Classic & Vintage - Forum Time ∝ Bike Money (Or: What do you do when you have no bike money?)

So I haven't been around here much since my funds ran dry, stopping my Comp project in its tracks. It's really strange, not flipping bikes. I've constantly been doing it for almost a year. What do you guys do to keep sane? I find myself shying away from the forums I frequent because I can't buy anything. I still ride myself into the ground on several bikes but today is a rest day...

Live vicariously through others?

Live vicariously through others?

+1 and work on what I have.

I agree just because your spending your hard earned sheckles doesn't mean you can't hang out here.

but to answer your question, depending on how nice the bike is I cry ;)

I published MY "TEN SPEEDS" (http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/) to help people, just like you and me, who do not have piles of money to spend on bikes. It is easy to find an old road bicycle, and for very little cash, if you want to do a bit of leg work. I can find bikes on demand, these days.

Have a look at How to Find Vintage Bicycles (http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/Site%20Contents/Bicycle_Basics/Bicycle_Contents_FindingVintgeBicycles_Page.htm) and see if the ideas will work for you. I should add that I find and keep between 60 and 100 decent old bicycles each year. You might also want to check out some of the other Bicycle Basic feature articles. Many articles are aimed at making it easier and cheaper to restore an old bicycle.

The last bike I found, came my way a week or so ago and immediately became one of two winter builds I plan for this up coming cold season. And where I live, it gets "freeze the dog to a tree" cold!



Hope this is a help.178126

Keep riding and have fun with what you have.

I'll take a 57-59cm De Rosa Primato please...I'd even settle for a Hetchins with curly stays...TIA.


I published MY "TEN SPEEDS" (http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/) to help people, just like you and me, who do not have piles of money to spend on bikes. It is easy to find an old road bicycle, and for very little cash, if you want to do a bit of leg work. I can find bikes on demand, these days.

I'll take a 57-59cm De Rosa Primato please...I'd even settle for a Hetchins with curly stays...TIA.

I did not say specific bikes on demand - just old road bikes. And you know what, some of them have been pretty impressive machines. That said, I have offered the tools to find bike and I did say that You have to do the leg work yourself. Who knows, you just might get lucky your first time out of the gate.

Are you experiencing loss of appetite, irritability, hallucinations, insomnia, and DTs?

- Those are typical withdrawal symtoms after you've been flipping for a while.
- The cure? - There is no cure: You have to rebuild your bike find. There may be some temporary obstacle preventing that, but rest assured, it is temporary, and somehow you will find a way.
Then, before you know it, we'll be seeing you posting your "snag of the century" - and we'll salivate all over it.:)

When the funds run out, it gets me a little more motivated to move forward with the flip bike projects that I've put off(which by this time are usual low end and/or MTBs). However, it's tough to get excited about working on a bike that you want to sell, when it isn't worth much(even in good condition).

I'm organizing/sorting my junk and parts bikes today. Making areas of 3-speeds, road bikes, classic schwinn, old baloon tire murrays and such. Like bikes with like bikes, there's a winter build or two in there I'm sure. I'm also placing junk huffy in a pile to part out. better dept. store parts--which make the majority of my stuff--will go to the local bike charity, the frames will become practice welding fodder for my future alt-bike builds. I'm also organizing my workshop, by the time I'm ready to work on my next build I should have more room and be able to find things better.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think it's also the winter season that isn't helping.


I agree just because your spending your hard earned sheckles doesn't mean you can't hang out here.

but to answer your question, depending on how nice the bike is I cry ;)

There's this TSX-2000 in the for sale forum that I look at every day...

Are you experiencing loss of appetite, irritability, hallucinations, insomnia, and DTs?

- Those are typical withdrawal symtoms after you've been flipping for a while.
- The cure? - There is no cure: You have to rebuild your bike find. There may be some temporary obstacle preventing that, but rest assured, it is temporary, and somehow you will find a way.
Then, before you know it, we'll be seeing you posting your "snag of the century" - and we'll salivate all over it.:)

Haha thanks for the support. I have however already used up my snag of the century budget! The Cervelo in my sig for $500 is the best it's ever going to get.

Took a second job to fill the void.

Limit purchases to once a week.

Yesterday was Rest day.Today, taking several bikes to the swap-meet for adoption.

