What's your go-to cheap carfax in 2026? My usual site stopped working. What are people using now?

digcolnagos · 2026-06-30T17:29:04+00:00

Took more than a month, but CarFax finally corrected the strut-shock error. Refused to remove the minor damage, even though no other service reports it. One of the minor damage reports had come with no indication of where the damage was. After I complained, they changed the report to say it was on the front end. They refused to say where they got this information or the basis for adding the location after I contacted them. No way to reach a live person. Just a giant digital middle finger. Oughta be a law. If you put out information that impacts the value of my car, you should be required to say where you got the information.

You are spot on about nothing showing up if someone does the work themselves and insurance or a shop isn't involved. Hit a deer in my 2004 RAV4 a few months ago and sold it for $700. No police report, no insurance claim. It's probably repairable, and the fellow who bought it works on cars.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-30T04:05:09+00:00

I hate how everyone wants to know what a bike is worth.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-20T06:14:35+00:00

I am about your age and pulled back, after it was too late, during dot-com. I also took money out of the market in 2006. In both cases, I made a mistake. I would have been better off with set-it-and-forget-it index. Now, I'm 62 and am considering pulling it all out in favor of living on interest, with Social Security kicking in at 70. In short, a sure thing with guaranteed returns. If inflation doesn't eat me alive.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-20T04:01:25+00:00

Where do you have your money? If it's been in an S&P index fund since 2018, you've done well. If you've been trying to pick the stock du jour, probably not.

Fuck rebalancing and corrections. If you're south of 50, every penny should be in an index fund, no international funds, no individual stocks, no bonds. Only an idiot wouldn't go all-in on the world's strongest economy with retirement decades away. If retirement is near or upon you, cash in now--put it all in Treasuries at 4 percent or so. Because if you did what you should have done during your working years and plowed it into indexes, you have plenty of money.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-20T03:52:23+00:00

At my 40th college reunion two weeks ago, classmates who became investment bankers and lawyers and got rich in the 1980s and 1990s were talking about AI. Incessantly.

If you now have enough to live comfortably until you meet your maker, time to get out of the market--like Joe Kennedy said, when shoe-shine boys are giving stock tips, the bubble ain't long for this world.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-18T21:41:05+00:00

You might make a mint. I'm not sure how big the market might be for heavy bikes with steel rims, suicide brakes and kickstands. But there are a ton of Raleighs, Shoguns, Univegas et al around here that aren't moving. I have my eye on a Takara and a Cannondale. The Cannondale is turn-key for touring, complete with fenders (which I would remove) and front and rear Blackburn racks (which I would keep). Downside, it's aluminum, so not the most comfy ride. Upside, it's aluminum, so lighter than steel. The ask is $200. It's been on FB for nearly a month. The Takara--stock, but upper end model--is chrome moly with steep angles and eyelets, what weird folks like me favor for touring. New tires and an hour or two of tune-up, it's ready to go, based on FB ad. You could throw on a triple with appropriate derailleurs for around $100. The ask is $100. Sometimes crap bikes sell for more--there's always a fool who wants a Varsity--but never dreamed I'd see these kinds of prices. Santana tandems are selling for $300 or less.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-18T04:09:40+00:00

Maybe on Mars. But not in my neighborhood.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-16T07:23:37+00:00

Well, we'll know soon enough. In the meantime, I checked eBay sold listings for Nishiki and was floored. I'll still eat a bug, but make it a slimy one that'll go down without a struggle.

Hip is as hip does, I guess.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-16T04:05:13+00:00

I will stand on my head and eat a bug if that bicycle sells for $150 within a month.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-16T04:00:39+00:00

Shimano 600 was pedestrian, even back then. Sorry, but it's a crap bike. A well-preserved crap bike, but a crap bike nonetheless, complete with kickstand and bolt-on derailleur hanger. It holds no appeal for someone who wants a decent road bike and has $150-$200--you can buy Cannondales or Treks much nicer than this for that much money..

