Statistically, many more bikes are sold used than new. I can’t remember that exact number, but its something like 4 or 5 to 1, used to new. Right now the used bike market is hot. Just for fun I started checking the L.A. Craig’s List bicycle section. Some used bargains, some new stuff being hawked by entrepreneurial backyard dealers, some high end, but mostly ho-hum bikes which had been sitting in the back of a garage. Flat tyres, torn seats, rust, etc.
As for me, I have never sold a bicycle. Ever. I have given some away, and donated a spiffy boom-era ten speed to my neighborhood Association yard sale. But things changed. I had given away the last of my motorcycle parts to a friend. “I gotta give you some money” he said, eyeing the treasure trove of classic British parts. No, I responded, but you can give me any bicycle stuff you have laying around. He did, and among the stuff was a 1971 Phillips three-speed lady’s bike made in Nottingham, England.
For a while, it sat rusting away in my garage, tyres flat, seat broken, brakes fossilized, missing a pedal, chain tied in a knot. One day, upon realizing Craig’s List was moving used bikes like free government cheese, I decided — what the hell, I was gonna fix the ol’ Phillips and maybe some vintage collector would go for it.
I had cannibalized a couple of parts from the Phillips to get another bike going. So I listed it on Craig’s as a fixer, with missing parts. A few calls, but no sale. I decided to get the bike complete and in good fettle. I replaced the broken seat with a period-correct leather “Wrights” saddle, replaced a tube, restored the missing parts, installed new brake pads, trued the wheels, and knocked off some of the rust. I raised the price 50 percent from my previous offering (but still about the price of a low end department store bike) and re-listed in Craig’s.
While just a few calls came in when I offered the bike as a fixer, a flood of calls came in when I said the bike was ready to ride. My photo’s of the cleaned up bike looked good. The first to look at the bike was an attractive young Asian lady who specifically wanted a bike with that classic utilitarian look. She knew what frame size she needed and jumped at this deal. She rode around my street, we dialed in the seat height, I instructed her about the three speed trigger shifter and braking techniques (she had not currently owned a bike). Her intended use of the bike was to get to her workplace and generally, to use the bike instead of driving.
We loaded the bike into her station wagon and she drove off. I really felt good about hooking up a ‘convert’. I told her that if she decided to upgrade to a newer bike, she could get all of the purchase price out of this one, just put it back on Craig’s. This is another case of ‘One Less Car’. I think I might do it again.
Yay!
Igor…
That is so cool. I have a couple of vintage bikes in my garage, and think this has given me the reason to fix them up…
Way to go with the convert. She’s lucky!
I gotta tell ya: I have a LeMond that I love, but I’ve been looking for an old Schwinn Suburban or Racer for a while. What a fun bike! I’d love to commute the whole 2 miles on one of those, then use it for the grocery store, etc. Old bikes rule! Great article.
I have had luck picking up a Schwinn Suburban a garage sale. It need work, but nothing too major. Keep your eyes peeled.
That bike really looks like mine, a 1953 Winston Churchill that my mother got new as a five-year-old army brat stationed with the Brits in occupied Germany. When she grew into it, she rode it all over Germany and Switzerland on Girl Scout trips. I love riding it around town, especially since I shlep groceries and library books on it, and wear non-bike-warrior clothes, like vintage skirts.
I love this kind of thing. My most recent bike build was a 1960’s Phillips frame, built up with parts cannabalized from a 1970’s Hercules and a canadian built Raleigh. It’s worth keeping all the “crap” around the garage. You never know when all those old parts will begin to fit together.