alexihnen 

I wouldn't call myself a flipper (who does?), but I've flipped a few bikes. I'll give a couple of examples. I bought a LeMond TVT listed on Facebook with really bad photos. The wheels were nice Ksyriums. The bottle cages were bent and bar tape was trash. The rest just looked dirty, some dog hair, etc., but with Dura Ace 7400 and decals intact. I bought it for $700, $875 including packing and shipping. I sold the wheels for $250 net. So I'm at $625. I took a pretty nice set of Dura Ace wheels w/ Continental tires from a rough Trek 770 I bought this past year for $275 (sold the frame for $200 & other parts for $100) and put them on the bike. So still at $625. Then I had to source white Dura Ace 7400 brake lever hoods. That set me back $60. A new chain and white bike ribbon were $30. Cables and housing $20. So...$735. Hours? Not sure, probably 10-15? It's a hobby so not sure how to value that. There were a few accessories that came with the bike. I sold those for $80. Now at $655. I sold the bike for $2,000.

I took that and bought a well used Seven Elium with Dura Ace for $1,000 ($1,150 w/ packing/shipping), replaced saddle, tape, tires ($100), and sold for $1,800 after a deep clean. The shifters weren't working, had to tear down derailleur, soak and clean the chain, etc. Anyway, a couple of those, and I have a bike fund to play with. There have been others I've stumbled upon as well. They each feel quite lucky, but seem to come along at regular intervals. Some are ready to ride, some aren't. I will say that the searching is at least 1/2 the fun, but also exhausting. Whenever I feel the pressure to make $, the fun disappears. I think I could make a little money if I really focused on this, but as I said, it's exhausting, and worse if there's pressure to make X amount each month.

Also, I've only bought bikes I plan to ride. You never know if they're going to sell, and riding is what they're for! I ride a 55-56cm, so it's a pretty easy size to sell as well. I did a few really fun rides on the LeMond TVT, maybe 200 miles, and the Elium fit my wife. I'd planned to keep that one for her, but she didn't like the color. Oh well. It takes a ton of time to learn the market and know when to make an offer and when to just wait. You have to know what's rare, cool, valuable, and they aren't the same thing. I see so many bikes that I think are a bargain but the market doesn't agree. I've kind of slid into wanting to find small shop American made steel lugged bikes. There are some that go for big $, like Eisentraut, Bayliss, Weigle, and Sachs, but most do not, even though they should! So finding a mid-80s custom DiNucci or Colian is awesome, but you're not going to make any money on them unless they were very very cheap.

To round out the story, I've been able to buy quite a few bikes I really love. They're more or less paid for, though perhaps that doesn't account for all the shipping cost, or bar tape and brake pads, etc. I think I'm happy to now ride them, sell to someone who will really appreciate the bike for basically what I have in them, and then experience another bike on my wish list.