+1 I do it for fun.

However, I also occasionally find a "sweet" deal, where I either end up keeping the bike (and then bumping one out of the fleet and making money on that one), or fixing it up and doing pretty well.

A couple of examples:
1. I replaced the Iron Horse Outlaw (high ten steel frame) that I picked up for $11 (and which only required a cleaning) with the $30 Trek 950 frame (True Temper Cromoly) and q $5 donor bike that supplied the missing components. The sweet deal here was the $5 donor, not the Iron Horse or even the Trek frame, but it was kind of a sweet deal too. I sold the Outlaw for $110. So I am up a "net" $64 and I have a nice Trek 950 and a lot of parts from the $5 donor left.

2. I replaced a really nice U08 that I sold for $250 with the $16 Lotus. And the Lotus fits (the UO8 didn't), and the Lotus has 700cm wheels, Tange 1 frame, and nice components.


Its kind of nice having a decent selection of bikes, that were paid for by other flips.


But I have put many, many hours into scouring thrift stores, etc., and coming up dry 99% of the time. So if I looked for a wage for all of my cleanup/repair time, PLUS my search time (trolling thrift stores, garage sales and so on), I am probably down to $2/hour or less. Probably a lot less....

So I guess I am right back to doing it because you enjoy it!! Which is a pretty decent reason too!