Thunder Bay has a stable population of about 120,000 people, however; there are lots of smaller towns dotting the map all over northwestern Ontario and the bicycles flow from those towns also. The annually found number of vintage bicycles is dropping, that's for sure. I have probably taken 2000 vintage road bicycles out of Thunder Bay (TB), in the past ten years. 500+ of those bikes now live in other parts of the world and about 60 are still hanging in The Old Shed. My own personal collection fluctuates between twelve and sixteen bicycles, as a rule.

However, remember one fundamental fact - approximately the same number of bicycles were sold, each year, in Thunder Bay. Today sees about 5000 bicycles, of all shapes, sizes and quality levels, sold annually in TB. That means that lots will come available, for trash or whatever, in years to come. My guess is the bikes will not run out before I do. However...

What is getting pitched away at the Dump is changing. Fewer antiques, roadsters and old road bicycles, find their way there these days. Lots of eighties, nineties and later mountain bikes, with lots of full suspension pieces of poo-poo showing up. And, before long, we will see the department store, full suspension, disc brake babies begin to show, adding themselves to the growing dung heap. New department store bicycles are very poorly made, in my opinion.

That all said, so far this year, the Dump has coughed up about a dozen higher end, to top or the line vintage road bicycles. And one, even though I have it listed on Ebay, my Motobecane Grand Jubilee, is really a keeper and I do hope to keep it. But I am a Flipper, so I will cast my Motobé line into the sea and see what bites.

Yup, that's the formula all right, however; is it pretty hard to do the volume thing, when something is not offered in volume quantities. And, unless I am offering a bicycle "as found", there is no way I can do what needs to be done to a bicycle in two hours. Think about the process and cram what follows into a two hour block of time...

Time to find the bike must be included in one's how much time spent formula (how much time do forum members invest in the search - every day on Craigslist, a bit of time on Ebay a look at the local newspaper, following word of mouth trails, etc and many times with absolutely no reward). To that add the time to go get the bike, transport it home, clean it up (or not), take pictures, prepare those pictures for internet use, write listing copy, answer emails, show the bicycle, and finally let it go to a new home. There is no way I could do that in two hours.

To that, add this...

Not every buyer wants a bicycle, someone else has prepared, or rebuilt, or restored. Lots of people, just like those of us who post on this forum, want to do the work themselves, expressing their own creativity and or sense of ownership in their own way. Selling a bicycle "as found", to those people, is doing what they want. There is nothing wrong with that, as far as I am concerned.

Finally, not all potential vintage bicycle owners have any idea of how to start owning and riding a vintage bicycle. I honestly believe that I am offering a much wanted service, to people who need help getting started. I find vintage bicycles. I clean, refurbish and restore those bikes. I sell them to others, who want the bikes and can afford to purchase them. And, I help to give about 1000 bicycles away, each year, to people who really need what those bikes have to offer.

I am a bicycle flipper and happy to be one. In fact, I am a Super Flipper. I hope that doesn't make me super annoying;-(