Originally Posted by
bigvegan
Is this true Bioflamingo?
If so, I will happily send you $500 (or whatever you feel is needed) to ship a few dozen refurbished 10 speeds to L.A. for me to resell, and then send you a cut of the profits.
(Thanks to the fixie craze, and a general new interest in cycling, a generic 10 speed goes for $80-100+ even needing a tuneup and tires, refurbished bikes go for $150+ easily, and if you take off the gears and one of the chainrings and throw on a BMX freewheel and a brightly colored chain, you can get $200+ for a singlespeed.)
Let me know if you're interested. It'd cover your Taco Bell, and maybe even let you upgrade to Chipotle.
It's mainly the low end bikes that go that cheap. People have the choice of buying an old scratched Roadmaster/Schwinn/etc or a nice shiny Next. To compensate for this I have to keep prices low.
CrMo frames tend to bring quite a bit more. Just a frame/fork/headset combo brings $40+, leaving me with decent quality derailleurs and such to put on my personal collection. Single Speeds are starting to catch on around here, so I'm hoping this spring will see a huge increase in sales. We have only one LBS here that sells nothing but Trek Hybrids/Competition bikes, so when people want a quality frame to build or mid-quality components for a reasonable price they come to me.
Because of this, as tempting as your offer is, I have to decline. I love dealing with the customers, and I make enough off of each bike to buy a new bike to refurbish as well as a burrito.
Just as a side note, the main reason I like Taco Bell is because they are the only restaurant in town that has a bike rack, plus I know the owners so I sometimes get free food.