Originally Posted by
wrk101
While I have found my share of nice bikes at thrift stores over the years, they last a couple of nanoseconds. So unless you are extremely lucky, or make camping out at thrift stores a full time job, you probably will not find one. Before the economy turned to crap, it was a lot easier to find them. But since then, the thrift stores, garage sales, church sales, etc., are mobbed by pickers, looking for anything to turn a buck.
+1 Not only that, but the thrifts (in the Detroit area) have increased their bike prices commensurate with demand, and in a very short timeframe. In 2008, when I first discovered bikes and this forum, I found at Salvation Army a LeTour and a Suburban, each for under $40, which even then seemed high. Now the department store gas-pipe brands are priced at $70-$80; last month a Raleigh Technium was $140.