00.
That's a lot of wonga! Especially when I could buy a new, and frankly better, bike for that money. I had to come to a decision, and tbh it was quite simple - ditch the build before I throw any more money away.
However this would leave Ben upset, and I couldn't do that to him so I looked online at new bikes and the cheapest I could find was about £80.00. Still a lot of money, so I checked out eBay and saw a couple of bikes which I knew were Ben's size and that were good looking. I bid on one yesterday, which fortunately only had a few hours left to run and guess what? By 2pm I had Ben a new bike...well nearly new. He's quite pleased, and hopefully I pick it up tonight.
Red Apollo 24 speed mountain bike, 12" frame good working order. A few wear marks, ridden a dozen times. Shimano gears, 24" wheels.
Woo woo! Awesome man! And it like the geometry for that is for hitting some big hills as his butt will stay over the back tire the entire time. Good one man, I'm sure he'll love it!
ReplyDeleteoops I forgot to say that the final bid - my winning bid was £37.00. A bargain.
ReplyDeleteSadly theres no rear suspension but hes as light as a butterfly so it'd probably be little use lol
That is a freaking steal man! Even cheaper than the piece of cap I got from walmart! Rear suspensions don't show up until you start looking at incredibly expensive bikes. Until then, the "rear suspensions" suck. A hardtail is perfect for the kind of riding you two do!
ReplyDeleteBack last August I bought myself an appollo mountain bike of Ebay for £56 thats how I got the biking bug. Ok its not the best mountain bike in the world but the other weekend I done 22 miles on it without a prob apart from a puncture but tht cud appen on any bike
ReplyDelete