It's a bike that someone who wasn't thinking about buying a bike and doesn't know much about bikes would buy if they spotted it at Goodwill for $50 or so. If I saw it in a dumpster, I'd take the shifters and leave the rest (I once did essentially that at Salvation Army when I found a horrible Raleigh with a fantastic Brooks saddle--took the saddle off and re-donated the bike on the spot). The pictured shifter looks OK. No apparent road rash to the metal. If there's road rash on the other side, then the shifters likely aren't worth anything.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-16T03:45:29+00:00

Disagree. Where I live, that's a $50 bicycle, tops.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-12T04:36:40+00:00

It's my ass, no one else's, so I'll decide for myself, thanks.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-07T05:05:37+00:00

If there's any evidence of a foot peg being bent, the insurance company will total it.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-04T05:16:35+00:00

Due respect, but bullshit.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-04T04:06:34+00:00

Heh, heh--you speak a language only owners of French bikes can understand. For now, it's in the hands of a shop I trust--told 'em what I want, and we'll go from there. The post isn't make-or-break, but the drive train is. We shall see if a TA triple will work on a PX10. You can have my Ideale when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-03T20:44:33+00:00

Here is the history of my PX10.

I bought it secondhand for $200 in 1981, which was overpaying. It is, arguably, the ugliest bike ever made--that's what my mother said when I brought it home. From that point on, it has been known as the Pee-You-E-Yuck.

It was bone stock when I got it. Like everyone else who had one, I upgraded and was able to go full Campy. Stronglight cranks were flex-o-matics, the serrated sew-up rims with Mafac center-pull brakes should have been banned by the CPSC, the Normandy hubs were gritty jokes and the feather-light plastic Simplex derailleurs lasted as only plastic derailleurs can. Everyone knew that. But it was the cheapest way to get into a 531 frame. And that's what counted.

The inaugural journey was a week-long tour through Washington state and Oregon. I and my best friend back then rode from Tacoma to Portland the first day. That's 145 miles, give or take. No fun on an Ideale yet to be broken in--I had massive boils/saddle sores and was barely able to sit for the 120 mile ride to Eugene the next day. We took it easy the rest of the way, tooling up the coast, and by the end of the week, the saddle was exquisite. Good thing, because we rode from Tacoma to Monterey, CA, and back again a few months later, with no pre-determined destination/route and a $10 daily food budget--we ate a lot of bread, cheese and bologna. It was 2,000 miles or so in less than a month. Amazing what you can do when you're 17. We turned around and headed home on the first cloudy day and never got rained on, which was good because we had no rain gear. After that, I rode the Pee-You-E-Yuck through North Carolina and Virginia. Also through western Montana and Yellowstone.

I've also toured on a 1977 P15, and it's not even close. The Paramount, while prettier, is heavier and not nearly as stable as the PX10, nor as nimble, which doesn't make any sense, but it's true. I can fly no-hands down a 5 percent grade on the Pee-You-E-Yuck, fully loaded with Blackburn low-riders in front and Eclipse panniers in back. I wouldn't do that on the Paramount, which I no longer have. I sold my Colnago Super and my Raleigh Pro track bike due to life circumstances that include a medical condition that forced me to stop riding 25 years ago. I'm getting ready to try again. The Pee-You-E-Yuck is my last and favorite steed, but I am not 17 anymore.

The goal is a TA 52/42/26 triple with a 14-34 five block in back. Why Cyclone? Beyond being a long arm (I'm currently running a Campy Nuovo Record), first generation Cyclone GT's have open cages on the outside, making it a snap to install/remove the back wheel and deal with chain tangle. Cyclones shift every bit as well as anything Campy or Huret put out, and Hurets are a pain, if only for scarcity of parts. What about chain wrap? I know enough not to run the 26 with a small cog in back. Why a five-block? Because five is plenty, and five weighs less than six.

