Savagewolf

It's probably an old rerun, but just flipping through channels saw them going through some guys attic collection with 50+ early century bikes. Amazing how many that guy collected. I'd love to get my hands on some of those!

Guy was asking some pretty high prices, but some of them were probably worth it.

fender1

Those shows are fun to watch but the pricing always borders on the ridiculous.

KonAaron Snake 

Rusty gold!

I've generally found the claimed retail prices on Pickers to be more in line with reality than some other shows, but I don't believe for a second that they really pay as much as they do on the show.

sloar 

sitting here at work and was watching it. the guys prices really werent that high for the chief bike and the chainless.i would love to find them at that price.

miamijim

Bought for $100
Appraised for $150
Profit $50

Gas free
Hotel free
Phone bill free

That show's a joke.

KonAaron Snake 

Eggggs-actly. Store front rent, employees, taxes, auction fees, storage, etc. Pawn Stars is the same way...I don't think the appraisals are that off, but I don't believe they actually pay that much.

It's definitely TV, though I don't think their appraisals are that crazy (at least on the stuff I actually something about).

Savagewolf

The prices just seem wrong to me, unless you have plenty of time to sit on the buys. I'm probably wrong, but it seems like what they buy has such a niche market that it would take a long time to get the prices you wanted to make a real profit.

wrk101

In selling finds, it helps to have your own TV show. I look at it as a 30 minute informercial: "Come to our store. Buy our cool stuff. Maybe you'll even get air time!!"

KonAaron Snake 

I think at this point they're in the TV business and the stores are just a way to advertise their tv shows and give them something as the subject of the show.

triathloner

Oh I love the show, but they are paid by the history channel. A friend of mine saw them going through the minneapolis airport along with camera men lugging all their gear. I also heard that their vehicle has been spotted on the freeway on the back of a flatbed, I don't believe they drive anywhere any more. Last weeks episode if you happen to have it dvr'd look when they are leaving one of the pics, the big mirrors on the van are folded in when they are climbing in to drive off, probably actually arrived by flatbed is my guess.

Chombi

These reality show guys make their money these days mostly from their production incomes from the shows. If they are so real, then why don't all the sales people that work in all these pawn shops and antique stores in the country drive an exoticar ( I think it was an Maserati or Aston Martin ) like Chum Lee from Pawn Stars does these days.......for all you know, he's the real owner of that Pwn shop and he's just putting on an act to be the shop's jester and punching bag....
Reality shows have become so popular, and unfortunately, becoming ingrained in our culture now that I don't think we'll see them go away anytime soon as long as someone else figures out another reality show topic for the viewing public to chew on......
JMOs

brian3069

Rusty Schwinn Varsity.....$900

CV-6 

I am often amazed at what they do not buy.

rootboy 

Kill your television.

I did.

Italuminium

Moved out of my parents house when I went to university and never bothered with a television. Don't think I ever will. I'm surprised so many people of my age still bother with them, when a reasonable pc can do it all without the add breaks. I guess people just WANT to be fed bull****. Instead, I spend my nights arguing over chainring bolts with some American dudes on an obscure bike forum!

rootboy 

TV is the opiate of the masses.

KonAaron Snake 

Storage Wars definitely seems to have wonkier pricing than Pickers...I remember one of them valuing a $125 bike at $400 and I just laughed.

PatTheSlat 

American Pickers is probably the best of the "reality" shows, in that Mike Wolfe actually somewhat knows what he's talking about when it comes to most things, he actually buys the things on the show, and he really does run a business. I think I read somewhere that he actually did all of that for a living before the show, too. I do agree that the prices he pays on TV are absolutely ridiculous, and by the time you factor in gas, food, lodging, and business expenses, he'd be way in the red.

Pawn Stars is 100% fabricated. They find interesting items in museums or private collections, and contact the owner to have the item on the show. They hire actors or get random people off the street to bring in the item to "sell", and the item's actual owner is usually featured as the "expert".

