soonerbills

Every time I find a bike to sell I put a little money in it and then don't want to sell it!!!!
I always feel like I got the raw side of the deal after the sale! I guess I'm not really a seller but a frustrated bike tinkerer
Sold a crappy early 70's Huffy that I cleaned up the other day and now wished I still had it even though It wasn't worth much and sure ain't no collector item. I feel like that every time!!
My wife says I'm a moron.
SIGH

CardiacKid

Thank God you are not a farmer.

King of Kadence

I'm not a real flipper, but I get warm fuzzies from outfitting someone with a cool bike. The only time i didn't was when a bike I sold was flipped on me, The buyer relisted it a few days later at twice the price.

Grim

I know the feeling. My first bike sale was a Peugeot I bought in 1986. Moment of weakness and a wanted ad. Wish I kept it.
My second was a 1984 Miyata six ten that I literally got out of the trailer that was about to haul it to the dump. To small for me and too big for my wife but I still wish I had it.

Does seem to get easier the more I flip.

oldiebikes

I regret selling a few of the bikes I've flipped too, especially after putting effort into them ...and knowing they are in great shape. Some buyers assume the bike has just been "dusted off" and offered for sale(and many are). The people who buy bikes from me get a great bike. If the bike has problems, I take it apart and keep the good stuff for other bikes.

23skidoo

Don't listen to your wife, soonerbills or she'll have you believing you work at a prison for a living....

cyclotoine

I get over them pretty quick. It's satsfying to make the sale. I guess because I usually really need the money it is satisfying. I could see myself wanting to keep some bike more so if I didn't need it to help pay for bills or loan payments. However, if it doesn't fit me I get over it real quick. I am pretty good at making a decision and then not questioning it. I used to want to have one of everything (super record, C-record, nuovo record, super record pista, standard record pista, I had a rally read derailleur in mint shape for the hell of it), then one day I realized that I hardly ever ride the vintage bikes I have so wearing out parts will never be an issue. So I sold all the spares, and the C-record bits and decided I would have one first generation nuovo record bike and one early 1980s super record bike and I would ride them occassionally (as I have always done). Now I have no regrets about letting everything go. Should I ever decide to have another classic it will be because it is a screaming deal on a complete or a frame that will take a group from one of my other bikes and I will sell the left over frame. With this rule I don't regret selling bikes. I have sold some nice bikes in my size but am completely happy and well equipped with my modest stable (modest by our terms, excessive by most others)..

redxj

I guess family genes helped me flip bikes. Why? I am tall so 95% of the stuff I find I can't even come close to riding so it makes flipping them easy. But, there is one I sold this past summer I wish I really kept for myself (83' Raleigh Touring 18 if you were wondering).

Edit: I just though about it for a minute and have regretted selling a number of parts. I sold them thinking I don't need this and I can get some $$$ for it. But, of course a little while down the road I find a use for a part I sold. Oh, well.

soonerbills

Don't listen to your wife, soonerbills or she'll have you believing you work at a prison for a living....

In there between brief periods of intense cultural stupidity I have hours to daydream of my next historic fleamarket find.

tmh657

Exactly. I have bought and sold the same 9 cm 1" Cinelli stem 3 or 4 times. I replaced a black one that came with a bike with a silver one and darn it I am not selling the black one even if I never use it.

geekrunner

I've flipped about 25 bikes, but only regret flipping one. Ironically it was my first flea market find, '87 Nishiki Olympic 12 in lavender. Paid $15. Cleaned it, lubed it, recabled it, replaced the wheels ($50). Sold it six weeks later for $125 to a teenager whose dad was an old roadie. I loved that bike! But it whetted my appetite for more more bike flipping.

geek

Flying Merkel

The only bike I really regret selling was my Univega Viva Sport. It was a graduation present in 1979. Sold to a cloth-headed dope who only paid me half of what we had agreed on & then left it out in the backyard to decay. It was eventually stolen. Great all-around bike. Stupid. I'd still be riding it today.

I've been doing some low-level bike flipping. Picked up a Schwinn Mirada mountain bike for $25.00 It's easily worth $32.00. It reminds me of my old Continental. Good for errands. Uses 650B tires. I'm not selling. Been getting a lot of use.

