Crazy Cliff Shrubb speed record bike

[Jesper]

Here is a little more information regarding the history of the Shrubb bike. These are quotes from Dave Legrys regarding the possession of, and later progression of the bike's exchange of custody:
"[Cliff] kindly built and gave it to me as a form of sponsorship and good faith" (Implies, but apparently without any documentation that Shrubb "gifted" the bike to Legrys.)

" loaned it to the Harlow bicycle museum in 1987. It was loaned, not given to them", then "Harlow museum closed down and sold all their exhibits to a museum in Cornwall. I tracked it down and said, that’s my bike. But they said they bought it legitimately" (I can only assume that Legrys "loaned" the bike to the initial museum, but by either having no official proof of ownership, or by not having officially documented the "loan" [possibly a "word of honor" between the museum and Legrys] the musuem was able to sell the bike legally. It seems odd that another museum would have bought the bike without the seller having proof of its provenance and certification of ownership. Otherwise, it would seem that he would have been able to reclaim the bike based on upon the fraudulent and illegal sale of his property by the initial museum he "loaned" it to.)

(From fund raiser site) "I donated the bike I used for a speed record attempt to Harlow bicycle museum....The bike has been passed around various museums over the years, and it would appear when the museum went into receivership the bike was sold to raise funds for the creditors without my knowledge or permission." (Most probably a poor word choice concerning the "loan" since he has stated it was sold without his permission. It seems hard to determine what actually happened since Dave changes his own statement regarding whether the bike was a loan or donation to the initial museum).

Legrys riding the bike:

(photo credit: Cebu Vintage Bicycle Club on Facebook)

 

[Jesper]

The latest scoop on rhis bike: it is now up for sale as a best offer purchase. I think the fund raiser organizer should contact Dave and see if he has sone spare cash and combine it with the already donated money and make an offer. I think €5000 (was €6000) would take it home. I am now getting more tempted to put in an offer on the low side just to see if how much steel-vintage is wanting to dump the bike; unfortunately I do not want it (as a rider or collectible) so my only motive for purchase is resale (not what I would want to deal with) or straight out donation (not the best financial option, but great emotional option) to Legrys or a suitable museum (one that I would never have time to visit due to location).
I contacted Steel-vintage and recommended that they contact the fundraising organizer and see if they can hash out a deal satisfactory to all involved. If I was Steel-vintage I would just try to recoup the money spent to obtain the bike or even sell it at a small loss. It either way it will not put them out of business and maybe they could use it as a means to promote themselves as truly desiring to conserve vintage/historic bikes as opposed to merely using them as a vehicle to make a profit.I am a much smaller businessman than they are and I have sold something for less than my own investment due to getting a good feeling helping someone and knowing I would be able to recover the loss through other sales in the future.
I do not know if Steel-vintage has reached out to the fundraiser; nor they have replied to me (they must think I'm nuts!).

 

[Jesper]

Please pardon the typos on previous comment!
I may be biting off more than I can chew regarding this bike and its current situation. I have been contacted by the fundraiser organizer (Lee Widdowson) and was asked if I would make an offer on the bike since apparently when Dave Legrys has made an offer Steel-Vintage was not willing to budge knowing that he wants the bike back.
I contacted Lee about my involvement (I have, begrudgingly, dealt with Steel-Vintage before), and the particulars as to what would happen if I made an offer and it was accepted (no direction was provided me regarding initial or maximum offer amounts). I ahve yet to receive a reply (initial email was received earlier today UK time). I do not plan on being involved with any payments, shipping, fees, customs, etc. so I am in the dark as to how Lee would want to proceed using myself as essentially a broker (not paid, nor wanting to be) in the deal.
Any thoughts?

 

[kccomet]

there must be more to this story, I can't believe legrys can't come up with a few thousand , not counting the donation money for something he says means so much to him. that said I don't know his situation or finances. it seems like someone closer to him in friendship and location could broker the deal if the monies there. if you pursue it keep us posted

 

[Jesper]

there must be more to this story, I can't believe legrys can't come up with a few thousand , not counting the donation money for something he says means so much to him. that said I don't know his situation or finances. it seems like someone closer to him in friendship and location could broker the deal if the monies there. if you pursue it keep us posted

It is all getting a bit weird. I never meant to be involved in this manner. I have not received any specifics from Mr. Widdowson, but as you stated, with the amount already collected plus what would seem to be a fairly affordable amount needed left to purchase (or to make a reasonable offer) one would think that someone within Legrys' circle of friends could make an offer without any known (by Steel-Vintage anyways) connection to Legrys and close the deal. It seems odd to involve a third party (me) located in the US to act as the broker in this manner. Hopefully I will hear something shortly and have some direction in how they want me to procede, but I am not putting any of my money on the line at this point unless I am going to purchase it (again, I do not want to) outright to do with it as I see fit.
"Let's see what develops" as we say in the photography biz.

 

[Jesper]

I am washing my hands of this situation. Since first contacting Mr. Widdowson and receiving a reply within hours (that which asked me to make an offer on his/Mr. Legrys' behalf), I have not received any response after denying to pay out of pocket for any accepted offer. That was days ago, and the open offer option by Steel-Vintage closes in a couple days. At this point I assume that the desire of the parties interested in this bike are not adequate nor invested enough for me to devote my time and energy towards. I wish them luck and hope that they are able to acquire the bike by whatever legal means necessary. It would seem they have been provided adequate opportunity to do so, including an attempt to utilize my own (very limited) influence with the present possessor of the bike.

 

[Jesper]

Steel-Vintage has renewed their open offer for another 5 days (either no offers, or none high enough). Seems that they are trying to dump this bike. The parties involved are not being proactive in an intelligent manner. They never responded to me after initial contact, and are obviously rather incompetently pursuing this bike as a personal "pipe dream" in order to regain possession. I cannot even bring myself to support their funding effort due to what I have learned.
I think I may purchase the bike if it remains on the market come summertime when my business profits are up. My offer will be low due to it being nothing but a historical curiosity for me (not rideable without modification-chainrings, wrong size) and only a desire to profit off of the UK interest of it. It would be the only time I purchased a bike to flip if I buy it, and I would not be proud to do so; but maybe by that time a substantial amount of fund raising will be achieved making its sale easy and it will be back in the hands that really desire it. I will post if that happens, otherwise no more commentary unless its status of possession changes in the interim.

 

[GTs58]

I hope everything works out for the best.

 

[kccomet]

I put in a lowball offer last week, about half of their initial price, just to see if I would hear back or they would counter...no reply

 

[Jesper]

Bike is still for sale; taking offers again!

Edit: "fund me" is still active, but now it shows no donations so I presume the thousands of £ already raised were refunded to donors. So weird!