What Are You Buying?

No no, the title is not a joke, but it could too easily be a trick question. Leaving aside until a little later the vexed and indeed thorny dilemma of How Much To Pay, the very, very first thing any buyer needs to understand is what they’re buying. Exactly what they’re buying.

This sounds entirely obvious, and indeed it is, but here’s a question: who has spent rather too much on a bike bought at an auction? It’s a rare bidder who can maintain both their cool and their self-control. Because bidding at an auction is fun. It is also exciting, so we enjoy doing it, and it is competitive, so we like to win. Unfashionable though that may sound.

Back to basics

Here comes the first and best piece of advice: take a friend. Do not waste time phoning a friend or even sending pics of the bike you fancy to a friend