Raleigh Rampar - Is this a good deal
 

saw this on CL tonight. I'm just starting to try and find bikes to fix up to either flip or to use as an extra bike for me. Was wondering if this is a decent deal?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst...589362865.html

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Selling my 10 speed Rampar (Raleigh) vintage bicycle / bike. I'm 5'10" and the bike has an adjustable seat if you're a bit taller. I bought this a year ago when I moved to LA and now that I'm moving to Chicago (SNOW!) no longer need it. It's a good bike. Good condition... some rust on gears but rides great. I'm also selling my Kryptonite Evolution bike lock which I bought at a custom bike shop for $65 but you can buy at Amazon for $40.. Selling it for $25 with the bike (it's a little faded by the sun). SO if you want the bike AND the lock, it's a total of $100 square.

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For a flip, you can pretty much assume since it is still available, its a lousy choice. Stem shifters, nutted axles, Rampar = pass.

Only two types of bikes typically can be flipped off CL:

1. One with a terrible ad, no pic, no details, no info.

2. Scoop bikes, ones with decent ads where you have to move lightning fast, like within ten or fifteen minutes of the ad being posted.

To make it as a flipper, you need to have enough knowledge that you can easily spot a deal, and the flexibility to move fasts, any day, any time.

There are many flippers out there already, and they know their stuff.

thanks for the help.

i gotta try and start somewhere

I passed on a R-1 Rampar at $30, and it was in reasonable shape.

Start by educating yourself, on how to spot a good bike, and what is the market value of such bikes. Then pounce when you see a deal. Deals don't last long enough to ask "hey is this one a good deal?" While you are asking, if its a good deal, someone else is grabbing it. And of course, you need the tools/time/aptitude/knowledge to fix and repair the bikes yourself (paying to have them repaired will reduce your "profit" to a "loss".)

You really have the cart ahead of the horse. Study now, buy later. To make decent money on flips, you need to be able to decide in about 15 seconds whether a bike is a deal or not. While others are pondering, you will be buying (or walking away....)

The best deals tend to not be on C/L or ebay, if they are, they don't last long. Better deals are found at thrift stores, garage sales, word of mouth, neighbors, and so on. Even then, the deals do not last. Around here, great garage sale deals last an hour or less. Great thrift store deals last maybe a minute, no joke. With the economy as bad as it is right now, there are more people than ever before looking to flip stuff. Went to a garage sale this morning, got there an hour early, they had three bikes, all duds, and scoopers were grabbing them as I walked in.......

I just flipped a clarinet this morning. I look for deals, on pretty much anything. I don't know anything about clarinets, but I can recognize a deal.

Appreciate the tips!

i've taken some classes on bike repair, so feel pretty confident on most basic work on the bike. just trying to learn what's worth picking up at what cost. also want to pick some up at cheap prices basically to practice repairs on.

When you look at craigslist bike pics, at a glance, lower end bikes tend to have stem shifters, reflectors, huge saddles, big pie plate spoke protectors, and "suicide" brake levers (extension levers under the handle bar near the stem). The higher end bikes tend not to have those attributes. So, as a potential "flipper", you are looking for bikes with downtube shifters, no reflectors, "race" type saddles, no pie plates or suicide levers. For a low price. Plus you must then determine if it really is a nice bike, some low end bikes appear to be nicer than they are. And some nice bikes may have low end details. It does take a while to know what to look for.

thanks for those suggestions. really helpful.

i did pick up this peugeot at a garage sale this morning for $5. figure it's a good one for me to do some basic work on to practice. especially since it didn't cost much. but i do notice that it broke some of your suggestions

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6081/...6c70565f7c.jpg

well for 5 bucks you can't go wrong. That's a good bike to clean up and tune up, and either flip for a small profit or hold on to it, until a friend or relative needs a basic bike, you just give it to them, no worries.

+1 Don't worry about "rules" at the $5 price point. My first flip was a Giant Rincon MTB. Picked it up at a garage sale for $10, fixed the flat tire ($3 tube), cleaned it up, trued the wheels, and sold it two days later for $100. A week later, I picked up a Schwinn Criss Cross at a garage sale for $10. Did the same stuff, sold it for $125. Used that money to buy a few decent tools, and fund some additional pickups.

In a market like LA, you should be able to get $125 out of that bike, once it is cleaned up and ready to go. Over time, you will probably move up the food chain from there, but that's a great place to start.

Oh yeah, and I broke my cardinal rule today: "no mountain bikes". I just couldn't pass up a modern Gary Fisher, that needed some work, at an attractive price.

While vintage MTBs have minimal value around here, the modern ones sell for decent $$.

+1 To below, more bikes than just the C & V bikes make good flips. On the vintage front, MTBs bring very little, so that's one reason I avoid them. But newer MTBs do fine.

For flipping don't limit yourself to C and V bikes. I have made some good cash on modern MTB's that were slightly damaged so unbike-educated people sell them for very cheap.

For 5 bucks, I even buy them from the scrap guy. If you get one part for a repair, it's worth it. Keep a bin with scrap metal of all the broken/un-salvageable parts and make a few bucks off of that.

What I try and do is add the purchase price of the bike + parts needed for repair and if that is more than half of what I can sell it for, I pass.

IE:
bike- $50
parts (tires/tubes/cables/etc)- $50
100 dollar investment

If I can't get 200 for it, I pass.

That way there is some wiggle room for cost overruns or not being able to sell it for what I estimated.

Remember to look for the bike to part out if you have the time. I have bought numerous bikes that were cheap just for the saddle or cranks which sold by themselves for more than the bike cost.
Occasionally I have bought high priced but undervalued bikes for a part out but you need to be able to tie up the cash for awhile. Bought a fixed gear for $550 which sold for $1000 in parts, mostly frame, wheels and crankset.