I almost bought half a bike

This morning I almost bought half a bike. Probably even less than that! I was browsing through eBay looking at the triathlon bikes that were on offer and I saw a sweet looking Quintana Roo Tequilo, with one hour left to go and a bid of only $500. It sounded great, so I quickly put in my own bid of up to $700, which would have been a great deal.

It was only after clicking the bid button that I realised that this was just for the bike frame. Wheels, gears, seats, handle bars, etc were all excluded. They would probably cost well over $1,500 if bought as parts. Not such a deal after all! Well, it probably was a good deal for someone with access to good quality parts but not for a bike novice like myself.

My own fault for not looking before I leapt. I've read about fraudsters selling pictures of cars or bicycles, or even miniature models of them and then insisting that that fact was in the fine print, so I thought I was prepared for such subtleties. This wasn't fraudulent, but the pictures did show a full bike. Luckily someone wanted the frame more than I did and I was out-bid...

Listening to: Tom Sawyer by Rush from Moving Pictures.