My favorite scene from any of these shows is the guy from Storage Wars who was certain that an old Nintendo was worth $13,000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95eUhuR8_ps

Savagewolf

Ha.....I'm sitting on a gold mine! I have 2 Nintendo's stashed away somewhere. I could probably afford a couple classic Nexts' or Magnas' if I sold them.

ilikebikes

You beat me to it.

puchfinnland

all these shows are so simmilar

what B.S.

what I dont believe is the pickers pull up to a location, the seller has absolutly no idea what he has and the pickers offer a fair price on it.

you got to be kidding.

this is more like a dream in reality...

you show up at some old ladys house with A rat infested old chicken shack with a hornets nest in it" .

the old women still has her sons old racing bikes from the late70's/early 80's and heard thru a church friend you like bicycles

"My boy used to go racing in europe even, here are a few pictures of him"
(the images are from italy)
"well he died of cancer 25 years ago, he used to love those bicycles, I think even brought a few home,
I got so depressed I put them out in the shed years ago-they just kept reminding me of him"

after about 10 minutes and after shareing tea with out suger, and stale biscuits.....

"well Sonny, Im gonna sell this place and move in with my sister Martha in Poughkeepsie, and thought you might be interested in them, the last time I looked in there was 2001, but the hornets kept me from opening the door, the tires are no good, and there is a lot of bike parts in that old blue suitcase"

you help the old lady down the steps and get to the shed, as its winter the hornets are not about,
the door has sagged so badly the corner is in the mud rotting.
"there behind all the cardboard boxes!"

the boxes are from the new electric heater from 20 years ago,the humidifier from 15 years ago.
You uncover 6 Italian bikes in total, all encrusted in Campy, 3 extra sets of wheels,
and the blue suitcase...
inside the suitcase is a wooden box with campagnolo written on it.
the tools are slightly rusty but useable, there is also 10 vittoro NOS tubulars, bar tape, several alloy freewheels barely used, many chainrings(with panto) NOS regina gold chains, christophe toe straps, 2 NOS TI BB's and a bunch of old team jerseys (the team is your imagination)
you inspect the frames, the serial numbers are not numbers, but the last name of the women.

"Well, I was hoping you might be interested...what you recon? can you use anything?"

your reply....

"Well Im happy you called me... those are some pretty old bikes, they dont even sell parts for those things anymore.
them tires are all bad, they are really difficult to get also.
I looked in the suitcase, bunch of old rusty bicycle tools, nothing more.
they are not worth that much but....
Tell you what- How about I buy you a round trip ticket to visit your sister and a hundred dollars?" (grayhound at that ya cheap bas terd!)

After you load up the pickup,
here second cup of tasteless tea is much better then the first....

that is more like reality!

mkeller234

I only beat mine within inches of it's life. A year or two ago, I bought a roku box and stream netflix and hulu. It's not like live tv, in a good way. I watch less than 3 hours of tv per week, maybe less in the summer.

Of course chasing my daughter around is a big factor in the lack of tv time! I want hope that she grows up to love the outdoors.

puchfinnland

in finland there is just nothing on...

when I was stateside I was really BAD! but I still did at least 300 miles in 6 weeks!

WNG

I don't watch television either. I stopped back in the late 90s. I don't even care about big screened TVs, other than for showing photographs for electronic art displays.

The_Joe

The big draw of the shows are A) people love to old toys/equipment/oddities and B) in this economic age everyone wants to believe that they have a pile of junk that will make them money.
Storage Wars bothers me because the totals are just tallied from the winner saying "I can get $200 for that couch" or "That (insert item) has a great patina. Thats worth (insert on site estimate). I'll pay for the whole locker right there." But people still watch the show because in the end you just want to know what that stupid old desk lamp is appraised at.
The problem is where it crosses over to reality. It's shows like that that brainwash sellers into thinking everything is worth money. And thats why sellers are asking hundreds of dollars for rusty bikes that were never of value when they were new. I see the same thing with instruments. Market price and actual worth are pretty far apart.
It's a rare day when you meet an honest seller who just has no need for something and isn't just trying to make a buck.