Trikes

Post by **AntiM** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:09 pm

I just bought an adult trike from this seller on ebay: usa-billiards. Cheapest I have seen them, and free shipping. No, not the best quality in the world, single gear cruiser, and the paint was chipped. However, the frame was bent in shipping ... but I'd bought the $9 insurance. The guy is sending me an entire new trike, and it will be here in time to repaint and assemble before we leave for the playa. (ships from California).

You do indeed get what you pay for, I won't lie, the trike isn't the best, but it is hard to find a seller who keeps their word anymore. I thought I'd share my experience.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:27 pm

I try to buy from folks with high positive feedback percentages. I also take a peek at the negatives to see if they are really warranted. I have always had fairly decent luck on ebuy keeping an eye on the number of feedback and positive percentage.

I always thought that trikes were a lil more sensible on the playa than a 2 wheeler. Being able to ride intoxicated and/or tired and the ability to haul your ice and/or goods about is a nice feature to have.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:47 pm

The nicest feature of a trike/quadracyle is that when you stop you just just sit there and NOT hold up your bike.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:56 pm

I'm not sure, but don't trikes have more wheels than bikes?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:29 am

Be very careful on ebay now.
Ebay now hides bidders making it impossible to know when you are being scammed.
Great for sellers.
Be VERY cautious.
You can not know when bids are real anymore.
Thus, feedback is now worthless.
The results are already being seen on ebay.
And we have seen how much easier it is for ticket scammers to operate.

Free2B · Post by **Free2B** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:14 am

Are you sure it's better than Walmart.com for 248? I don't know bout the shipping. I discovered these today in another thread.. if I only knew earlier. I don't ride the 2-wheeled so I'll be walking till next year.

Free2B · Post by **Free2B** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:18 am

P.S. I don't know how the hidden bids really effect things, but what I do see is the effect of ebays new rules where sellers can not leave buyers neutral or negative feedback at all which should incurage buyers to leave true feedback. I've never seen sellers eager to resolve problems as fast as the last couple of months!

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:42 am

I wasn't aware of that one.
Doesn't sound like a bad idea.

Hiding bidders makes it easy to shill up prices.
Do not rely on any prices on ebay to judge value of anything.
It makes it easy to use fake bidders to provide feedback.
Worst of all, it makes it almost impossible to spot a dealer driving up all the prices on a specific area.
I have run into this.

Also, if you think you understand dutch auctions, you are probably wrong.
The bidding process does not work normally if you bid on all items on a dutch auction.
I had to cancel an auction and then bid on fewer than I wanted to get a fair price.
I put in a request, but as far as I know, this hasn't been fixed.
There are other quirks too.
The Ebay notes do not cover this until you ask for clarification and are then contradictory.
It took weeks to get straight answers about this from them.
Most Ebay personnel don't understand it all.

Good dealers will always try to fix problems.
That hasn't changed.

Ebay has removed the protection we had from the crooks, and they know it.
Ebay was mostly policed by participants.
That is not possible now.
I am very quick to jump on any possible issue now.
If I can avoid it, I don't buy from Ebay anymore.

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:36 am

Free2B wrote:Are you sure it's better than Walmart.com for 248? I don't know bout the shipping. I discovered these today in another thread.. if I only knew earlier. I don't ride the 2-wheeled so I'll be walking till next year.

Well, it isn't from Wal-Mart. That's huge, because we hate wal-mart for a variety of personal reasons.

The hidden bidders meant nothing, it was a buy it now transaction.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:11 am

Just a general caution.
I can't believe they did it.
Well intentioned, but a really bad idea.
It makes feedback ratings meaningless, which is a real problem.
I have quit writing feedback.
Seems pointless.

I'm glad you found a good product.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:18 am

Captain Goddammit wrote:I'm not sure, but don't trikes have more wheels than bikes?

Jesus, that's a dangerous assumption you're making there.
I can't count that high, personally.

Marscrumbs · Post by **Marscrumbs** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:18 pm

My campmate two years ago had trikes so I bought one on Kmarkton the floor, they gave me half price. Last year I would have been hating life except for that trike. You can decorate them to no end, they carry lots in the basket and they double as chairs at zero mph.

The cheap Kmart backchain ate it at burningman and had five broken by weeks end. But no matter it's work was done. I replaced it with a stronger BMX chain and sent the receipt in for my warantee. Instead the refunded me for the whole bike. Total price $~13 plus accessories.

They are harder to transport to the playa than a bike depending on what you drive in.

Oh yes I live in a one pony town so I general have to go to Kmart for soap etc. Nearest Wallmart is over a hundred miles away

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:43 pm

Ugly Dougly wrote:
Captain Goddammit wrote:I'm not sure, but don't trikes have more wheels than bikes?
Jesus, that's a dangerous assumption you're making there.
I can't count that high, personally.

I knew a guy who had a trike with at least four or five wheels, I think.

betrdanevr · Post by **betrdanevr** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:17 pm

gyre wrote: Hiding bidders makes it easy to shill up prices.
Do not rely on any prices on ebay to judge value of anything.
It makes it easy to use fake bidders to provide feedback.
Worst of all, it makes it almost impossible to spot a dealer driving up all the prices on a specific area.
I have run into this.

Also, if you think you understand dutch auctions, you are probably wrong.
The bidding process does not work normally if you bid on all items on a dutch auction.

You make good points, gyre, but I've been buying (and a little selling) on eBay since 2000, and shilling has always been a possibility and has been pretty suspect for quite some time in categories like rugs from the Orient and the Middle East -- probably collectibles and desirable jewelry as well. It just takes making another "identity."

What bothers me about the lack of bidder I.D. is the inability to search by bidder, which I find VERY useful. I like seeing if I'm bidding against somebody with really deep pockets. Saves me time and wasted angst. LOL

I've also found new ideas about what clothes might fit, etc. So I loved searching buyers' items, current and closed.

I always leave feedback because I think it's useful to other buyers. Too bad that many sellers hold feedback "hostage," because as far as I'm concerned, I've done my deed when I pay for the item.

I definitely agree that you need to find the local value of something before you bid on eBay, but generally speaking, I save tons of money there. I got a $35 ethernet cable today for $8.29, so I'm happy!

And back to the subject, congrats on the trike, Anti-M! I'd LOVE to have one of those!!!!!

Jordan 10-E · Post by **Jordan 10-E** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:03 pm

I found a trike at a pawn shop last year that I have grown to freaking love. Mostly for the reasons given previously by others. It's simple, but awesome.

I took the rear basket off mine and replaced it with a wagon bed so my bike is stretched and allows me to carry gas cans, beer (and my empties), backpack, whatever I want. I just strap things down with a bungee if I need to. I plan to make even more modifications as time goes on.

The next thing, again already mentioned, is that I can ride REALLY slow and watch the action without worrying about falling over (I mean the bike falling over...lol). I can stop and sit on my bike.

Plus, I like to tip it to the side up on two wheels and ride like that sometimes to be silly. Takes a little skill but easy to figure out if you are into that kind of thing.

So yeah, trikes rule.

betrdanevr · Post by **betrdanevr** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:12 pm

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:44 am

Replacement trike arrived promptly, although the DHL delivery guy left it wedged against my front door, so I couldn't open it at all. The neighbor graciously carried it to the back of the driveway.

We'll kit-bash the first one I guess.

And I need to go back to Shopko and pay for the fat-ass bike seat ... I was looking at the receipt and it wasn't on it. I don't like free stuff that isn't truly free.

Trikes

Trikes

Trikes love them, the pickup truck of the pedal world.