My latest is a Bridgestone MB-6. I'd keep it but the it's a little on the small side for me. What a nice bike. Former owner put on some good components, I'm selling it as a street bike.

cyclodan

"I have never regretted keeping a bike."- anonymous quote

I find that using the proceeds to fund my next "project" eases the pain.

bikerosity57

Let 'em go! However, there is no harm in keeping "special" bikes. You know the ones I mean!

cycleheimer

When "flipping" bikes, remember that locating bikes in trash piles and dumpsters, and at garage sales isn't just a job...it's an adventure. Bikes are also kind of like buses, "if you miss one (sell one in this case), there's always another one on it's way to you." You can always take pictures of them, and place them in their own "family" album. Photos take up less room than the actual bikes themselves (wives will love this point). So many bikes, so little time!

RobbieTunes

It's hard to flip when you buy bikes you end up liking.
Instead, think of the goal you've set.

For me, it was to make enough to get me the bike(s) I wanted to ride.
It got out of hand, but not in a bad way. I merely "offset" my costs.

I've met a couple of BF flippers. A somewhat cold approach is necessary.
Doesn't mean they don't like bikes, but perspective is everything.

I got out of flipping, and just fix 'em up and try to recoup costs.
I feel better, folks get bikes, we're all friends.
Of course I want some back.
It means I did it right.

23skidoo

How about just selling me the clamp fixing bolt then??? I've got a beautiful black one I can't use cause the moron who sold it to me on fleabay cross-threaded it and stripped out both the bolt and the allen-head nut.

bigbossman 

Not "cold", per se - more so "business-like".

If you're gonna flip bikes, you can't fall in love with your inventory. I've never kept a bike I bought for flipping, with the exception of the Merckx. However, I have leveraged the cash I've made from flipping into bikes that I've wanted.

That is the whole point of flipping (in my case).

graywolf

The interesting thing is to my way of thinking you guys are not flippers. A flipper buys something cheaply and sells it dearly, they do not put anything into it except advertising. You guys all seem to be refurbishing the bikes putting money and labor into them, that is not a flipper, that is someone who loves bicycles and wants others to have a nice one. You are into it for the joy of it not the money.

bbattle

I don't flip bikes, I just find friends and coworkers nice used bikes on the cheap that are still better than what they'd get at X-mart.

Haven't broken even yet.

roccobike

I don't understand what the problem is. I have no regrets about flipping a bike. Why? I found the solution, Keep them! As for the wife, no problem. I just tell her the bikes are having sex at night and making more bikes. She just shakes her head and walks away.

droobieinop

I'm not a flipper, but feel what you're saying here...

Given the ability to do so, I would like to be able to develop a bike coop in my area. C&V bikes are great, I mean they are in the same technology obsolesance as computers and such, however not as handicapped in performance.... IMHO....

I don't want to flip for profit, but recreate(?) for all the other reasons (ie. tinkering, warm fuzzies, eye sparkle, etc.), especially spreading the love and zen of riding and wrenching.

I now have, at my disposal, a carbon racer, 2 hybrids (1 fixed, 1 in readjustment back to drops with sti brifters this time), 2 mtb (1 as project), and 2 schwinns of no real value (1 promised to a friend as a fixie).

But at the same time, currently, I tend to approach a new bike buy like a woman, does she turn me on...

(enough to make it worth the expense)?

wrk101

I just compare the new acquisition to the comparable bike in my "existing" fleet. Which ever bike is the best (best components, fits the best, whatever) is the keeper, and the other bike is sold.

So sometimes my flip purchase pushes out another bike in the fleet. Like the Lotus I picked up (which fit). It allowed me to let my Peugeot U08 go. So I made my flip profit on the U08. I did the same thing with the Univega Gran Turismo I bought. It allowed me to retire/sell the Schwinn Criss Cross. I did the same with the Trek 950 MTB: it pushed out the Trek 800 I had.

I bought all of the bikes right, so the sales price of the retired bike far exceeded the cost of the addition.

So any new bike (in my case) needs to push out an existing rider. I have plenty of bikes already, no reason/justification to grow the fleet. So I am sticking with N, rather than N+1.

mrhedges

I regret selling the nisihiki cresta i once had. Just because i could use a dedicated touring rig. we all have obsessions and if you don't need the money and have plenty of space why not right? I guess someone else could be using it instead of having it sit in your garage, but they wouldn't love it like you do, i know that feeling. My friends parents had a neighbor with a garage full of motorcycles (old Japanese ones) and he didn't even ride any of them or even know how to ride a motorcycle. that was kinda weird.

RobbieTunes

What you don't see is what is to the right of the camera view,
behind it,
to the left in the train room,
and upstairs in the garage,
or on his car rack.

Unfortunately, I'd be easily observed backing up to those doors.....