Best bicycle deal you ever got?

[Sevenhills1952]

A couple years ago I bid on a fantastic car on eBay. The seller happened on it by accident. He and his brother went to look at a car, got there and it was junk. By chance nearby they spotted an older fellow in his garage with an immaculate 60s car so they walk over just to look. Long story short they bought it for 5% of it's value, plus the fellow threw in many boxes of new parts. The fellows wife wanted car and everything out of their garage.
It was all pure chance. I bid on car, but seller unlisted it since a guy showed up with a briefcase full of cash!!!!!
Curious if anyone has a similar bicycle story, like finding a rare or amazing bike the seller has no clue what it is or worth.

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[Krakatoa]

Keep dreaming!!

 

[MrColumbia]

A few years ago I answered a Graigslist ad for an antique Columbia bike just one town over from me. It was a war-time Compax in original condition. The owner was a long time antique dealer and "knew" it was worth a lot of money. We settled on $200. A couple of years later I sold the bike on eBay for $2,200. That was the best bicycle deal I ever had. In hindsight I wish I had never sold the bike but I was unemployed and needed the cash at the time.

 

[Sven]

I'm still waiting for that event

 

[crazyhawk]

I went to an auction in Bucyrus Ohio in

2012 and sitting with a bunch of junk was this 1894-5 Pope Model 32 with elliptical sprocket. There was another bike collector there but, amazingly, he was getting a hot dog and missed it. Got it for $400. Took it to the fall Memory Lane swap and got offered $1200 for it before I could get it off the truck. Wish I would've kept it. (Sorry for crappy pic).

 

[HARPO]

I used to check local Garage Sales every Saturday morning in our newspaper. So, I went to one fairly early because it listed bikes. No expecting to see much, I saw this 1975 Motobecane Le Champion leaning against the garage wall. I couldn't believe my eyes, also because it was my size frame! The owner was the original owner, and told me that only the rear rim was replaced because he had bent it years prior. All else was original ( I have the original saddle, but I put the Specialized on it for comfort). He was selling because he was buying a cruiser bike to ride with his kids, so this one had to go.
Now, this was quite a few years. But, when I asked him what he wanted for it, he said "I'll take $25". You can't make this up!!!

 

[highship]

I might have told this story here before, sorry if it's a repeat...
I was doing my daily scan of CL and I see an ad for an Indian bicycle, there were a couple pics but not much of a write up. I go to reply only to notice there is no contact info in the ad and there is no CL email either... I immediately think some cruel person is screwing with me. I ended up posting a want ad in the bike section looking for the person selling the bike. A few weeks had past and I bumped my want ad a couple times but no response. As I'm about to forget about the bike I got a reply to my want ad from the seller and he still had the bike! I immediately got in the car and headed there. Once there the guy tells me he thought lots of people would be interested but couldn't understand why no one replied. I explained that he didn't leave any contact info. He says oh well it's yours for $200. I couldn't give him the cash fast enough.
I'm lucky I didn't drive off the road on my way home because I spent the whole drive with my head spun around looking at the bike that was in the back of my truck.

 

[fattyre]

Free. Found on the curb with the weekly trash!

 

[rusty.kirkpatrick]

View attachment 1167260View attachment 1167261

Free. Found on the curb with the weekly trash!

You win!

 

[Tom Ca]

I got my split crank indian for free, however its missing a few parts that I'm looking for at the moment