Nigel, a friend wants to ride 947. He doesn’t have a bike. He needs a L road bike. Do you think you could help him?
Me: I’d prefer we loan one for the race and if he’s still keen after, then we can find him a bike, how’s that sound?
And that’s how this search came into existence… Our initial budget was R5k. We soon found out that most L road bikes in that price range came off the Ark with the animals. We decided to widen the price search. It took a few weeks. We looked at 56’s, then I found a formula online that indicated (from an inseam measurement) that we should be looking for a 58cm. Also, I didn’t want to buy an 8spd (with oldskool gearing), we should at the very least be getting a 10spd (I hoped). We also thought Carbon Fibre was out of the question at this price. There was a Trek that checked some boxes but I decided to ride bikes that Sat morning instead of shopping for bikes. Whoops. Oh well. It was meant to be because THIS was waiting for us to find it.
On FB market place (with important incomplete info like size). I was instantly drawn to the red Carbon. And Durace/Ultegra groupset. Mavic wheels… WHAT!? Is this possible? I’m On messenger right away, asking the seller to measure it. Had to then show her Google images showing her which part she should measure. Haha we laughed. Boom 58! At R8100! (weird price but OK)… I immediately thought “Does her husband know she’s selling his bike… And for this price?! I jumped on this bike. Viewed it in Highlands North. It was (is) in mint condition. I can’t believe my eyes (considering what we’ve seen). New tyres. Chain still good. Chainrings (compact Crank) and cassette still good. Has this bike ever been ridden I wondered? Only once on the road, it’s mostly been on a trainer…
The buyer asks me (as he heard this over the phone while I’m chatting to the seller) are you selling the trainer by any chance? Yes! We walked away with this bike, all its extras (pedals / cateye / lights included) plus a very green Kinetic Static Trainer for R10k! Stolen! I took it home, cleaned it, took it to Linden Cycles for a once over and to get Cateye computer to work. Everything perfect. Delivered to buyer a few days later. He’s training towards CTCT 2020. I told him If he was done with riding by March next year and wanted to sell it he’d more than likely get his buy price for this bike. Isn’t that colour gorgeous?
