The whole bike market has been dead this winter, not a single email or looker on anything. I've even put up a few super cheap deals but not so much as a bite.
What I do find is that no matter what you list a bike for, they low ball you at less than half your price. I listed a Panasonic DX2000 in a common 23" frame in near mint shape for $100, the best offer I got was $25. I had more than that in tires, cables and my time. I pulled the ad, relisted it at $250, it sat on CL all last summer. I got three emails, all offering half of what I listed it at. I re-shot the pics, with a different background, and listed it on Philly CL for $350. It sold that night for $300 cash. Better yet, the guy who bought the Panasonic also bought a small frame Raleigh Rampar for $100 for his wife.
I gave up listing anything in my area, there doesn't seem to be any buyers here at all, and when there are, they don't have any cash.
Every buyer I've sold to in the past 18 years has come at least 50 miles, some over 300 miles to buy a bike. There are no real bikes shops left here. The few that are left only 'sell' bikes and they sell department store grade bikes at that. But I suppose its what sells here. I had a guy email me about building a set of wheels for a bike he's restoring, he dropped off the rims and hubs he bought online last weekend. He said he went to 13 bikes shops but no one would build a set of wheels for him. They either told him they don't have time, or they don't know how.
I put his wheels together the other day, he picked them up the next evening in amazement that they were so perfectly round. He went on about how he took a pair of wheels to a guy up north to get them respoked and got back a set of wheels worse than what he dropped off.
The hardest thing to sell here is small bikes, they all want giant size frames, nor for a proper fit but for the 'look'. I sold a bike to a guy 5ft2in tall that was so big he needed a milk crate to get on the bike, he had me install a rear rack so he could carry the crate so he could get on and off the bike. I get requests for things like white wall tires, colored spokes, custom chrome bits, banana seats on big bikes, and all sorts of odd horns and lighting. I sold a 27" Shogun 10 speed to a guy who mounted a 12v car battery on the back rack and ran neon lighting all over the frame and forks. The last time I saw the bike he wanted me to find a way to mount the shifters on high rise handlebars out by the grips. He paid me $50 to mount a pair of thumb shifters and run new extra long cables. (On a 27" frame, 27" wheel Shogun in bright red with a white banana seat and hi rise handle bars with blue tires).
I sold a super nice Gitane Interclub in a 21" frame a while back, the bike had perfect decals, perfect paint, and original wheels and tires. The thing was spotless and looked like it came off the showroom floor. The guy who bought it removed the wheels, put on a pair of steel 27" clincher rims and cheap gumwall tires with a coaster brake hub. He then painted the whole bike with brown latex house paint. It looked like it was dipped in a cesspool when he was done. He's bought three bikes from me over the past few years and done the same thing to everyone of them. Bikes with house paint are pretty common here for some reason. I've passed on many decent bikes that were bathed in cheap paint. I've got a complete 25" Raleigh International hanging in the shed that someone camouflaged with spray paint, they painted the Brooks saddle, tires, chain, cranks, everything.
I bought a Nishiki International with a set of chopper springer forks and a 20" front wheel complete with a banana seat on it at an auction last year for $10. If I find an original fork its fixable as the paint is decent. I sold the chrome springer fork for $50 on CL.
I stopped at a local diner the other day and couldn't help but notice that someone had chained their bike to a pole in the parking lot. However, someone took the time to fold it completely around the pole till the front wheel touched the rear wheel. It was a late 70's Motobecane Grand Jubilee painted with a brush in zebra stripes. They painted every thing but where the decals were.
40 years ago this was a big area for road bikes, there were a half dozen good dealers, thousands of bikes on the road, local rides, clubs, and a ton of vintage bikes around for sale. Back then I could sell as many bikes as I could get hold of. Those days are long gone. Things slowed down in the 90's, then died completely by 2005 or so. There was a point where you could go to the annual police auctions and buy two dozen bikes cheap, now they don't often even have bikes there. Kids don't own or have bikes, when they do, its usually cheap Walmart BMX junk.
Goodwill never has bikes here, I've got a friend who works there and she said they haven't had a bike donated in years. The only source is yardsales and fleamarkets.