I called a local metal recycler to see if they had any bikes they would sell. Same thing as some posters above. Anything that comes through the doors will not leave - it is a liability for the company and they have a policy in place that prevents this.

I haven't called them all, but I'd imagine many are the same. It's a cool and romantic notion to save bikes from the scrap heap, but unless you are tied to a non-profit that has a very specific infrastructure for making it super easy for the company and getting past the liability stage, then its not really feasible for the end user.

I suppose the next best thing is to try to get to those bikes before they end up at the scrap yard