Originally Posted by
phoebeisis
I just don't see much profit in bike flipping now.
Lotta competition for every "cheaply priced" bike on CL-and there is always "something" that has to be fixed.
And there are very very few underpriced bikes on CL-at least that is the situation in NOLA
Besides even when there were more underpriced bikes- say 1/2 price-$300 bike for $150-after picking it up spiffing it up-$100 for a 20 mile car trip-several hours work
I don't think that part of the market has ever had margin. You have to go big...or go small. I pay $0 to $5 for bikes and sell them for $50 to $60. I don't travel for bikes unless they are in town, and I bring my bike and trailer as to not waste gas on them. A fleet of scrap/parts bikes provides parts, sometimes I'll drop $10 in cables on a bike, and an hour or so of labor, and done.
You will never make money paying low retail for bikes, buying new parts, making it like brand new, and then having to ask for used nice bike prices. Unless you get one hell of a deal on the original bike, it's not exactly a hobby/business model that works well unless you are a fanboy of working on bikes.