Monday, August 6, 2007

Worst of NYC Craigslist Bike Ads #16

Now, I wouldn't normally find simple spelling errors grounds for highlighting a Craigslist ad. While I'm a bike snob, I'm actually not that picky about spelling and grammar. We all make mistakes, and I find people who are poor spellers or grammarians generally make up for it in other areas.

However, when you're selling a certain caliber of bicycle, a commensurate level of attention to detail is required. I'm not talking about typos, or errors in punctuation. I'm not even talking about evergreen mistakes like using "break" instead of "brake," or "petal" instead of "pedal." I'm talking about being able to reproduce the maker of the bicycle in print accurately at least one time in the ad.

With this ad, it's not about the bike. It's about wanton cluelessness:





RICHARD SACKS, Circa 1980 - $2000 [original URL: http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/bik/390742323.html]
Reply to: [deleted]


Date: 2007-08-06, 4:04PM EDT


Racing bicycle, hand built by Richard Sacks circa 1980. Built for a 5'10" man who treated it like his own child! He even had it repainted by Sack's shop shortly before he had to to stop riding it, about 1994. Frame meassures 22" (55-6cm) from center to center along the most vertical side of the frame. Most of the equipment is Campagnola except for:


Dura-Ace brake levers
Cinelli headset and axles
Flyte (selle Italia) seat
Look pedals
Wheel hubs are Campanola, rims say Araya Aero 1 World Champion


For more information call [deleted]



OK, what kind of blissful plane of ignorance must you reside on to misspell Richard Sachs' name so consistenly despite not only having access to the bike, but also having included a pretty decent photo of the downtube with the correct spelling in bright yellow? (If you don't know where the downtube is, that's the one next to "the most vertical side of the frame.")

It's unclear from the ad whether this guy actually owns this bike or is selling it for someone else, but if it is his and he did "treat it like [his] own child" then this bike must be a home-schooled idiot. Of course, you'd expect that this is also the kind of person who for some reason is compelled to feminize Campagnolo, and true to form he does not disappoint. There's also the subtler misspelling of Flite as "Flyte" in reference to the saddle, which almost wouldn't be worth mentioning if the actual ad didn't also include a close-up of the saddle itself, with the word "Flite" right there on the nose in yellow letters.

I don't know, maybe I'm being too hard on this guy. Maybe he's color-blind and can't see yellow. But on the off-chance he's not and is simply an idiot, I'd act now. You may be able to get a bargain on a real live Sacks!

12 comments:

Jim said...

Take it easy on the poor guy. He's probably confusing it with the department store bike he bought at Sacks Fifth Avenue.

Don said...

what really gets me is the frequency with which he uses "sacks". every time i see that word, it feels like getting slapped in the face.

The Great White Hype said...

Riding a Flyte seat might just make your Sack hurt...

Chris H said...

The bike was probably posted by the wife of some poor schmuck who lost it in his divorce battle and it was probably to some extent at the center of the divorce itself.

Some where a court document reads "He rode it more than me for christ's sake, I deserve to keep it, that s.o.b"

chicoastro said...

What happened to the layers of disgust and psychic grime you washed off during your vacation?

I'm glad to see you gradually changing back to the old bikesnob. I was afraid some dark-skinned tropical recumbent type somewhere down south would seduce you and we'd never hear from you again. Welcome back.

Anonymous said...

check the link, the seller corrected the errors.

BikeSnobNYC said...

Anonymous,

See? One blog _can_ make a difference!

Still far from error free, but definitely an improvement.

--BSNYC

Anonymous said...

"Richard Sacks" - that's a funny name for a bike. Must feel like riding a scrotum between your legs.

Anonymous said...

I guess you could call it a "dick sack" frame for short.

-industy choad

Anonymous said...

I burst out laughing right at the feminizing Campangolo part. 100% mojo, excellent job.

Madsen said...

He's more likely to be public-schooled. Home schoolers typically know how to spell.

Anonymous said...

e,

apparently, you've never read Conservapedia.org