This is too good not to share.
I was walking past the Goodwill on Clement St in San Francisco this afternoon when I saw some bicycle wheels sitting in the window. Although I figured they were probably some trashy, cheap, damaged wheelset that sat in someone’s garage for years, I walked up to the window to get a better look. As I got closer to the wheels, the labels on the rims became clearer and clearer: Mavic Open Pro.
I walked inside about as fast as one can walk and still call it walking and snatched up the wheels. As I pored over them for some fatal flaw that could ruin this beautiful, serendipitous moment, I noticed the label on the hubs: Ultegra. This was about all I needed to know. I’ve been lusting after an Ultegra/Open Pro wheelset for months now. I scurried over to the line, anxious to have this prize find in my possession as quickly as possible. There was no price tag on the wheels. I tried to do some quick math in my head. How much are these worth? How much am I willing to spend on them? If I spend that money, can I pay rent this month? The old Chinese woman in front of me insisted on moving every one of the numerous items in her basket individually to the counter. Slowly.
When (at last!) I got to the counter, I inquired about the price of the wheels, doing my best to appear calm, cool and collected, but my excitement was probably quite visible on my face. The man behind the counter glanced purposefully at me, then the wheels, then back to me.
“These are nice wheels, you know.”
“Oh, I know.” As I said this, the corner of his mouth crept up a tiny bit.
“$13.”
I’m not sure if I said anything else. I’m pretty sure I just paid and left as quickly as I could. I felt that if I hung around any longer, the stars would move out of alignment and I would have to give them back or something. I carried them back to my parents’ house and just sat and admired them for a good half hour.
The hubs need some serious overhauling, but that’s ok. I don’t mind doing a bit of work, especially because I almost feel guilty at how cheap and easy these wheels were to obtain.
This is by far my best Goodwill find. Second best was a box of sunglasses that I gave to a friend as a going away present, so this is a huge leap in the right direction.
Now I just have to get them back to Santa Cruz via bike, train and bus. I’m going to have to get creative here…
