Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
- I hope nobody takes this the wrong way, but there definitely is a demographic 'profile' to folks who have decent bikes for sale. Rich folks could not be bothered with spending a whole day to only make a few hundred dollars. Poor folks generally have nothing of interest to sell. I have been most successful in the 'hoods with a upper middle class 30's to 50's white bread demographic. Single family detached houses in deepest darkest suburbia.
- You don't have to slow down to get some key indicators of the value of a bike. If the bike is standing by itself, then it has a kickstand, and so it is worthless. Shiny steel rims - same conclusion. Don't even slow down.
- The bikes on sale are almost always junk. But these for you are a pretext to engage in conversation with the folks running the sale. Ask them if they have any "old race bikes" for sale. This is where all of my scores have been. Stuff that officially wasn't for sale, but got hauled out of the cobwebs because I could convince the owners that I was serious, had money, and that they were never going to ride this again.
- Bikes with tubular wheelsets are heavily discounted. I point out the safety risks and liability associated with selling these to someone off of the street. I will "take these off of their hands to avoid this bike falling into the wrong hands". Seriously: the risks to the seller are real.
I guess we have much different demographics.
Up here it's the 'in thing' to have a yard sale, even if you don't need the money. The rich people want to fit in, and pretend they're one of the regular people. It's amazing to see a Rolls Royce at a yard sale ($16K, I have a picture around somewhere). They also want to exercise, but can't be bothered to actually do it, and of course they need the best equipment. These are the people who have heated driveways in Maine so they don't have to plow or shovel snow, and a lot of the places on the coast are summer homes that are used for a month out of the year. One oil tycoon from OK I knew keeps a POS Ford Escort in the garage, complete with rust, just so he'll 'fit in' when he stays at the house. I was working on his coastal house at the time, when he arrived in his extended motor home (think larger than a Greyhound bus) towing the Jaguar, but needed to drive the Escort to town for some milk. Then there are the people who aren't 'as' rich, but pretend they are. It's really quite comical to see the pecking order and them trying to keep up. Mount Desert Island (Bar Harbor) is famous for this.
If the bike is standing by itself, it probably means the owner put a kickstand on it. These people can't be bothered to actually lean a bike or lay it down, and the bike they had growing up had a kickstand, so the new ones should as well. I have had people bring their bikes to me to install these kickstands, only to find out it's not possible because there are no attachment points for them.