Originally Posted by
highhung723
I don't get really agitated with these sellers, but it's understandable if someone else does. These sellers are misusing CL by overposting, which is kind of tacky since CL is free to begin with. When they sell, they're ripping people off.
I got into biking partly for health reasons (both for me and the environment). I would imagine that someone more passionate about the environment would be disappointed that bikes are being stored when they can just as easily be ridden on the road. This pertains mostly to commuters and low end bikes since an average Joe who decides to switch from car to bike isn't going to be reaching for a Paramount.
As far as I can tell, they aren't ripping anyone off, because the bikes never sell. And I've done enough refurbishing to know I have little to no interest to enter into indentured servitude to provide bikes to the average Joe's of the world. They have several options: educate themselves about bicycles and take some time searching for a quality bicycle, locate a cheap bicycling and rehab it themselves, or suck it up and buy an entry level bicycle from the LBS. I won't touch half of those bikes the spammers market, because I know the work and money I put into it won't be rewarded. That's fine if someone does this very thing for charity work, and I admire it, but I'm not going to do it. And I don't blame these CL spammers for not doing it either. I steer clear of them. It's not that hard for others to do that as well.