My Garage Sale Bike Find This Past Weekend

You never know what you're going to find at an Abilene garage sale. Even when you're not really looking. We turned down the street leading to our house early Saturday morning just in time to see a guy ride to the corner on a bicycle and lay it down to tack up a garage sale sign. I commented to my wife, 'I bet that bicycle is going to be in his garage sale'.

We continued on down the street to the house because we had just bought groceries and needed to unload them. After that we drove back down the street, and sure enough, the garage sale had the bike for sale. It turned out to be a 1987 Fuji 'League' road/racing bike. The guy selling it was a Dyess airman about to ship out to England. It had been his Dad's bike, and he himself had ridden it in a triathlon.

He had it priced at $50, and it obviously was well used, but also well loved. I rode it down the street and it shifted throught all the gears perfectly. The tires were weathered, but holding air. Fuji makes pretty good bikes, on a par with Trek back in the day. I'm not sure where their quality would be these days. I made an offer of $35, and got a counter offer of $40. Sold.

As I was paying for the bike, the guy's wife came out of the house with the original owner's manual, and a brochure catalog of Fuji bikes, including the very model I was buying. This was an unexpected bonus! I gladly finished the transaction and rode the bike two blocks to our house.

After some cleaning and oiling, it is pretty much road ready. I'll probably replace the tires and re-tape the handlebars. Other than that, it should give good service for years to come. And I know the life story of the bicycle that's now in my garage. It will be out on an 11-mile ride this afternoon. You just never know what you might find at a garage sale.