Will Trade Glock 9mm for Carbon Bike

I busted though XT and Avid boxes, greasy grocery bags and tackled every plastic tote. I scoured the man-cave slash bike workshop looking from my Ultegra road brakes. I found three third eye chain keepers and 4 boxes of Onza Chill-pill cantilever brake cable hangers, but no road brakes. “Ugh,” I half shouted, wondering if my wife and cats upstairs heard me. I thought the man-cave slash workshop was organized. Old parts reside in one of two places: the big blue bin of lost causes and the old yellow toolbox of possible resurrection. I even called two friends that I had sold stuff to in the past two years asking if maybe I sold them the brakes. They were no where to be found. Then I remembered, I had pulled together a bunch of old parts into a drive-train package and put ‘em up on EBay. Stupid. Stupid! STUPID!!

A while back, I upgraded my Ultegra equipped Jamis Xenith Pro road bike with Sram Red. Then cyclocross season rolled around. So the Sram Red shifters, cranks and rear derailuer made the leap to the CX rig. Now, I have a new road frame on order, a Kuota KOM. Before it arrives, I had hoped to put the old Ultegra back on the Xenith and get it cleaned up ready to sell. I found the chain rings and front derailleur, but no brakes. “Now what,” I burst out alone in the garage! “I’m gonna have to buy brakes in order to sell a bike? That sucks,” intentionally loud enough hoping my wife would swing the door open and say, “what sucks honey?” Even if I found something used, I’d be out 40, 50, 60 bucks. Oh well. With the majority of my friends being cyclists, I put a note up on Facebook:

Joe: is looking for bike parts. Need a set of used road bike brakes. Whatcha got that you'd sell/trade me. Nothing special. Ultegra/Tiagra......'04'05 or newer.

Sure enough I got a line on some used Dura Ace from Ryan. Woot, but I’m not the type to turn the negotiating screws on a friend. He’s a good guy. There was no way I could give Ryan only $40 for Dura Ace brakes.

Then I saw Marty’s post about how his coffee maker broke:

Martin: new coffee maker broke on me. :(

He was apparently heartbroken and sad. You know how Facebook is. Everything appears to be either a complete triumph or tragedy. “Little Jimmy used the toilet for the first time!” “Going to the dentist…ugh.” “My coffee maker broke…Armageddon!” As luck would have it, I had a brand new Cuisinart 12 cup coffee extravaganza just sitting in a box in the kitchen. No kidding. Marty's world would be saved. We received it as a gift. It was very cool, but the no-carafe coffee-tapper design didn’t work for us. But, it’d be perfect for someone who loves coffee all day.

I sent Marty a message and attached a photo:

I have a brand new in the box Cuisinart programmable auto shut Black/Stainless 12 cupper that I'd sell ya. It's like a coffee tapper. No carafe. It brews into a reservoir and then you hit a lever to dispense into your cup. Kinda cool. They go for like $80. Make me an offer.

Marty: lemme see if i can round you up some brakes..?? ;) lol

Joe: I'd do that trade. Seriously.

LOL indeed. The deal was done. He got the Cuisinart I got the Ultegra. Straight up. That got me thinking. I wonder if anyone else has pulled off goofy bike part trades. I put it out to the FB Fans of the blog. Jason posted he once traded handlebars for a bottle of wine. Cycles Gladiator perhaps? Then Eric blew me away. He knows someone who traded a Felt road frame for a Glock 9mm handgun. Unlike Marty and I, I sure hope that transaction wasn’t made in the lobby at work.