jonwvara 

I have eight bikes, or maybe nine. That's a pretty moderate number, by the standards of this forum, but it's three or four more than I really want or need.
I've known that for years that I should get rid of the extras. I thought about it today, and here's why I haven't sold them or given them away:

1. Sell locally, through Craigslist or equivalent? No, because I'm way out here in the wilds, and no one is going to come all the way out here to buy one of my bikes except at a rock-bottom price. I don't want someone to snap it up and flip it for a quick buck, or part it out on Ebay.

2. Ebay it myself? No, because shipping is a monumental pain in the butt, and I don't want to risk selling it to a nutcase buyer who will demand a refund because the bike is somehow not as advertised.

3. Sell them through the BF marketplace? No, because most of the people around here are nearly as cheap as I am. If they sold at all, it would only be at a sweetheart price, probably to a profit-minded member who would part them out and use the money to buy a different bike, from someone other than me.

4. Part them out myself? No, because that would be shameful. They deserve to stay in one piece.

5. Put them out by the mailbox with a FREE sign? No, because some local would take them and abuse the heck out of them, and it would make me very sad to see the result every time I passed through the village.

See? I'm doomed. The only benefit to all this is that already owning eight (or nine) bikes is a powerful disincentive to adding more. So actually, I guess I'm good.

nlerner

I have far too many bikes and also find that as I get more vintage myself (i.e., old), I have less and less interest in actually riding vintage bikes. I’ve always felt my fleet was roughly 1/3 museum, 1/3 old bikes with modern components, 1/3 new bikes. Those ratios are changing, and it might be time to let go of ones in the first two groups and maybe a couple in the third. Actually, just sold one that I really thought I’d never part with so perhaps the proverbial floodgates have opened.

bark_eater 

I've only sold 3 bikes and a frame so far. I priced them what I thought they where worth and they sold in a mere mater of years... I sold one on consignment at a co-op. They take 20% but they do all the work and the bike was out of my garage. They had another bike of mine that eventually sold on BF, so I donated $20 when I took it back. I'm probably going to do more consignment sales with them at some point, being ok with the idea of just breaking even on the bike pile.

rhm

Yup, that's my problem, right there, except:
(a) you can actually count the number of bikes you have, and it's one digit? I cannot count the number i have, but I can assure you it is not a rational number. Could someone ever calculate it, they'd find it has at least two digits not to mention the untold number of digits after the decimal point.
(b) you are in Vermont? Okay that's fair. But I'm in New Jersey.
So, okay, you got it bad. You got a problem. But don't worry, someone else, somewhere (like in New Jersey) has it worse. Relax.

SurferRosa

I only have six, which is two or three more than I really need. My problem is they're all of about the same quality/purpose/awesomeness. Which one would I sell? There's basically a ceiling on craigslist of around $500, and they're all worth way more than that ... to me.

Hudson308 

Preaching to the choir?

surveyor6

I would try craigslist in your area first. Then branch out to craigslist in other cities and nearby states.
Bikes appear to multiply like tribbles. Seems I went from two bikes to six overnight.

rccardr 

Counting how many bikes one has at a time is always so complex. Right now, there are eight on the rack ready to go, plus one on the trainer. But the frame of the one on the trainer is a placeholder for the frame that’s currently out for a respray. So does that make it nine...or ten? And there are three frames in storage ready to be built up, with full groups in the closet and tires mounted on wheelsets...so am I cheating to say nine (or ten) and not eleven (or twelve)? How about the yet-to-be-delivered custom frame for my 70th birthday, for which there is yet another group and wheelset in the closet...does that make it nine, or ten, or thirteen,or what?

BTW, have no problem with actual selling or shipping, but for the fact that I love them all and don’t wish to move any along at the moment.

Am I in a worse position than Neal? Maybe...I sold him a bike and then bought it back less than a year later!

katsup

To me, this reads

"I don't want to sell my bikes (or go through the trouble) so I'm making excuses"

And nothing is wrong with that.

clubman 

(chortles at Neal under breath.)

nlerner

Hey, if it weren’t for that Canadian border, I’d be boxing up and sending you 3 or 4 next week!

WGB 

Perhaps we could better help you decide what to do if we knew what size the frames were. Also it would be helpful if you posted detailed photos (from the drive side of course).Then, we could buy them, help you decide what you don't need should do......

repechage

Number 4
you have my permission
much less worry to ship parts and or a frame.
John Barron of Velostuf long ago complained about the whole bike parting out poor return equation.
with rare exception it is truth
that written, no loss to advertise them here.
or even CL ( nearest larger metro market)
one CAN always drive if motivated enough with ok weather.

randyjawa 

I have sold most of my bikes and I did it the easy way - bulk sale of the entire collection (less two).

Look for vintage bicycle dealers in you area and in your country (avoid international boarders). Make a list of what you have to offer and send the list to all places of business. I have done this many times for a charitable organization with great results.

Anyway, just a thought...

