Quikr has been running an online campaign that goes by the tag line, “Buyer aur seller ka perfect matchmaker, Quikr!” Something similar happened with me. I was looking for a bicycle for myself since several days now. I have put on to much of weight and the walk that I was going for was simply not enough. Also, travel to office was a very short distance relative to the other work places that I had worked at. Office commute was my second reason to look out for a bicycle. After performing enough research for nearly 2-3 weeks, I finally felt I was ready to take a plunge and get myself a bicycle. I had zeroed in on a Hero Sprint and a Btwin Rockrider 5.1. Purchasing the cycle meant going down to the stores and local shops in addition to checking out websites to find out the price of the cycle that I wanted and to try it out to see if my feet felt right when I sat on the cycle. New cycles or old, used cycle was a thing that I had to consider. While at one end, I was keen on having something that gave me an assured service guarantee as well as pocket friendly. I had found the Hero’s Sprint to have almost every feature that I desired. The new one was priced at Rs. 7.5K at every store I visited. BTwin’s Rockrider 5.1 was priced at Rs. 15K at Decathlon as well as every online store that sold Btwin cycles.
The logical next choice was to look for a second handed cycle. Budget being a major constraint, it was the apt choice. I looked out in a few of the free ad magazines available at a newspaper stall. It now appeared like people had stopped posting ads there. Next stop, online ad websites. I checked a few of them but finally settled on Quikr. I was a registered member since quite some time and had attempted to sell several items there earlier. I was never sure about how the person on the other side of the screen would be. Nonetheless, I settled in for a Rockrider worth 12.5K. The ad was posted sometime in August and was skeptical about the availability of the cycle. The main reason to choose this particular cycle was because the seller was located close by to my home.
The weekend when I was supposed to meet the seller, I happened to check the Quikr ads again. A new ad had appeared which spoke about a brand new Hero Sprint. The seller, presumably a lady, had not given her right phone number but had put up her mail address for communication. she must have been afraid about her privacy I assume. Her reason to sell, according to the ad was that it was bought as a gift but it wasn’t liked. I dropped her a response on Quikr, called the other seller and told him to hold on until a few days since I was out of town.
Replies to the responses were not immediately forthcoming. Understandable since people lead busy lives and may not check every mail or notification immediately. A few days later, a response sat in my mail box. The lady had bought the cycle for her husband as an anniversary gift. There was absolutely no problem with the cycle and it was less than a week old. She couldn’t share the photographs of the bicycle but invited us over to look at it and buy it if we liked. Another program was set for another weekend.
Packed with my wife and daughters, I set off to her house. This one brought back several memories since she stayed very very close to my Alma Mater, my school where I studied. She wasn’t exactly in one of those posh apartments but in the MIG colony flats. the cycle was safely tucked in inside her house I assumed since it was no where to be seen outside at least. I knocked at her door and a fairly old lady opened the door. She must have been in her late 50’s. A quick chat with her and her husband revealed that the cycle was bought by her for him because she thought that he would like being like the young guys around just like he was young at heart. It was meant to have been a surprise. However, things hadn’t quite gone as planned. Uncle found it really difficult to sit on the bicycle. It was high for him and he was really uncomfortable.
It was at such a time that they had seen the ad of Quikr on TV and decided that there was no point keeping the cycle at home if he could not ride it. The husband and wife decided to ask their son was in the US to post the ad for them. They were not very comfortable doing it themselves. They were not that very internet savvy and hardly understood the world of internet. Now I understood why the response to my queries had been delayed.
Anyways, I requested aunty to check the cycle out and found it to be exactly the same that I had wanted to buy if I ever bought a Hero Sprint. They had bought it for the same price that I had enquired, 7.5K. A little negotiation later we settled for Rs. 5.5K and the cycle was mine. After a cup of tea and about an hour chatting up with the uncle and aunty, we left the place, the cycle safely tucked into the car’s back side.
The cycle is now at my house. However, luck hasn’t been favorable. I fell ill with a bad case of viral and have not been able to take the cycle out for a spin ever since. Hopefully, this week, now that I am much better, I shall start building my endurance and then take it to work as well! Wish me luck guys, I need loads of it!
I found the Quikr ad here.
Thank you Blogadda for initiating me to Quikr I wouldn’t have found such a great deal otherwise.
A few pics of the bicycle which has become an integral toy to my daughters. I am only hoping that this would be the case until I manage to take it down on the road. BTW, I managed to buy quite a few accessories for the cycle at a great price as well. More about it sometime later!
