There had been
some sort of mistake. After over a week
of waiting, that second-hand jersey I’d ordered off of eBay – the one made from
a wool and polyimide mix – still hadn't shown up. At first we blamed the post, and the guy who
ran eTailBar was preparing to refund me my money. Because we were only talking about £16 (and
because I was wondering what to buy my brother, Evans [S], for Christmas this year)
I asked if eTailBar might prefer to send me the Descente jersey I really liked but had previously
concluded was probably a little too big for me. And if it was too big for me then my brother could be its lucky
recipient. To this plan eTailBar was
receptive.
It was in
preparing to send my replacement jersey that it was realised my house
number wasn't registered with eBay. This
is not the sort of information I would normally neglect to enter, but this was
the first item I had purchased off of eBay (of any description) so it is hard
to know for sure whether this was a technical hitch or an uncharacteristic oversight
on my part. But the Guy At eTailBar was
happy to send the substitute jersey regardless of where the fault lay, which was in keeping with
the excellent level of customer service he gave throughout this protracted
transaction.(The Descente jersey was approximately £3 cheaper than the one I ordered.Therefore, assuming that my original purchase eventually finds its way back to France,
I should have almost covered the cost of sending its successor).
Meanwhile, there’s
a Dutch company called ONBIKE.NL
auctioning off some of those Solo jerseys I like the look of. They retail at £63 on Wiggle (and that's hawked as a reduced rate) so it’s very
much worth pursuing. Based in New
Zealand, this is what Solo has to say for itself:
'Each Solo Classique jersey is our
interpretation of the styles worn by the great riders of the 50's - 70's. Our jerseys are tailored from Nuovotech
polyester with superb moisture-wicking qualities. This means we can use colours, patterns and styles that are not
possible with wool. It's the best of
both worlds - retro style using modern fabric. Look closer and you’ll notice the meticulous
attention to detail throughout each garment. Solo Classique jerseys look amazing and feel
great to wear.'
According to the sizing
chart on their website, with my 38ʺ chest I should take an extra-small. However, the reviews on Wiggle
consistently lay claim to the unreliability of this information and advise potential
customers to order a size up. This is
surprising because in my experience the people of New Zealand are buff,
sport-loving types. Further, there’s an extra-extra-small size in Solo’s
repertoire, purportedly for folk with a chest measurement of 35.5ʺ, which, if
the reviews on Wiggle are to be believed, pitches me at just below average (for
sizes reach extra-large at the other end of the scale). I don’t mind admitting that I'm quite a thin
fella, so I wouldn't normally expect to find myself so high up the chest
measurement scale. Perhaps Wiggle’s
customers just like a looser fit?
I discovered all
this before the eTailBar situation had been resolved, when I assumed the first
jersey was still on its way and at the point where I’d begun to think about
buying a cycling shirt for my brother. With his physique more to mind, I threw in a speculative bid for the
medium-sized and very handsome Café Serrano – ‘dedicated to Spanish cycling’. I set my maximum bid at £8.50 and saw the jersey sell for £33 six days
later. Good value, you would think, but
I sensed we could do better…
Onbike.Nl doesn’t carry the full Solo range and has only limited sizes available amongst their stock, so I decide to submit fresh tenders for: the medium sized Moretti – reflecting the ‘passion, colour and excitement of Italian cycling’ – with a ceiling of £16.50; the medium sized ATR – ‘dedicated to Denmark’ – with my limit set at £5.00; and the small Heuvel – ‘Solo’s tribute to the great cycling nation of Belgium – with a maximum offer of £8.00. This time around I intend on monitoring the situation and upping my bids accordingly. I'm certainly not interested in buying all three.
Unfortunately,
come the final day of auction my second-hand Descente still hasn't arrived. This presents something of a quandary for it
was to inform the focus of my continued bidding. On balance, this supposedly medium-sized
jersey will probably fit my brother, so I let the Solo ATR pass me by. This, it turns out, is a grave error, for the
thing goes for the paltry sum of £16 (I’d have probably been able to sell it
for double for that myself). I raise
my limit to £16 for the Moretti but bail out when I see the price heading
towards the £25.90 it eventually sells for. I was right: there are bargains to be had.
I'm now left
with just the Heuvel. I'm sort of
hedging my bets here: if the reviewers on Wiggle are correct about the sizing
then it will fit me well, but if they’re not then it will be too big for me but
should be just right for my brother. The
only thing to consider now is that I could end up with two cycling jerseys that
fit my brother but nothing that’s of any use to me.
I am
victorious in the war for The Heuvel with a winning bid of £26.55. In those nervous closing stages of auction
I submitted a maximum bid of £29, but the guy I was duelling with – and who
very nearly caught me out – obviously hadn't gone as high. I suppose you could say I got a bit carried
away.
The very next day
the Descente shows up, and it fits me like the proverbial glove. This I did not expect but I am pleased. For one, it really is a very nice jersey. Second, if I possibly can, I’d rather buy my sibling something brand new.
Unsure of which way The
Heuvel’s going to swing, I submit another bid for the medium sized Bear – ‘dedicated to Russian Cycling’. I think I can safely assume that The Heuvel
will have been delivered before this latest auction reaches fruition and I’ll
be well placed to know whether to keep bidding for the Bear in the name of my
brother (assuming my offer of £8.00 is trumped, which it almost certainly will
be). Because I now face a reversal of
the scenario entertained at the beginning of the week: two jerseys for me, but
nothing for my brother. But now I know my bike for the strange Franco-Belgian hybrid that it is The Heuvel has
taken on a deeper resonance, and it would make for a suitable homage to both Dirk Baert and Carlos if
someone’s flying the Belgian colours come next June. And despite the obvious beauty of that Descente jersey, I'm not sure if I’d rather that someone was actually me.
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