Originally Posted by
Maelochs
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.
Yup. A few months back I was at my LBS when a guy showed up with a Wal Mart bike, and a really wobbly front wheel. He asks if the bike shop can repair the wheel. The mechanic takes a look at it, says no, the rim is bent, and the hub is shot, and that he needed a new wheel. How much for a new wheel? The mechanic says, about $40. The guy says, that is almost as much as I paid for the bike. Now, maybe this Wal mart bike could be repaired with parts scrounged from a bike coop, swap meet, or Craigslist, but it really makes no sense to pay bike shop prices to repair such a bike.