Is it "your" bike if you're flipping it?
01-23-09, 04:31 PM
#1
You gonna eat that?
Thread Starter
Is it "your" bike if you're flipping it?
I just picked up a couple of cheapies with the intent of flipping them. They're not bikes I could ride anyway since they are too small. I guess I have custodianship of the bikes while they are in my car, but they just don't feel like mine. (They are the first two bikes I bought with the clear intent of flipping them.) Does this sound familiar to other people who fix & sell bikes?
I guess maybe these are "foster bikes."
I guess maybe these are "foster bikes."
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I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi 
"However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
01-23-09, 04:37 PM
#2
Thrifty Bill
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As Dolly Parton said to Johnny Carson years ago when he asked whether certain attributes she has were really hers, she told him: "they're mine, bought and paid for".
So as long as the flip bikes are in my possession, you bet, they are mine, bought and paid for. And you should take pride in resurrecting a bike from a neglected state, to a nice ready to ride machine.
Once you go through your first dozen or more, you will become more accustomed to such "short term" ownership,
So as long as the flip bikes are in my possession, you bet, they are mine, bought and paid for. And you should take pride in resurrecting a bike from a neglected state, to a nice ready to ride machine.
Once you go through your first dozen or more, you will become more accustomed to such "short term" ownership,
01-23-09, 05:39 PM
#3
Really Old Senior Member
I feel a difference between bikes I "own" and MY bikes.
I have 2 that are my bikes. Any additional are bikes I own and might be out the door on the 1st reasonable offer.
My former bike #2 just became one I own when I found a different bike I liked better.
My #1 bike isn't that special (except being an 86 RockHopper) but I've "tweaked" all the drive train parts to fit my best use within my budget constraints. It's kind of like an old wife. Maybe not the best, but too much time invested to change.
I have 2 that are my bikes. Any additional are bikes I own and might be out the door on the 1st reasonable offer.
My former bike #2 just became one I own when I found a different bike I liked better.
My #1 bike isn't that special (except being an 86 RockHopper) but I've "tweaked" all the drive train parts to fit my best use within my budget constraints. It's kind of like an old wife. Maybe not the best, but too much time invested to change.
Last edited by Bill Kapaun; 01-23-09 at 06:34 PM.
01-23-09, 05:57 PM
#4
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I just picked up a couple of cheapies with the intent of flipping them. They're not bikes I could ride anyway since they are too small. I guess I have custodianship of the bikes while they are in my car, but they just don't feel like mine. (They are the first two bikes I bought with the clear intent of flipping them.) Does this sound familiar to other people who fix & sell bikes?
I guess maybe these are "foster bikes."
I guess maybe these are "foster bikes."
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01-23-09, 07:14 PM
#5
Crawlin' up, flyin' down
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You paid for them with money out of your wallet. They are taking up room in your garage, apartment, or wherever. When the wrench slips and you smash your hand and/or fingers into something sharp and/or hard, it will be your blood that flows and your Anglo-Saxon vocabulary that will get exercised. The money they generate when you sell them will go back into your wallet.
They're yours.
They're yours.
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"I'm in shape -- round is a shape." Andy Rooney
"I'm in shape -- round is a shape." Andy Rooney
01-23-09, 07:20 PM
#6
You gonna eat that?
Thread Starter
Actually, I cuss in Polish sometimes. But yeah, I get it.
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I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
01-23-09, 07:31 PM
#7
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For some reason an Archie Bunker quote popped in my mind when I saw this thread..."you can't buy beer, you can only rent it". Wow! Everything is just 
through!
through!
01-23-09, 07:33 PM
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Ooops, typo! That's "Everything is just passing thru!"
01-23-09, 07:45 PM
#9
Crawlin' up, flyin' down
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01-24-09, 12:23 AM
#10
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Sure they are. My first flip was also an english 3 speed, and I felt very happy and proud of "my" bike when I saw how excited the new owner was. It don't think most of us would be flipping bikes if we did not feel a connection to the bike itself. You may feel that connection develop when you start tearing into it.
Matt
Matt
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01-24-09, 07:50 AM
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They are like homeless, neglected, and sometimes abandoned
Children. I take them in, give them a lot of care and attention.
I try my best to find them a new home where someone will take
care of them and give the love they deserve.
JohnnyBee.
Children. I take them in, give them a lot of care and attention.
I try my best to find them a new home where someone will take
care of them and give the love they deserve.
JohnnyBee.
01-24-09, 10:20 AM
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Talk about anthropormorphizing. But I do feel the same way, and I have a garageful of bikes that could never be "my" bikes because they are too small, and I purchased them only to flip. But now they've stayed in my possession long enough that I hate to see them go to just anyone.
01-24-09, 10:33 AM
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I've got to say, I have about 4 bikes to which I am really attached. But i have another 7-8 bikes in my basement that are stock. I don't mean stock, like unmodified. I mean it like stock that gets put on shelves in a store. I buy them cheap, fix them up, restore them to their former glory, and then sell them for less than they are worth so that someone else can enjoy vintage bikes.
01-24-09, 10:48 AM
#14
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I still talk about them like they are my bike after the are gone.
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|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| ||
|......GO.BROWNS........| ||'|";, ___.
|_..._..._______===|=||_|__|..., ] -
"(@)'(@)"""''"**|(@)(@)*****''(@)
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| ||
|......GO.BROWNS........| ||'|";, ___.
|_..._..._______===|=||_|__|..., ] -
"(@)'(@)"""''"**|(@)(@)*****''(@)
01-24-09, 11:01 AM
#15
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Most of us that flip bikes take great care to revive a tired old bike into a safe, working bike that will be useful to someone. However, we have a couple of CL spammers that are like puppy mills; they have junky bikes that they try puffing up to get ridiculous prices out of them, then repost every two days for the last three months. They are not roadworthy, yet the seller asks too much for them. I suspect the bikes are either auction lot purchases or hot.
geek
geek
