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Sat down to read a pilfered copy of Sports Illustrated this morning, and saw something interesting in the “Go Figure” section, where the fine folks at SI are kind enough to provide the readers with sports related numbers which I guess are supposed to provide the readers with something to ponder. The picture is courtesy of my cell phone, so my apologies if it looks like shit.
While I can only hope that Sports Illustrated has checked all the commas, related to this nugget of information, five bucks for a bike seems pretty cheap. Still it looks like someone didn’t know what they were sitting on, and gave it away for below market value. Oh well, their loss. Who knows, maybe Floyd can sweet talk his way into getting the bike back from whoever bought it.
It reminds me of a bike hanging at the Round House Bike Shop in Bozeman, MT.
The back story (that I know) of this bike is that the owner of the shop saw it in a pawn shop. Being a bike geek, he could tell it was no run of the mill bike, and was most likely pawned by someone who had no idea what kind of bike they had. He bought the bike, then sent the serial number to the manufacturer to see what kind of info they could dig up on it. Through some digging, they were able to find that the frame had been custom built for Bob Roll, back in his road racing days. Not a bad pawn shop find.
Thats the order form. You can’t really read any of the riding, but trust me, it says the frame was built for Bob on that piece of paper. Once again, one man’s trash became another man’s treasure. Maybe I’ll check out some of the garage sales going on in my neighborhood. This is Colorado, so maybe I’ll get lucky and find one of Tyler Hamilton’s old steeds for ten bucks. With that if you hate Monday like the rest of the world, enjoy the video below from the Bouncing Souls. Just remember, Mondays can never last more than 24 hours.
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The way I heard it, Floyd’s bike bounced off of a friend’s car rack when being transported between races. I don’t know how big of a hit it took, but it probably wasn’t in rideable shape when found and sold.
Is today a Monday? What’s wrong with Mondays? Hell, it was 51 degrees and rain when I rolled out yesterday.Jonny, tell another story about that place called “Arid Zone” or something, where people ride their bikes and their hands don’t turn to ice blocks.
Today it’s a bluebird in the North Cascades. I got some remote gravel and a ‘cross bike in my near future. You know which side to keep down. Awoo.
i’d sacrifice a large amount of my remaining dignity for one of those merckxarola frames. badass.
Had I $600 bucks at the Tucson Bike Swap a few years back, I coulda had me one’ them too. 50cm no less. Mine! All Mine!!!!
Damn shame.
hey 40 – i posted this on FB http://www.wlwt.com/news/24619202/detail.html a week ago i think. that guy, that bought floyd’s bike for 5 bucks, lived about 10 minutes away from me. crazy shit.
How is a standard run of the mill BMC mountain bike worth $8,000. Cuz Landis’ fat ass rode it for a race or two (including a loss at Leadville)?
It wasn’t an $8000 bike when it was brand new. Someone please explain this to me!
It’s merely exaggeration. It’s what people do if they’re bike is stolen and they’ll say it’s worth more than it really is, and in articles of that nature.
There’s someone in Flagstaff
that swindled me out of my yellow Merckx which was built as a fixie
and what I got in trade was a mountain bike with a cracked frame.
I agreed to a dumb trade, but it was with a shop owner, he could have been more fair as he knew he was getting a better bike.
damn shame. Then, years later in Portland, got an MX leader frame that I ended up trading for a Landshark frame that I then built up and it rode nice.
dammit, smokin’ dave h-ball.
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaammit.
Somebody up north had Bob Roll’s Merckx – almost certainly that one from the, I think, 1991 season – offered on e-bay a few years back. Is good to see it again. They built 2 for each rider and I have owned the other since 1992. I got it off of rec.bicycles.marketplace (remember that?) from some guy up in Chicago who worked for Motorola and won it in a company raffle. He chose it over a mountain bike thinking he could sell the Merckx quickly.
I had an old teammate check it out and once a price was arranged had it shipped out. It arrived with a bent fork (thanks, UPS) so I spent a few weeks riding with another fork that had too much rake – ick. Once the proper fork had been straightened by a long-gone local shop, I took it for a ride.
“I’m not worthy” was the phrase stuck in my head the whole ride.
It has served me well all these years and has accummulated something betwee 60 and 100,000 miles. Unlike the pristine example pictured, mine is well-loved with use and the paint is beginning to flake off.
Eddy always makes friends for me as the cogniscenti who see him almost always comment. Once riding home from work on a former bike (now !0$!*#!#* multi-use) trail, I caught up with another rider riding in the middle of the path. Bell to pass, nothing, “on your left,” no response, “ON YOUR LEFT!!!!” Oh, shoot – earbuds…. but he heard, moved over and as I rode by, said, “hey, I know that bike!” I eased up and we chatted the rest of the ride. Turns out he was Bob Roll’s mechanic and roommate back in the day and recognized the frame (with rack and dirt and some different components and Bob Roll’s name on the opposite side from him) immediately.
A bit later, when Bob Roll was in town speaking to promote his 2nd book, I had him sign the downtube. He was a bit taken aback to have a frame placed on the signing table instead of a book.
Hans— very cool story, thanks for sharing.