When the funds run out, it gets me a little more motivated to move forward with the flip bike projects that I've put off(which by this time are usual low end and/or MTBs). However, it's tough to get excited about working on a bike that you want to sell, when it isn't worth much(even in good condition).

+10 Flip bikes sales slowed down for me, so I started parting out some bikes, and selling accessories. I sold a bike trainer and a donor bike (in as found condition) this week. First time I have ever sold a bike without rehabbing it first. I probably will sell a couple of more donors this way, as I have have plenty of parts already. I also did that tough appraisal, what is the bike worth as is, what will it be worth fully restored, and how much will it cost me to restore? Ultimately, I figured I would make about $25 more restoring it (by the time I paid for the parts), versus selling as is.

I also added a day to my part time teaching gig (I am retired).

I have started doing a better job moving enough stuff to market to cover recent finds. So a couple of parts from yesterday's garage sale find will go on ebay tonight, more than covering the cost of the lot.

Finally, my non-bike ebay stuff is doing better than ever. Be flexible! If you are already trolling the garage sales, church sales and thrift stores looking for bikes, I can guarantee you will find other non-bike stuff that is quite sellable. Develop a second, third, and even fourth expertise for flipping.

I don't flip bikes and just aquire my cycling equipment to mostly use and keep for myself for good. My budget's pretty much run dry for the year already after building up some stash for a next build. Hoping a "must have" frame would have popped up this year to build up the third bike to ride, but alas, the two frames I'm looking for just did not come up....so far(?)....so I kept myself occupied snagging a few more interesting and hard to find items at eBay. that will most likely find their way on my bikes in the future.

Chombi

I feel your pain stien. I have nothing to flip right now. Just haven't come cross much lately except for a low end MTB I sold yesterday for $29.
I saw an ad today on CL for a Guerciotti with Campy bits with flip potential. Then I thought to self, not sure I have $300 laying around today to go get it.
Darn... Maybe have to organize the misc. parts bin since I already went on the group ride this morning.

And the Guerciotti is gone from CL. It was snagged in less than an hour.

I feel your pain stien. I have nothing to flip right now. Just haven't come cross much lately except for a low end MTB I sold yesterday for $29.
I saw an ad today on CL for a Guerciotti with Campy bits with flip potential. Then I thought to self, not sure I have $300 laying around today to go get it.
Darn... Maybe have to organize the misc. parts bin since I already went on the group ride this morning.

And the Guerciotti is gone from CL. It was snagged in less than an hour.


Don't despair, Tim, I'm calling you tonight about this 1981 Peugeot Super Competition I grabbed earlier this week. You may be interested. :)

When my bike budget gets down, I trade only. I've learned from wrk101 and others to trade first, persevere in trading, with patience, and buy as a last resort.

When my budget has been to zero, I take a hard look at my bikes, and ask these questions, per bike:
A. Do I absolutely need it? (Always start with the "no," and work up.)
B. When was the last time I rode it?
C. Is it "specialized," like a triple or a full-on race bike?
D. How unique? There are still probably hundreds of Ironman bikes out there, which hurts to admit.
E. Can I recoup my investment? Generally no, but parted out, it may be pretty darn close.
F. What's left? Can I still ride centuries, tri's, hills?

This generally allows me to sell at least one if I need to, without regret. I pretty much know exactly which bikes I'd simply not part with, and everything else is expendable, with varying degrees of baggage attached.

They are, gasp, just bikes. I really only need one to ride.
My dog, my son, my wife, those are real. OK, not in that order...
Maybe not always as fun, but real.

I have far too many bikes on hand -- maybe 20 or so -- to be concerned if I ran out of bike money. I also have very little free time to devote to this hobby, so I'm guaranteed many more hours or weeks of fun doing restoration. I did sell a low-end no-name (literally) mystery bike with an Eagle RD this evening for $40. I was happy.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc336/davidw56/Mystery%20vintage%20white%20bike/002.jpg

I have far too many bikes on hand -- maybe 20 or so -- to be concerned if I ran out of bike money. I also have very little free time to devote to this hobby, so I'm guaranteed many more hours or weeks of fun doing restoration. I did sell a low-end no-name (literally) mystery bike with an Eagle RD this evening for $40. I was happy.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc336/davidw56/Mystery%20vintage%20white%20bike/002.jpg

That looks EXACTLY like my Free Spirit except for the reflectors and front chain guard, which I know they used on later models.