And then there were 5...

I mentioned in the last post that over the weekend I had sold the Trek 420, and then right after posting that someone bought the Novara,  I had the Ponderosa on both CL and FB and it was FB that came through. It sold for $50 so I got double what I paid for it.

Then today I sold the Takara which I also had on both CL and FB and it was also FB that came through on this bike also selling for $50.  To it break down for the Takara; I paid $75 for the bike and then stripped it of its SunTour bar end shifters and 700c Mavic/Ultegra wheels.  I got $26 for the shifters and $50 for the bike after I had spent $15 in parts and used some parts bin items to get it road worthy.  So in essence a very nice wheel-set cost me $14.00.  Because I purchased a vintage wheel-set for the Allez that is spec to the bike I will be selling the Mavic Ultegra wheels to offset my $90 outlay for wheels.  I think I should get at least $90 for the Mavics thus making the Allez wheelset effectively free.

Speaking of the Allez after getting the 700x28c panaracers mounted as I described yesterday I noticed that I the front tire looked very tall and on closer inspection I found it did not spin freely -the top of the tire coming in contact with the bottom of the brake caliper.  I kind of liked how the red tread looked... oh well.  I swapped over to the 700x23c Vittoria Zaffario's that came on the Mavic wheels.

In the mail I unexpectedly got the 7 speed FW I had ordered for the vintage Wobler, SunTour GPX wheels.

I had noted how nosiy the 28t cassette was so I ordered the FW with a 25t big cog,  I greased the threads got the FW mounted and confirmed the 25t cog is much quieter.  Not sure how hill practical the bike will be for me but I can always do a make over to a compact crank set and I already have long cage RD and a mega range 7 speed FW I would just need to change the shifters as the SunTour GPX don't play well outside their brand for indexing and I have been told by other owners that they stink in friction mode.

For now though the Allez is rideable and when the weather clears I will take it for a test ride with new wheels, FW and narrower tires. 

The nice 700c Mavic wheel-set I scavenged for the Allez is on CL and with any luck I can tell the story of how I got an Allez for a 6 pack of beer.

I spotted a set of Continental Ultra sport II 700x25c tires for down the road when the Allez gets the spa treatment, complete with red stripe.

I was happy to achieve my goal, from the spring,  of thinning the heard and getting down to 4 bikes; Cresta, 520, Handsome Devil and Moto_GT.  And then of course the Allez came to me out of the blue for bike #5.  I sold the 6 bikes I had targeted plus the 2 additional ones I picked up and now I just need to control myself for a while. LOL.  The next thing I want to do, aside from more coffee rides is to give the 520 the spa treatment, fortunately I have all I need accept a few shift cables so it won't require much $$.  And on sunny days I want to noodle around on the Allez and see how I feel about it.

Ride. Sell Sell Sell. Smile. Repeat.