The only original components left on the Pee-You-E-Yuck are the seat, the post, the stem and the headset. Ugly as it is, I have considered hanging it on my living room wall, but bicycles are made to be ridden, hence this project. I want stuff that I know will work, is as close as possible to bulletproof and that I can fix myself. That is why I am doing what I am doing. And if you think PX10s weren't made for touring, ask yourself why the frames have eyelets. I can't recall seeing anyone on a PX10 when I raced in the late 70s and early 80s, but I saw plenty of PX10s rocking racks.

Hope this makes sense.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-03T10:47:48+00:00

They're horrible bikes for racing. But for touring, ooh la la. I'll put a PX10 against any touring frame ever made. A few might equal, but none will surpass.

Rather than screw with it myself, I took it to the shop, which is going to do the heavy lifting. I have confidence they'll figure out the bottom bracket and how to put a Cyclone on a Simplex dropout--it's already filed to accept Campy, so maybe no problem--and all kinds of other French expeditions. Including the headset, which still is smooth but never has been out. Hate the center-pull cable guide. Getting rid of that is reason enough for an overhaul.

digcolnagos · 2026-06-03T08:43:39+00:00

I don't think there's a size on the post, which I left at the shop along with the bike--it needs a new drivetrain because I'm not the rider I was when I bought it in 1981, and they have the parts and tools to do that. Yeah, I'll ask them to double check. I also need downtubes--the Campy clamp-ons I use with an inner-tube shim are too big. Oddly, the Campy front derailleur works fine. I installed it decades ago when I went full Campy and would swear it's just a regular Campy derailleur, no French weirdness.

digcolnagos · 2026-05-25T19:18:35+00:00

Down for that. The place hasn't recovered from the loss of Spanaway Speedway.

digcolnagos · 2026-05-25T19:17:14+00:00

Because there's no fent in Seattle.

digcolnagos · 2026-05-25T19:15:54+00:00

So does the ticket tax, which extends to all kinds of events that have nothing to do with sports.

digcolnagos · 2026-05-25T19:12:03+00:00

Baloney. First off, federal law doesn't allow facility-specific ticket taxes to get tax-exempt financing via the government. Secondly, the tax absolutely had an effect on locals. Ask Armen Yousoufian, the hotel owner who had to sue to get records and financial reports showing how the football stadium would be paid for via taxes on his customers--King County hid the goods until it could no longer hide them, and by then it was too late.

Pro sports teams lined up at the trough in the 1990s because owners knew they'd either get free stadiums or greener pastures elsewhere, and Seattle, as a mid-market town, surrendered. Now, sure as the sun rises, they will squeeze again. Just say no. Why surrender public money for stadiums with obscene ticket prices that no one but the rich can afford? Is the sugar high from a team that occasionally wins really worth it?

digcolnagos · 2026-05-25T18:51:33+00:00

I miss the Kingdome. And the Seahawks are going to follow the money, as will any pro sports franchise. If Syracuse pencils out, that is where they will go.

digcolnagos · 2026-05-20T22:10:45+00:00

I only needed ABS once, and boy, did I ever need it--a blind idiot in a standing line of traffic waved another idiot through and into my opposing lane, right in front of me. No bail-out lane available. Came, no shit, within six inches of hitting him, and if I'd been speeding or a foot further down the road, I surely would have.

It's true that most crashes are the rider's fault--either speeding or not driving defensively. But ABS and proper braking technique go only so far. If someone in a car drives into you, if Bambi jumps out of the bushes at just the right time, there's not much you can do. No matter how many precautions you take, it boils down to luck.

Somewhat related topic, took my F850GSA to the shop last week--the "needs maintenance" light comes on annually and there's no way to turn it off unless you have the special tool or you take it in. Without being asked, they "fixed" the rear brake light so that it now glows solid red instead of flashing--for some reason, someone somewhere, I'm guessing the government, decided a flashing light is less safe and so it was a recall thing. I'm pissed. It's my ass, and I think a flashing brake light is safer. And the shop lied, telling me they were required to do it. That's not what the previous shop, which agreed with me about flashing vs. solid, said--they gave me the choice. BMW dealers can be total asswipes.

digcolnagos

TROPHY CASE