Andy_K 

Those are decent reasons. I've managed to get rid of a few frames recently, so far with only minimal regret. My usual problem with selling bikes is that I get too attached to them, even the ones that aren't all that nice. You know how at the end of Catcher in the Rye Holden says he even kind of misses the pimp that beat him up? That's me with bikes. There's an old hi-ten Japanese built bike boom Gitane Gypsy Sport that was way too small for me that I sold about 10 years ago. I still miss it sometimes. It popped up on the local Craigslist a couple of years ago and I had to talk myself out of buying it.

merziac

Again, too many bikes, you must be joking.

RiddleOfSteel

It's things like this which make me ever more grateful for being as close to downtown Seattle without actually being in it. This especially helps with buying and selling scaffolding-tall frames and completes. It has helped with the development and flourishing of this hobby/interest/passion/whatever.

That being said, I very much understand the predicament the OP is in as I would be in essentially the same boat. I'd still give CL a whack because one never knows (and I am very good at logically self limiting). At the end of the day, if the seller (OP) thinks or knows he has more money and care than what he could realistically sell them for, then it's fine that they stay until some mental or physical paradigm shift (or life event) occurs which makes it easy to part ways with them. I've had a number of bikes that I didn't want to sell, but late last year was when I decided to sell all of them, save a 620 frameset as a substitute for my Paramount.

If I go up in bikes again, I know the geometry I'm looking for and have no plans to deviate from it. @nlerner sometimes I think of going full modern and being done with wedging 130mm rear wheels into 126mm dropouts (even if my Trek 620 has zero issue with that, and it was all original), non-vertical dropouts, etc. Or just going custom with a "greatest hits" of various geometries of bikes I've ridden and enjoyed. [ok, I just want a pretty red metallic road/race geometry bike...]

merziac

@RiddleOfSteel

I would encourage you to explore having a Davidson built, there website hasn't been updated since 2019 so.....

It may be too late, if not, I would seriously consider it, just sayin.

brixxton

but not as bad as some. At one time it was Inflatable boats and 2 stroke outboards and of course there's substances.
I always say once I've returned a bike to it's former glory or tricked it out I'm going to sell it straight away. That hardly ever happens as I start to covet my build and then I want to wait until I can find the perfect saddle, pedals,wheelset.....before I let it go
Then of course I'm not going to let something I've bled and sweat over for peanuts! So I'll price them accordingly while on CraigsList somone is selling their old roommates Paramount for $100. So securely locked away I have my collection.Since they are not making anymore Schwinn Curcuits or Cinelli Monzas they shouldn't depreciate.
But whats the point in having all these beautiful machines that I hardly ever ride!!!
Time to sell up and get a sailboat.My hope being that once we are free off Covid we will see a resurge in popularity of vintage machines especially with the crazy prices wanted for new/retro ones.
i have 14 at last count sold one last week, 1991 Bianchi Lynx,to boring, and bought two this week 1981 Lotus Eclair,needs some work, and 1989 Brittany Free Spirit,
pristine!
I have to admit I'm powerless over a good deal on a classic

non-fixie 

That, and you have something to show and talk about on a forum, which is nice too.

jonwvara 

Part of the problem is that I have a hard time putting a realistic value on old bikes. This 1967 Dawes Double Blue was given to me by a guy who wanted it out of his shed. So yes, it was free, except for what it cost me to build a new set of wheels on matching replacement hubs, buy a Nicklin crankset and TD Cross bottom bracket matching the original, adding a NOS Wrights saddle (again, matching the fossilized original), etc., etc. The result is a free bike that cost me several hundred bucks. It even has the original Dawes-branded bar-end plugs.

The labor doesn't concern me, because my time isn't worth a great deal, but shouldn't I at least recover my out-of-pocket costs? Probably not, I guess. A more realistic way to look at that money would be to compare it to money spent on movie tickets or restaurant meals. In other words, it was spent, enjoyed, and is now gone forever, with no expectation of clawing any of it back.

Makes sense, right? So why can't I seem to do that?

bikemig 

The problem is that great bikes show up locally from time to time (of course the real question is why the heck am I looking, right?)

I couldn't turn down this late 70s UO 10 that showed recently for $40 that looks pretty much all original. I really like UO10s as I did my first tour on one and I worked in a Peugeot shop in the 80s. It will be fun to rebuild this bike for as little money as I can get away with. Anyone know a cheap source for 27 inch tires, ? Plus I needed a bike for the clunker challenge, right?

non-fixie 

Look, I have the same problem, so please stop showing gorgeous bikes in my size that might be available at a reasonable price.

nlerner

One “benefit” I factor in to what I sell and for how much is the time I spent riding it and the benefits accrued from that use. In other words, if I have $300 into a bike, ride it for a couple of years, and then sell it for $200, I don’t see that $100 as a loss but instead as usage cost. So for roughly $50/year or $4/month, I was able to ride and enjoy the bike and now someone else can.

jamesdak 

Yep, this is how I look at things too. I don't think I've ever sold a bike for what I have in it.