Haptown

I've seen quite a few posters on here talking about finding bikes in dumpsters, since reading about this on here I've peeked in a couple of dumpsters around my neighborhood but so far I've found only garbage. Are there certain locations that seem to be better for dumpster finds than others? If you have found a dumpster treasure in the past, in what part of your city/town was the dumpster located?
So many dumpsters, so little time.

divineAndbright

Behind bicycle shops is the obvious answer. The only other dumpster location I can think worth checking are the ones on apartment building property, if anyones moving or simply hucking anything out it ends up there (as aposed to bringing it out on the curb on trash day). I came across a road bike there before, it was in nice shape but a piece of junk in terms of quality so I didnt bother with it.

apeter

If you're in a college town, particularly an expensive private one, check dumpsters near dorms and apartment complexes at the end of semesters (may/december/august) and you won't just find bikes either! Colleges also usually throw away the bikes still attached to bike racks at the end of each semester too. If you can figure out where they throw them away you're golden. Good luck!

braingel

I can't see a bike shop throwing away a usable bike. Apartments, though, are great. If you poke around in the trash enough, you'll find that some apartment complexes tend to generate a lot more waste than others, and you can keep frequenting those. I find that, contrary to what would seem logical, low income areas have a steadier supply of worthwhile stuff in the trash than more affluent ones. I have no explanation for it, but a good quarter of what I own probably came out of the trash, so I can vouch for its validity.

Also, wait for the first warm weekend, and then just cruise around some of the more affluent neighborhoods. Spring cleaning yields wonders...

kemmer

Oh, they do. Lots of them. Most bike shops don't sell used bikes and even the ones who do are bound to end up with a bike or two that isn't worth fixing at their shop rate. What is a shop supposed to do with a bike a customer drops off and never picks up? There are also tons of usable parts. Some shops break parts, damage frames and slash tires to keep you from *gasp* saving things from the landfill.

Try thift stores too. The ones in my area thow away hundreds of bikes month between them. 90% of them are cheap magna/huffy junk, but there are a few good ones now and then.

Bikedued

I saw my LBS owner take a soft tail aluminum Univega MTB frame off the wall, throw it on the floor, and do the OCC Mikey "boing-boing" on it til it snapped. It had been hanging there as long as I had been going there, and I thought that was a little extreme. Could have put it outside and let some bike freak get it, like me.

Ditto on the thrift stores. The ones around here know NOTHING about bikes, and a treasure can be priced just like a Magna/Huffy/Next. Sometimes less if it has enough dust on it. You just have to find the one store in your area that keeps bikes in stock.,,,,BD

Haptown

I've been hitting all of the thrift stores around Nashville but most of what's available here is kids bikes and occasionally an adult sized mountain bike but usually these tend to be of the Magna/Huffy/Next variety. And these brands, if not really beat up and old, are priced just a hair under retail. I'll check the thrift store dumpsters.

I never would have thought to look in the dumpster behind my lbs, and the Vanderbilt University campus is just a few minutes away from me, so is Belmont University, and Tennessee State University, and 45 minutes south of me is MTSU. So I guess I've got a lot of campus dumpsters to choose from.

Thanks for the tips.

braingel

Just so you know, the public universities probably won't throw the abandoned bikes away, they'll give them to the city for either use or auction. When I used to live in Boulder, after the UC year was over and it was past the mandatory eviction period from the dorms, all of the bikes left on the dorm racks got tags that said "if this bike is not removed by x date, it will become property of the department of public safety" or something along those lines. My friend went the night before the locks were going to be cut with bolt cutters and got everyone new bikes

jet sanchEz

If you are really gung-ho about it, one of my secrets is to talk to the super-intendants of large apartment buildings. These buildings almost always have bike lock-up areas in their parking garages and often people abandon their bikes when they move. The super will probably want a couple of bucks but there might some gold in there, you never know.

It also goes for kid's bikes, they are often chucked out once a kid grows up and you can get them cheap and make a few bucks on CL from them and with that money, buy something worthwhile on CL.

Personally, I've only had three dumpster bikes that were worthwhile but I sold all three for a combined total of 330$, so that is not too bad.

funrover 

I have a lot of bikes.... When I was a kid I had 20 bikes...all dumpster....... It's how I learned to build them..... I have good luck in the country.... in the city it seems everyone want s $$$

apeter

yeah, I never saw so many cool old bikes about to be thrown away as out in the sticks...

Haptown

Well it would really be cool to find a real gem in a dumpster but realistically I would like to find a junker that I could tinker with. It would be great to find a good parts bike so I can make some extra money to pay for my project bikes. I don't know where in the sticks I might look for discarded bikes, not a lot of thrift stores out in the country (that I know of), or dumpsters.
I have no idea what the local Universities policies are on bikes that are left behind but I will find out.

new_dharma

the U of Minnesota (Twin Cities) removes bikes locked to the racks at the end of the year (possibly semester) and sells them in their recycling center...I've heard of good deals, but I have yet to go there.

braingel

I just got home with a Panasonic mountain bike I found on the side of the road in a trash heap Tange Infinity double butted tubing, and newer Suntour and Diacompe components all in good shape.

ticwanos

In my neighborhood there are professional scrap recyclers who cruise the city looking for scrap metal that is left curbside. I struck up a conversion with one one morning, asking if he ever came across old bikes (knowing he had a mtb -- old Haro Impasse -- poking out of the debris in his pickup). He told me he only gets about a dollar for the bikes when he sells them as scrap! I told him about my interest in older steel roadbikes, Schwinn in particular, and offered to trade him some older mtb wheels and tires for the frame he had. He mentioned he had an old schwinn like I had described, and I, controlling the drool, said I would love to see it. When I came home from work that night, standing in front of my garage door, there was the mtb frame, as well as an '84 Schwinn Traveler, (4130 cromoly frame, Suntour AR derailleurs. Nothing outstanding, but still a respectable machine and a good rider.) I cleaned off the surface rust (there was plenty) replaced the chain, tires, bartape and seat. See below.
I have been wanting to send a few bucks his way to thank him properly, but I haven't seen him since. The old truism about "who you know" applies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep talking. You never know what or when something will show up.

ollo_ollo

"Are there certain locations that seem to be better for dumpster finds than others?"

Marin County, California?

Haptown

They are also in East Nashville (where I live) and I often see bikes in the backs of beat up pick up trucks headed to the metal recycling facility which is just a few blocks from where I live. Nashville has a fairly large homeless population and there are alot of them who collect scrap metal in shopping carts and wheel it over to get a little cash for their metal. It keeps the alleys clean but it makes it hard to find a treasure like your panasonic, braingel.

funrover 

That makes for some great deals.......... Around here they end up for auction, or if you help load they give you 2 for free(at least for a buddy of mine)..... I should go do that this summer...hmmmmmmm......

braingel

Yeah, here too. I've been trying to work one out, but no one ever seems to call me back. I sent one guy, who pust a post in the wanted section of CL for scrap, an email asking if he ever got any bikes, and his reply was "I destroy hundreds". We talked for like 20 minutes and everything, but he's never called me back.