Where have all the good bikes gone?
01-26-13, 10:49 AM
#51
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01-26-13, 10:50 AM
#52
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#1 The bike boom demographic are downsizing, gave up long ago and don't ride, or bought more modern machines.
#2 An entire generation grew up thinking MTB's were cool and road bikes were odd and outdated.
#3 Garage attrition, tons of bikes more than likely got sent to the scrapyard.
#4 Fixsters....
#5 Psychotics like me with 20 complete C&V machines and another 20 frames in the basement, and I am not a flipper.
#2 An entire generation grew up thinking MTB's were cool and road bikes were odd and outdated.
#3 Garage attrition, tons of bikes more than likely got sent to the scrapyard.
#4 Fixsters....
#5 Psychotics like me with 20 complete C&V machines and another 20 frames in the basement, and I am not a flipper.
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01-26-13, 11:14 AM
#54
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I'm outta here......
01-26-13, 11:16 AM
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01-26-13, 11:27 AM
#57
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You know it's getting bad when you see anything with turkey levers and stem shifters being hyped like it was a colnago or merkx.
This week on our craigslist (rural michigan) there was a featured classic Schwinn Varsity going for 325.00?? You gotta be kidding me.
This week on our craigslist (rural michigan) there was a featured classic Schwinn Varsity going for 325.00?? You gotta be kidding me.
01-26-13, 11:54 AM
#58
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Last week I picked up a Univega Gran Rally for $70.00. It had aftermarket pedals, aftermarket seat, and a 62cm frame. If I was taller I'd do the work to get it back on the road. I'm using some of the Shimano 600 components for my projects and selling the rest. Another bike off the market.
Kinda suspicious about the provenance of the bike considering the folks I bought it from were about 5'8" and 5'4" and lived in a very bad part of town.
Anyone in the Orange County CA area interested in the frame & fork?
Kinda suspicious about the provenance of the bike considering the folks I bought it from were about 5'8" and 5'4" and lived in a very bad part of town.
Anyone in the Orange County CA area interested in the frame & fork?
01-26-13, 11:54 AM
#59
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Hey, man, that Varsity is gonna be around when all the Colnagos in the world have crumbled into a pile of red iron oxide.
01-26-13, 11:58 AM
#60
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I can sympathize with you about the tuition. We spent about that much with one at Occidental and one at Colorado College. They are both out of there but we will be paying off loans for another 7 years or so.
It really hurts when money goes for tuition and my kids future instead of for more bikes for me.
I am envious of your new bike. I wish I could affor a Dave Anderson. Damn kids.
It really hurts when money goes for tuition and my kids future instead of for more bikes for me.
I am envious of your new bike. I wish I could affor a Dave Anderson. Damn kids.
Absolutely correct.
.....and now I'm selling a few here and there.
That's how I can afford a new custom Dave Anderson for example.
With two boys heading off to college, I will somehow have to make do with 6-7 bicycles, not 26.
Seriously though, tuition for these two will set us back roughly $75,000 per year.
Not a lot of room for new bicycles for the next five years.
.....and now I'm selling a few here and there.
That's how I can afford a new custom Dave Anderson for example.
With two boys heading off to college, I will somehow have to make do with 6-7 bicycles, not 26.
Seriously though, tuition for these two will set us back roughly $75,000 per year.
Not a lot of room for new bicycles for the next five years.
01-26-13, 12:00 PM
#61
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Somewhat like randyjawa's response in #35 above: Here in California there are some pretty strict trash recycling laws that require stuff be diverted from landfills for recycling. In the suburbs/urban areas you usually ahve to go through a local trash compnay to get rid of your 'junk', either curbside pick-up or drop-off at the local trash collection yard. I occasionally drop off a big load at the local trash yard (yard re-landscape project, rebuild a fence, etc), and the staff there sorts what is dropped off. There's usually a BIG pile of scrap metal items with A LOT if bikes mixed into it. I've asked about picking out a few (seen names like Miyata, Raleigh, better Schwinns, etc in the pile), but there's a strict 'no trash-picking' rule. Sad to see all those great bicycles disappearing, but at least they're getting recycled.............
I'm seeing more late teen- early twenty year old kids on old 10 speeds. They can't afford a car & need real transport. They're snatching them up.
01-26-13, 12:05 PM
#62
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out in Folsom in front of a storage locker at dusk.
His story ( I always try to get the story..
) was that he buys auctioned Storage lockers,and that the Sekai had come from one. It had some pretty obvious corrosion issues, and
among other things the freewheel ended up to be frozen stiff, so I concluded that while it
might very well be stolen, the theft must have been at least twenty years ago...
But seriously, what's wrong with this stuff gaining some credibility as per value in
the marketplace ? If, like me, you see it as all about the bikes, does not the increase
in perceived value work to the advantage of preservation ?
(Admittedly, I'm a little dismayed about the whole CL "Chicago Schwinn" phenomenon, but still...)
01-26-13, 12:37 PM
#63
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Been going on for years: https://features.skateandannoy.com/eb...tch-july-2012/
A few recent finds....
A few recent finds....
Last edited by thinktubes; 01-26-13 at 12:43 PM.
01-26-13, 12:57 PM
#65
What??? Only 2 wheels?
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Yesterday, I think it was, I saw a UO8 on Craigslist advertized for $190. It looked about '72 or so. Granted it was still in one piece and appeared to have a Simplex RD. Even so...
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01-26-13, 12:59 PM
#66
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Been going on for years: https://features.skateandannoy.com/eb...tch-july-2012/
@ Auchen: It's all about market timing, Bubs. I am in on the ground floor on C+V accordions.
