pipe dream

ramprat06 said:

In all honesty, I am not quite clear on what you are asking? I've seen you post here before, but don't really know where you are. Can you clarify? I'm sure someone might have some suggestions if you gave more detail.

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Well I'll try to answer some of this for you Ramprat06.



I believe Alex is out of the Miami area. And the goal would be to pick up a bike in europe and go from there.





I also think the best way to even do this is to have a friend on here that can get a bike up to snuff for you and then it's win win. You get a good bike. They keep it in the end if it makes it back.

There are many factors in here:



You´re talking about a CX. They´re normally not ready to go if you get them off of eBay and such. Chances to find a fine one at a dealer isn´t that great. Most of them won´t touch them as trade-ins. But some do, so with some luck..



Why your own suspension and luggage? It´s not unique to find an eBay CX with hard luggage and all - just take your time.



Are you prepared to do anything yourself to the bike or would it be "key in and go".



Where are you planning to start your trip? Lots of CX-es in the UK and Germany. France too, probably. UK bikes seem to go for less money (and have had a tougher life, climatewise) than German ones. Swedish bikes cost more, Danish and Norwegien even more. About Italy and Spain I don´t know much, but I know a guy who used to go to Italy to pick up bikes from there to sell - also a couple of CX-es so probably worth the effort.



Do you plan to run the bike down to the ground, or care for it in a sensible way?



There are more questions..



Sture



Edit:



You should also consider the price difference. To me it seems that it´s easy to get a genuine low-miler for very little money over there. Not entirely so here. Most owners seem to have at least a vague idea of what their bikes may fetch. Others don´t. The trick is to find these...

MGR1 said:

Well, Norwegian CX500's are virtually non-existent. I would suggest Mobile in Germany if you wish to look for bikes in Europe.



There is a nice CX500E for sale in Sweden by the way.... Cheap by Norwegian standards at least...



Michael

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I agree on Mobile.de. Several guys I know have bought bikes from that list. A couple of the bikes were really nice.



I looked through their CX/GL listing just now and was surprised at the prices. More like what we´re used to here. It wasn´t so some years ago. But then you should haggle a bit...



I also get the impression there are more bike dealers there now, trying to sell also cheap / old bikes. Probably "safer" than a private buy. I believe EU laws have put some legal responsibilities on them. Therefore many of them refuse to touch old bikes.



Contact a reliable seller (there are some) and make your point clear. Talk to them! Get one with luggage (if that is what you need). You should be able to get a nice one, but you´ll have to be picky!



Maybe there are more alternatives?



Sture