Boris Dog

Holy Moly. Best of luck untangling them all.

Prairiewind

And that's just the overflow. There's still a 4,000sqft showroom/shop we haven't even been inside of yet!

Boris Dog

I'll have the green one at the back.

Prairiewind

See I would have guessed that you would want the yellow one at the very bottom 😂

rccardr 

Burned rafters.
Univega tandems.
Rims akimbo in the grass.
A schoolbus storage unit.
I wish you luck.

Prairiewind

So far the out building stuff has been less than impressive. We get access to the former showroom tomorrow. I definitely didn't want to wait until the last minute to start putting feelers out. Definitely doesn't help matters finding NOS parts mixed in with all the other chaos.

Phil_gretz

This reminded me of a two stanza haiku. Here goes:

Charred rafters hanging.
Rims akimbo in the grass.
Tangled heaps disguised.

Mystery levers.
A school bus storage unit.
I wish you bonne chance.

repechage

So far appears former shop owner turned hoarder.

the art, love, time and money equation calculus will be looming.

there is undoubtedly some gems but like panning for gold, how much time per gram?

himespau 

Oof, big job. best of luck.

rccardr 

Aha.
In that case, am hoping that the former showroom has been relatively well sealed for-what, fifteen years?- and contains row after row of dusty but worthy steeds for you to process out.

Prairiewind

I apologize for the delay. The inside of the building was a bit overwhelming. Aside from bicycles there's almost anything you can think of. But I kept the pictures strictly in the bicycle world.

TakingMyTime

You might want to rent a BIG dumpster and keep it handy.

rccardr 

Hard to say just from those pics. BMX stuff is doing well these days, but am personally completely ignorant about that segment of the hobby.
Hopefully there’s enough good stuff in boxes to make the effort worthwhile.
It’s always sad when a business dies, even more so when the owner does as well.

zukahn1 

Just wow not that it helps much the Nos yellow Kashimax saddles are worth $30 a piece plus shipping on Ebay and well likely sell in minutes.

Prairiewind

I think I counted 4 boxes full. Same model just different colors

zukahn1 

WOW

SoccerBallXan

Your going to make some Schwinn guys day soon!

rustystrings61 

How much time do you have to sell all of this stuff? Is the balance point more towards clear it all out, or towards maximizing the dollars?

If you can work out storage for the long haul, you do have a treasure trove. I've never cleaned out a massive bike collection, but 16 years ago I DID manage the eBay portion of selling off my wife's grandmother's estate. We wound up with a double car garage packed full of stuff, and I would typically select 20 or 30 items per week, wipe them down and photograph them and take notes, do a little research in the sold or completed auctions and sometimes just prowl the internet for some information, then list it. All the eBay rules applied, lots of good clean pix, etc. It was a LONG HAUL done on the side of work, recuperating from surgery, etc., but I wound up raising a considerable amount for the estate that way. I was shocked at some of the things that brought money. The metal toy soldiers in a French Foreign Legion set, complete with camels and Tauregs by either Cherilea or Britain's Ltd. brought $750, which was kinda nice. The two coasters from a long-gone bar in French Indochina wound up going to a gentleman in England for $250, which frankly astounded me.

With quantities of new items like the Kashimax saddles, I would suggest inventorying them, getting a good clean photo of one in each color, looking to see how much they've actually been selling for, and set a buy-it-now price accordingly. If you wanna move them quickly, maybe buy-it-now for 75% of what they consistently sell for.

zukahn1 

Taking a closer look I see what look to be several nicer vintage BMX bikes NOS still in the box these and the NOS BMX parts will likely be worth the most money. Recent Ebay prices for older nicer NOS or very good BMX stuff have been fairly high recently sold a just OK set of pedals for $50 a couple of weeks ago.

Mad Honk 

I am familiar with a lot of those bikes and what they were as new models. I worked in a shop during the 1973- 83 and was a part of the BMX crowd, NBA and ABA and worked in the races for the NBA in Indiana and Indianapolis. This hot mess of hoarding will take some man power to unravel and find the gems in the chaff. A few of the BMX complete bikes will bring a good price. Parts will as well. Sorting and selling will take man hours, and will need someone with knowledge of what they are. If you contact me I am an expensive resource. But I can help and have contacts who can also help you. I do not do auctions and am an independent bicycle person. Smiles, MH

ramzilla

Man, that's a lot of stuff. But, I don't see anything that's really super rare & expensive. So, no worries. Do a detailed inventory of all the NOS stuff. Figure out what it's worth. Multiply that by 0.5 or -> 0.25 and, sell the whole mess to the first person interested. Take the rest of the stuff to the nearest Goodwill or similar charity.

Prairiewind

We've been trying to sort and organize to get a better idea of what's all there. The building is far bigger than originally thought and has a second story you wouldn't even notice from the road. To summarize things.....there's a single engine airplane sitting inside that I'm guessing is a size larger than an ultralight. As we get some kind of organization going I'll update with more pictures

Prairiewind

Just a few more pictures....there's literally stuff everywhere. Couldn't even begin to count the boxes of NOS

TakingMyTime

Good luck. When I first read this thread I thought about how exciting it would be to be in your position. The more I hear and see... I'm not even sure I would want to get involved. Unless you relish spending months/years going through all of this, I would be separating all the NOS from everything else right away. You're only adding more time and work by having to go in and "second touch" everything. Either sell the NOS in bulk or find a service (or someone in your area) willing to put the NOS stuff up on C/L or the Bay and give them a cut of what they're able to get. The logistics of all of this is what's going to kill you. Unless you find a few diamonds in the rough, I would advertise any of the salvageable/working bikes as $25 each and let them go. As I said, the logistics of this are going to kill you. Unless you're retired and have several years to catalog and grade everything there, and you get some enjoyment doing it... I would be looking at selling cheap and investing in a BIG dumpster.

Prairiewind

That's basically the plan for now, the NOS and complete bikes/frames are relatively easy. My biggest concern was the random used parts. I know certain crank sets or even handle bars can pull nice prices. Since we're contracted to liquidate everything my focus is making our client as much as reasonably possible. I understand everyone will miss something here and there but I can't allow myself to miss revenue for their family due to lack of effort.