Bents on eBay

Simon Brooke said:

Kinetics have two 'bents on eBay - an ex-demo USS Grasshopper which looks
absolutely perfect, and an ultra-low mileage Streemachine with the new
Bodylink seat.

I see Ben's into vintage digital watches. I hadn't realised they were
collectible. (The bents look great.)

--
Dave...

Simon Brooke said:

Kinetics have two 'bents on eBay - an ex-demo USS Grasshopper which looks
absolutely perfect, and an ultra-low mileage Streemachine with the new
Bodylink seat.

That Grasshopper looks very nice, the price seems amazingly good, too.
Seriously tempted to become a Death Eater, or however them Darksiders
like to be called.

sothach said:

That Grasshopper looks very nice, the price seems amazingly good, too.

I imagine it will get rather higher in the next couple of days...

Though the Grasshopper lacked that certain Magic X Factor for both of us
there wasn't anything we could hang on it as being in any way bad (I'm
fairly sure we rode that exact bike and were among its first riders).
It's a well designed, well built and capable machine AFAICT, and on the
offchance it /does/ go for a comedy price it would be worth putting a
bid in if you fancy some red lightsabre credentials. Should be possible
to unload it at no loss if it doesn't quite impress.

Quoted message said:

Seriously tempted to become a Death Eater, or however them Darksiders
like to be called.

Doesn't really bother me what I'm called as I /feel/ sensationally
comfortable!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

in message <[email hidden]>,

sothach (') said:

Simon Brooke said:

Kinetics have two 'bents on eBay - an ex-demo USS Grasshopper which
looks absolutely perfect, and an ultra-low mileage Streemachine with
the new Bodylink seat.

That Grasshopper looks very nice, the price seems amazingly good, too.
Seriously tempted to become a Death Eater, or however them Darksiders
like to be called.

If I thought the Grasshopper would /go/ for that price I wouldn't have
posted it here!

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.
;; Jim Morrison

Simon Brooke said:

If I thought the Grasshopper would /go/ for that price I wouldn't have
posted it here!

What sort of price do they go for? I'm up for giving bents a go, but
the price always puts me off, I need a nice Taiwan knock-off.

Simon Brooke twisted the electrons to say:

Quoted message said:

If I thought the Grasshopper would /go/ for that price I wouldn't have
posted it here!

Well I'd definitely appreciate it if you'd all refrain from placing bids
(on the Grasshopper that is, bid all you want on the Streetmachine GTe!)
higher than mine! <grins>
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...

sothach said:

What sort of price do they go for?

Bit upwind of a grand, typically, for something like that. Which still
represents a substantial saving on the sane thing new.

Quoted message said:

I'm up for giving bents a go, but
the price always puts me off, I need a nice Taiwan knock-off.

If you want a cheap one then the Dutch Speedbikes DIY kit may be the way
to go. Peter Amey's built one up and has sounded quite pleased with it
so far IIRC. http://www.dutchbikes.nl/uk

Otherwise, be aware that although something like the Grasshopper is
expensive you are getting what you pay for. Don't forget it's a serious
bike with full suspension designed and implemented for the road by folk
that Know What They're Doing, and that sort of engineering doesn't come
cheap on any sort of layout. But it's certainly a big chunk of money to
chew, so best thing IMHO is take some opportunity to play on a variety
(Bikefix (London), D-Tek (Ely), Kinetics (Glasgow), London Recumbents
(London, Brighton), Futurecycles (E. Sussex), Norman Fay (South Shields)
Westcountry Recumbents (Derbyshire) and Rainbow (Wirral) are the UK's
principle sellers, and will probably be happy to let you demo, and
Laidback Ligfiets will let you hire in Edinburgh) as that way you can
see what you want.
"Recumbents" come in at least as wide a variety as "uprights", and that
should be seen as a caution for a semi-random buy from eBay: if I bought
a random upright and it turned out I really wanted an urban shopper,
getting a full-on road racer wouldn't do me any good at all, so I'd
suggest being rather more targeted than "a recumbent". Best way to do
that is try a load first, and then decide if it's worth the fuss.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

If you want a cheap one then the Dutch Speedbikes DIY kit may be the way
to go. Peter Amey's built one up and has sounded quite pleased with it
so far IIRC. http://www.dutchbikes.nl/uk

Thanks, that's brilliant! Just downloaded the how-to, and I've got
more than enough parts to put one of these together.

in message <[email hidden]>,

sothach (') said:

Simon Brooke said:

If I thought the Grasshopper would /go/ for that price I wouldn't have
posted it here!

What sort of price do they go for? I'm up for giving bents a go, but
the price always puts me off, I need a nice Taiwan knock-off.

Somewhere between fifteen hundred and two thousand, depending on options.
Which, to be fair, is what I've spent on each of my last two bikes - but
I _know_ I can ride a bike and will like it. Even after a test ride, the
'bent is a bit of a leap of faith. Still, one of these days (specially
if my back keeps hurting the way it has these last few mornings).

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; better than your average performing pineapple