Originally Posted by
thumpism
Look for a bike co-op near you, or maybe a small shop that does lots of used/recycled business, not much removed from a co-op. I have a '90s Marin MTB with old knobbies and planned to find some center-ridge tires for it. In the dumpster of the co-op I found a set of matching 26" wheels, also 7-speed cassette with skewers, with slicks. For free. You never know what's out there until you begin looking.
That's the dream... When I pulled the trigger on the bike, my initial thought was I'd be able to find so much out there I could just buy multiple sets of wheels and swap them out for various terrain types rather than go through the pain and hassle of swapping tires out. I think what I've been describing may well have been co-ops and I'm feeling better about my odds of realizing my dream. I think I was just discouraged about not also finding what I wanted online immediately, which I guess was the kind of shocking part of the process.