Deals and Steals

I have a confession to make.  I am a bike part shopaholic.  Something about getting a great deal on last years part at 70% off is one of life’s thrills for me.  Why pay full price for anything when you can get it cheaper right?  My angel and devil are constantly fighting about what I should be spending money on,  the only time they can come to a truce is on a good deal. It isn’t like I have a stock pile of parts laying everywhere.  If I am not using it anymore or don’t like it or I will send it to the classifieds or Ebay.  So at most I only keep one set of spares on hand for quick repairs.  Unless I am building something new...

So where do I shop?  The usual discount online shops (Nashbar, JensenUSA, Performance, Chainreactioncycles, Randombikeparts, Pricepoint, Universalcycles), Pinkbike classifieds, Craigslist and Ebay.  Every week it seems like the sales rotate so I keep a watch on them.  It is part of my early morning routine.  You know…get up, make coffee, let the dogs out, feed the cats, check my work email and then look at bike parts.  Perfectly normal.  I will say that I don’t buy parts just because they are cheap or a good deal.  I need to have a purpose for them.  OK, that is a lie.  If it is a smoking deal on something I may just buy it.  Bike frames are my weakness.

This summer Nashbar had an annual sale of overstock GT frames.  The prices are usually out of this world.  I have picked up something the last couple of years there and this year was an especially good score.  I was lucky enough to a heads up on the day they were going to start the sale.  I think I stumbled on it at the MTBR forums.  Anyway at 5am when I was looking at the site hundreds of frames were listed that were not there the day before, and there it was.  The GT carbon Force Pro for $400!  No thought, I just enter credit card number and it was done.  Wait, I already had an aluminum Force in the garage,  what am I going to do with this one?  Who cares I will figure that out later.

While writing this blog I have figured out the purpose for this frame. I am building a 29er which will be a series of posts, but why not a 650b as well?  I have been doing some research and the carbon GT Force frames have clearance for the 650b wheel/tire combo.  So I will review the current options for 650b wheels, tires, frames and how it rides compared to a 26 and 29er.  HA!  I have a purpose for this great deal now!

So what is the lesson here?  Not sure, other than you can score some really good deals online.  However you probably should have a purpose for these good deals before you buy them and not have to invent one later.  Lesson learned.  I hope.