johngwheeler

Like many of you, I like to experiment and learn how different bikes ride. The problem is that it's pretty hard to do this unless you have a pool a friends who are happy to lend you their bikes, or you shamelessly go to bike shops for test rides, with no intention of buying a new bike.

One possible solution I've considered is to just buy used bikes that interest me with the intention of trying them for a few months, and then selling them once I've satisfied my curiosity (or found a great bike that is "a keeper"). Provided you buy at the right age - say more than 2-3 years old, the losses doing this should be minimal, and you can consider it "bike rental" of maybe $50 / month - a bit more if you buy a newer bike that depreciates faster. If you're lucky and buy cheaply, then maybe you can sell it for what you paid, or even make a small profit.

This would seem to be a good defence against the ever vigilant "treasurer" and the dreaded guilt associated with being discovered with "yet another bike". I can now say "hey, I've only borrowed this for a few month to try it out!".

I've done this once before to check out an endurance bike. It turned out to be too large for me (so I learned a valuable lesson in bike fit) and it wouldn't fit my intended tires (28mm GP4K), so I sold it, keeping some of the better accessories I acquired with it. I made about $200 out of the deal. I'm now thinking of doing this with a road race bike, to see if I like how it feels compared to my (now correctly sized!) endurance bike.

Just wondering if this is a common thing?

wipekitty

I sort of did this with my first road bike - bought (used) for $500, sold a year later for $480. That was a very cheap rental!

I'd be inclined to do this more if I lived in a larger market. Unfortunately, I now live in a small town/city (~50,000), and I ride a smaller frame (usually 51-53cm), so there are just not enough bikes in my size changing hands locally. The cost of either renting a car and driving 5+ hours round trip to a metro area or buying/selling/shipping on ebay diminishes the value of the enterprise.

Instead, I've taken to just swapping parts around on my existing bikes!

jlmonte

mstateglfr 

I don’t get the latest and greatest since im buying used, but I do scratch the itch of getting to try out different geometry, tubing, components etc and its all on bikes that interest me(steel frame classic geometry).

I buy used off this site’s C&V for sale forum, ebay, and CL.

Buy a bike, fix it up, ride for however long its interesting/useful, sell bike. I typically sell them for more than I have invested.
If I keep one, it then gets changed/upgraded to what I want and ride it for however long its interesting/useful. Its then sold either with the changed components or with the original components, depending on if I am lazy and how much I think I can get for the bike with each setup. Sometimes ill lose $ or sometimes more or less break even.
Taking a $125 ‘loss’ on a bike that I rode for 3 years is quite fine with me.

The bikes my kids have are all bought and sold with the mentality of selling them for a minimal loss. I buy quality bike shop level bikes used off CL, fit them to my kids and keep them for 2-5 years(depending on size and if both girls use the bike), then sell the bike for what I spent or maybe a small loss.
It’s a great process- they get quality bikes and we aren’t out huge $ even though they outgrow the bikes. A 2009 650C Trek road bike is worth the same now as 3 years from now, assuming its kept in good mechanical and cosmetic condition.