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Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing

Elbert Hubbard

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Thoughts from the Swapmeet

Interestingly I enjoy watching others dig through my old parts... for some reason it's very intriguing to me to see if others will appreciate the parts the way I did.

Many a person showed up at the Octigina swap meet this year. 

It's quite a diverse group that shows up for this sale of excess and unwanted parts.  Those that race and have bits for sale, those that have old stuff looking to unload, then the uninformed, uneducated person who wants bike parts for some unknown reason.

Example #1
Gentleman grabs my tubular set of Zipp's (LA Sheriff era) and spins them.  First the front... forward then backward, then forward then backward.  But the second time he turns his head closes his eyes.  Effectively bringing out his Jedi powers to detect something wrong with the hubs... I guess?  He repeats the same procedure with the real wheel, exactly.  

After done shutting down his powers and returning to Earth he asks "How Much?"  

My response "$100"  

"So what tires will fit on these?"  he asks.

"Any tubular" my return.

"Does that mean one of those tires you glue?" he asks.

"Yes" I respond.

Then the bomb is dropped... "So how do I turn them into clinchers?"

"You can't!"  That was it end of sale.  I saw disappointment in his face.  

The funny thing he wasn't the only one to ask that question.  One other fine fellow did the same thing without doing the Jedi mind power test though.

One other fellow always grabs my goat.  For the past 3 years I have had a set of new MTB bars I've been trying to sell.  So for the past three years this fellow comes over, picks up the bars and says "Boy those are light, how much."  I tell him the price and he says "Ok"  then sets them down and walks off.  WTF, I'm amazed because one they are new, and I'm selling them cheap.  Oh well, maybe I will get to bring them next year and I can go through the same process with him.  Although I might actually deny him the ability to pick them up next year though.


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