Most of the bikes I have pulled out of the trash have been trash. Missing wheels, broken spokes, broken shifters .... lots of rust ...

Mostly it looks like people bought cheap bikes (not necessarily trash bikes) but looked at the price for a new brake lever (bent or broken) or a new wheel or whatever ... $20 for the part, $40 for the labor for a $120 bike, no way. So the bike goes behind the shed until finally someone drags it to the curb, rusty and dirty and fixable pretty easily by someone who wanted to.

I made out because if I found three or four junk bikes I could make 1 1/2 or two running bikes and have parts left over.

Bikes which aren't torn up end up at yard sales, or CL nowadays.