There was a '95 Rocky Mountain Equipe locally for $50 and it got scooped up before I could get there. The nice lady said the other fellow was over within 10 minutes. Granted, the ad was 5 hours old and the bike may have been a little small for this rider but I'll never know. The Cannondale I've got (see left side profile) sat around for almost a month before I bought it. No one else cared it seemed and the advertised price was very reasonable. But, even then, I shouldn't have bought it except it's just so damned difficult to find a decent xl sized bike. I think word of mouth is the way to go; asking around. Many good deals are never advertised, in bikes and everything else. Who has time to get scooped by online classified keyword flippers/hoarders who don't even ride.

Don't look now, but the guy who picked it up might have been you in an alternate timeline. C&V'ers have to be just as fast as flippers to catch deals.

Plus, there's probably someone lamenting that they missed out on that Cannondale to "some flipper," even though they had 4.9 months to scoop it up.

There will be others. Don't let the hunt get to your head.

-Kurt

P.S.: On the topic of getting there first, an open letter to all C&V'ers: Please don't drive like a maniac to get the drop on a find. Many of us on two wheels don't like getting passed at speed by agitated drivers in 2-ton Craigslist Utility Vehicles. There should be some kind of award for those who pick up their C-list finds with a cargo bike.

This thread is almost spooky, to me.

After selling all but two of my bikes, two more showed up within a day or two, cheap and in great shape.

The too small Cannondale...


And the fit's darn good Rocky Mountain Cardiac, soon to be fitted with drop bars and indexed Suntour seven speed Barcons...

Hi Kurt, I'm neither a flipper nor collector. That's the diff. I like looking at other peoples cool stuff. I've then experienced it in my own way, then can walk away and not have to deal with curating it all. When you're outside the bell curve in sizing - shoes, clothes, bikes etc., anything that comes along which works to make life easier is welcome. The Cannondale I bought was a few years ago and sat around for anyone who really wanted it. It was big, in nice shape and has a small rear wheel which means when I put a milk crate on it it lowers the load further down. Unfortunately one has to try a number of bikes to get one that really "does it" for you; fit, performance and functionality. No one bike does it all so we need multiples. When you need multiples in XL, and in decent reliable quality, it becomes a chore, and expensive. I've lost and won before it's no big deal. I just know many have been in the same situation and can empathize.

C&V'ers have to be be faster than the flippers! But only by minutes. In any race of 100, only the two striving for first mean anything.

You've flipped hundreds Randy, how would we would we have to go about it?

Sounds like running a bike co-op/museum would be just your thing. Ever thought of forming one as a 501(c)(3)?

-Kurt

I go get them before they are listed for sale on the internet. That is where the cheapies are and sometimes, the really special finds could be as close as your next door neighbor. This was a gift from the next door neighbor as were many others. Cost of bike - free. Cost to restore - about two hundred dollars CND. Sold for more...

For every bike I've "scooped", I've just as often gotten good deals several days after they were posted for sale. I bought a Colnago Master Lite that had been for sale for two weeks, at a very attractive price.

As important as it is to be fast, its just as important to have the cash in hand, and the knowledge to decipher a lousy ad with no pictures or a terrible picture. Case in point: I bought a Pinarello where the ad was just four words, "Race Bike Bad Paint" plus a price of $50. There was one picture in a dark garage of a bike in pieces on the floor. I bought it after it had been for sale for four days......

I bought a Tomassini, it had been for sale for ten days, full Dura Ace 7400, for $200. No one was willing to drive to get it (guy lived in the middle of nowhere).

Don't blame flippers/hoarders. Randy has taken the opposite approach. Instead of waiting until bikes pop up for sale, he has aggressively sought out bikes before they were for sale. My two most recent purchases were that way, an Eddy Merckx and a Litespeed. Neither was listed for sale anywhere.


As far as the big bad boogey man/flipper/hoarders out there, I have donated at least 250 bikes in the last ten years. I've donated 200 wheels this year. Randy has probably done even more. I've wheeled in refurbished bikes to the local co op and sold them before I reached the counter (proceeds to the co op). Sure, I've kept some along the way, some went to friends, some were sold for loss, some were sold at a profit.

This is soooooo true!

So what's "xl-sized" for you? I might need to know when it comes time to thin the herd.