..............the C+V accordion market is gonna really take off, any day now.
01-26-13, 01:07 PM
#67
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I can sympathize with you about the tuition. We spent about that much with one at Occidental and one at Colorado College. They are both out of there but we will be paying off loans for another 7 years or so.
It really hurts when money goes for tuition and my kids future instead of for more bikes for me.
I am envious of your new bike. I wish I could affor a Dave Anderson. Damn kids.
It really hurts when money goes for tuition and my kids future instead of for more bikes for me.
I am envious of your new bike. I wish I could affor a Dave Anderson. Damn kids.
Affording a Dave Anderson down payment is the easy part.
That's only $400.
Paying off the balance in a year is the hard part.
01-26-13, 01:20 PM
#68
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Yeah.......me too. I attribute this to the rise of CF and the bikes the CF guys used
to own and ride that they get tired of tripping over. Works fine for me.
I can point to a couple of Serotta's, a Cooper, and a Fuso that all found their way
to my garage for this reason, at pretty competitive prices, IIRC.
One of my friends here just bought a low mileage Cooper in really outstanding,
full Campy condition for 800 bucks, down near you. He asked me about it when
he saw the CL ad, and I advised him not to bargain.
What I personally see around me is great confusion in the sub $400 dollar steel
bike market, but some pretty good bargains in the $500 and up market.
Not universally mind you, caveat emptor and YMMV.
I wish I knew as much about fixing accordions as I do about fixing bikes.
to own and ride that they get tired of tripping over. Works fine for me.
I can point to a couple of Serotta's, a Cooper, and a Fuso that all found their way
to my garage for this reason, at pretty competitive prices, IIRC.
One of my friends here just bought a low mileage Cooper in really outstanding,
full Campy condition for 800 bucks, down near you. He asked me about it when
he saw the CL ad, and I advised him not to bargain.
What I personally see around me is great confusion in the sub $400 dollar steel
bike market, but some pretty good bargains in the $500 and up market.
Not universally mind you, caveat emptor and YMMV.
I wish I knew as much about fixing accordions as I do about fixing bikes.
01-26-13, 01:27 PM
#69
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Yeah.......me too. I attribute this to the rise of CF and the bikes the CF guys used
to own and ride that they get tired of tripping over. Works fine for me.
I can point to a couple of Serotta's, a Cooper, and a Fuso that all found their way
to my garage for this reason, at pretty competitive prices, IIRC.
One of my friends here just bought a low mileage Cooper in really outstanding,
full Campy condition for 800 bucks, down near you. He asked me about it when
he saw the CL ad, and I advised him not to bargain.
What I personally see around me is great confusion in the sub $400 dollar steel
bike market, but some pretty good bargains in the $500 and up market.
Not universally mind you, caveat emptor and YMMV.
I wish I knew as much about fixing accordions as I do about fixing bikes.
to own and ride that they get tired of tripping over. Works fine for me.
I can point to a couple of Serotta's, a Cooper, and a Fuso that all found their way
to my garage for this reason, at pretty competitive prices, IIRC.
One of my friends here just bought a low mileage Cooper in really outstanding,
full Campy condition for 800 bucks, down near you. He asked me about it when
he saw the CL ad, and I advised him not to bargain.
What I personally see around me is great confusion in the sub $400 dollar steel
bike market, but some pretty good bargains in the $500 and up market.
Not universally mind you, caveat emptor and YMMV.
I wish I knew as much about fixing accordions as I do about fixing bikes.
01-26-13, 02:45 PM
#70
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gomango, Have that Vintage Sailboat in garage, with bikes, used to refer to it as the floating hardware store. If allowed to do some fuzzy math , if all posters above had 8 bikes, that would be about 580, including my 10. Now I where some of those old ones are.
01-26-13, 02:59 PM
#71
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I hope to start using randyjawa's flyer technique again in the next few weeks. The good news about Craiglist is that bikes listed for $200 now are inferior to the ones I restored and sold for $150 just last year. The community yard sales have dried up as a source of bikes - with fewer and lower quality bikes available. Even the lowest end ones end up being snapped up before I arrive. More owners are over-valuing their bikes, wanting more than I'd sell them for once repaired. Examples are a decent Moto Mirage at $300 and a heavy Columbia at $100 (that I wouldn't take for free).
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01-26-13, 03:11 PM
#73
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I think I just flat out don't know how to hunt down bikes. I seem to only find Magna's and Mongoose MTB's. I've tried the dump, but there is a St. Vincents thrift store donation center there and the workers won't let you scavenge either from the other places there.
Craigslist seems to bring me over-priced bikes, EBay sometimes has better deals but not when you include shipping, and garage sales turn up with nothing for me.
I have no idea how you guys do it. I search everyday and come up with nothing. My one big catch was a wanted CL ad, but even then it was for bikes that didn't fit me. I don't care about flipping, I just want C&V bikes that I can restore for myself/family.
Craigslist seems to bring me over-priced bikes, EBay sometimes has better deals but not when you include shipping, and garage sales turn up with nothing for me.
I have no idea how you guys do it. I search everyday and come up with nothing. My one big catch was a wanted CL ad, but even then it was for bikes that didn't fit me. I don't care about flipping, I just want C&V bikes that I can restore for myself/family.
01-26-13, 03:13 PM
#75
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Accordions are likely the next hot ticket. Especially the Italian ones - Pretty soon you guys with the Colnago's and DeRosa'S will be trying to flip them to buy vintage Zoppi's, Contello's, Scandalli's, etc.
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