How to list a bike for sale (with special notes for Bike Fridays)

I look at a lot of used bike postings for sale. Some would say, "too many!", and they would be right. In any case, a lot of these postings are crap. A typical example has a photo like this:

and no size or useful detail pictures. For some reason, Bike Friday ads are the worst offenders. They usually don't mention the size, and will only have one or two lousy, off angle pictures. A good bike ad should have six elements:

1. The make AND model of the bike

2. The frame size

3. Useful pictures

4. Component details

5. The seller's location

6. The price

 Let's tackle these one by one:

Travels with Sam

Sam and I both had an urge to get out this winter. Apparently the urge to hit the road for a pointless destination, listen to the Beatles, and eat fast food is genetic. Or maybe we were just tired of being inside all winter.

Our first trip was to bravely ascend to the highest point in Ohio, Campbell Hill (1550 feet). Being men of daring, we managed this without supplemental oxygen:

Of course, once we'd been to the highest point in the state, our next trip had to be to the lowest point:

Summer of Bike Churn (Fleet Update)

This has been an extremely strange and awful summer, in the big picture, and in my little bike universe, it's been odd in its own way. With the bike shops cleaned out of inventory, I did my own inventory clear out, buying a few frames and quickly selling them as bikes. Mostly just because I could. Here's what went down during the Covid era:

February: we mostly had no idea Covid was here, and I sold my Trek Fuel to a coworker in a fit of full suspension simplifying:

Backpacking (Wild Cat Hollow)

 I've never been much of a backpacker, but I'm getting out quite a bit this year. Three trips! So far!

The third trip was just me and twins--Henry stayed at home with a claimed sore leg. Wildcat Hollow is a loop in SE Ohio with many, non reserved campsites. I like having this flexibility of where to camp.

We walked the 16 mile loop clockwise, passing this old school house (now a vulture's nest) on the first day:

New Bike: Rivendell Roadini

Just after I impulse bought my 2nd Cross Check frame, I impulse bought a complete Rivendell Roadini road bike.  I've been doing a little more road riding this summer, getting out of my usual Dublin loops. My thought was a real road bike would be more appropriate for this.

At least in these crazy times, I could sell me CC at a slight profit... if I close my eyes and ignore the parts that I used to build the frame. I'm cleaning out my parts bin, at least.

Here's the Roadini on my initial ride up north:

Cross Check Again

My bike fleet has had a lot of churn this spring and summer. I sold the Jones, the Mercier fixed gear, bought and sold a full suspension bike, and bought the Marin frame. All of those transactions left me with a pretty flush bike fund, so when I found many online stores were out 62cm Surly Cross Checks in the new mustard yellow color, I knew it was a sign that I should order the last one I found.

This is almost a repeat for me. I had a Cross Check from around 2007 for about six years. That old black bike carried me through many miles of rides and many different builds. I had a spare rim brake 700c wheelset hanging around, waiting for another frame--which turned out to be another CC. I knew the wheels would fit, as they were the same ones from my old CC!

I received the frame on Tuesday and quickly got to work:

Hammock S24O

I've been eager to try hammock camping. I have a cheap leisure hammock, but it doesn't have any bug protection. Nice camping hammocks quickly add up to $300+, but I'm just dipping my toe in the water with the Wal Mart cheapie, $40. Possibly this is as bad as trying mountain biking with a $100 Wal Mart bike, but if I do like hammock camping, I really don't want to fork out for multiple $300 setups for the kids as well. 

Last Friday, I quickly threw together a quick S24O. Henry and Kate were on board, but oddly Sam decided to stay home and watch a movie with Jodi.

We had to stop for dessert on the way to camp: