So I need some cash and to clear some space as the “landlady” is complaining about why I need 3 bicycles when I only ride one at a time.
Fair, I suppose. One hasnt been ridden in years. It was the result of another bike’s frame snapping after some pillock rear-ended me at slow speed, pinning the frame down and popping the guy’s bumper right off. Kona refused to honour their lifetime warranty over it, so I bought a rival firms frame and had the other parts transferred over.
The other bike was a gazelle-like superfast racing bike. Arse in the air, head down affair. Used to ride the 5 miles from work in about 20 minutes on that. The constant battering from the roads like moon craters and bastards who’d throw glass in the cycle lanes took their toll on the “shred proof” tyres and splitting the wheels at the rims. I had that repaired with cheaper rims but rarely rode it like before.
Then the past 2 years I’ve had health issues and cant get out as much. I went from 3-4000 miles a year down to a couple of hundred at most. I may be a little depressed at that, but that is life.
So. I put listings on Gumtree (a UK freeads site) and Facebook marketplace. Both bikes were about £1000 to have made up, probably a lot more now I think. I listed each for a fair £200 given their age.
“Can’t I give you £50?”
“I dont have cash right now, can I pay you later?”
Or the worst “Do you still have the bike?” I reply yes within minutes, and then I’m ghosted.
20 messages of each. Infuriating. Tempted to send the bikes to a local charity instead. They’ll be the most blinged out charity bikes you’ve seen. Charity would probably get their money’s worth. I now love the thought of someone who couldn’t afford a racer with open pros and hope hubs riding it about.
I had a wooden one car garage I wanted gone. Posted it on marketplace, 81 people contacted me about it. About 10 showed up to look at it, said they’d take it, then ghosted me. One woman, a meth head, actually came back to start working on it, and all she had was a hammer, small pry bar, and a small hatchback. She would come late at night and work by cell phone flash light. I told her to stop coming.
One afternoon, the wife and I went to a movie. As we were leaving, I checked my phone and a guy named Jay inquired and made an additional comment. So, my best friend’s name is Jay, and the profile photo was of two boys in baseball uniforms. And my best friend had two boys in baseball at the time, also my best friend would also find my posted items and ask if they were available and have some additional funny comment. Before my brain had time to analyze the situation, I fired off a quick “yeah it is, come and get it daddy.” and quickly put my phone away. Then I freaked out because the boys in his photo looked nothing like my buddy’s kids, and I looked at the profile and sure as fuck it wasn’t him.
I panicked. I was going to delete the message, but then realized it probably wouldn’t delete on their end. So I just fessed up and told him how I had made the mistake and I apologized. Guy was very understanding and said he’d be there tomorrow to get the garage.
He “got into an accident” and couldnt come get it. Never heard from him again.