The really special bike that I want isn't intended to be sold. I wrote a thread about a local Torpado I could have bagged with a "box o' campy" thrown in. I had zero interest in it. In fact, it was the first time I'd ever heard of Torpado - I thought it was a Tornado. It's cool, and it's nice but I just have no use for one. A terminal friend was going to give me his entire collection of stuff which took years to accumulate, worth 1000's and I couldn't take it. Even if the circumstances of him getting rid of it were positive, I still couldn't take it. It's a huge liability! All the time spent dealing with all that crap? I don't need that.

Hi there boogeyman, seeking out bikes before they are ever offered to the public was exactly what I had said (many good deals are never advertised). Good to have some confirmation. It's the way to go to minimize competition. When we say "aggressively seek out" do we mean going door to door? Forensic research? Birddogging? Deerstalker cap wearing sleuthing? Tin cup on a streetcorner holding a "will work for rare, flippable bikes" sign drawn on cardboard? Spill!

You're darn right it does but I do it in a respectful and accepted way. Have a look at How To Find Vintage Bicycles and the method there, that addresses the above quote looks like this...


In winter (a serious thing in Canada), I get up early, deliver 200 flyers to mail boxes (the kind at one's front door) and by the time I get home, the incoming calls have begun (this was before I had a cell phone). This method has worked every single time that I have used it and I got a bit of exercise tromping through the snow to do it.

Do I find bikes using my in the field methods? Hundreds, to say the least. Start at this page and, following offered links, let it show you about one quarter of what I have found for little or even no cash outlay.

Randy, sorry to take this off topic for a moment, but what brand stem is on that Torpado? Can't make it out, and I know it's not a Pivo. Would like to find something similar for my Bottecchia.

-Kurt

Carnielli, commonly issued on Bottecchia Special road bikes. And, one of my favorite stems, from a vintage appeal point of view...

It's interesting and sometimes entertaining watching the local flippers at work. Here is some action from the last week.

The Bianchi is a bike which was advertised for $100. Reasonable to assume the flipper probably got the bike down to $70. Repriced 36 hours later for $350.

First picture from the original ad. Second from the flippers.

Next, we have a Miele of some type. Great price (I think) at $75. I could have bought that bike as I spoke with the guy on the phone before anyone else. Perhaps someone put Dura-Ace on it and I could use those parts. But if I did end up buying it (with no Dura-ace), what would I do with it now? Maybe he had some bike tools I could use (like that oddball TA-230 Suntour BB cup remover for the Lee World) but no luck.

First picture original ad. Second, the flippers; at $450. I like the forlorn humour that flipper "Travis" uses. It's like he's saying goodbye to an old friend he's ridden for decades. And "earlier this summer". As in, 24 hours ago in my basement.

Who knows, maybe some of these flip artists are BF members? I'm not excoriating flippers, or condoning them.

Does it have to be a cargo bike?



That's a Rossin Ghibli disguised as an "American Classic" on the rack of that Trek. I rode about ten miles to look at it, with cash in my pocket. It had been up on CL for 27 days, with no interest. Busy, and in an obviously vain attempt to curb my addiction, I'd eschewed perusing CL. I was not at all sure it was anything from the CL post. I was looking for a new beater bike to replace that Trek and its aluminum fork which had torn up my shoulder. I did see some fluting in the photo, and the Ergo brifters, and the "Campagnolo Equipped" sticker, but I was not expecting a Ghibli. I don't even know if the owner knew it was a Rossin. In an effort to stem my acquisition of bicycles, I had made a rule that I had to pick up the bike myself, without the use of a motorized vehicle. I did not really feel the ten mile ride home.

Doesn't matter what it is, so long as the pickup and trip in is with a bike. You win.

I've done something similar on a Benotto...don't recall if I have photos of that.

-Kurt

The Mieles are not the same bike, look at the head tube length between the 2 pics. Travis's bike is a 21" frame and the $75 dolar bike is a 23".

Possibly Travis bought the other bike since it had the larger frame he needed and is selling the smaller one to finance the repairs and upgrades for the other but they are definitely not the same bike.

Possibly. It could be the other Miele that was offered for $100 about 4-5 days after the 1st one I'd mentioned in the picture. Too much of a coincidence to have 3 identical in colour and fork come up at the same time, one for 100, the other 75 and then one for 450. In fact, I bought a bike from the guy with the 100 dollar Miele, this Renegade. I wasn't interested in the Miele or the Raleigh he had.

I wanted to go and try this bike out, to buy and use, but it has fallen prey to yet another flipper. 36 hours after being first advertised (for $100), here it is for $350. It might have been a little too small judging by the new photos in the flippers ad; the original sellers pictures were difficult to determine size.

https://www.kijiji.ca/o-profile/39503214/listings/1