i sold my first ever flip today, it was a Shogun 300 i got from a CL seller for 20 bucks. re-sold for $140-- new tires, new cables and housings, new bar tape (i know, i know--i need some practice there) repacked hubs, carefully cleaned rims, carefully cleaned and lubed components, which are all original, afaik.

anyway its not a super high quality bike or anything, but i put alot of effort in, i learned alot, i had an excuse to buy new tools! surprisingly the BB and headset were in killer shape, so no need to do anything there. i have another old Shogun and the same seems to be the case.

not super different in the end, but here's some pics, before:





and after:






thanks for looking!

You did a nice job on that bike. I like your comment about learning a lot.
When you add up the cost of the bike, parts, and figure how many hours you put into the rebuild, then it becomes clear, most of us who flip do it for the fun and learning experience cause we sure aren't in it for the money.

thanks! and you're right on the money about the money.

+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!

right on! you almost can't think about the "labor" because it's fun to work on bikes--it's not really work per se. on the other hand, i did figure in the labor when pricing the Shogun for sale. there's got to be a minimum you'd settle for. there's a limit to what folks will pay too, so that sets the upper limit. my thing is that i hope i can make enough money off of flipping to pay for the bikes and the tools, not to nec. make a ton of money overall.

btw, interestingly--the person who bought this wanted to replace her boyfriend's fixie, which got stolen, but when she got here she told me the fixie had been found, and yet they wanted the Shogun anyway! go figure. i didn't really press her to tell me why. she's a college student in Troy NY, about 1 1/2 hours from here, so i feel like she must have had some parental money burning a hole in her pocket! i'm just glad i didn't have to wait till spring to sell it!

Good job.....and you're finding out that even if you barely broke even, you gained in time well spent. And that, my friend, is what everyone is looking for.

The blue handlebar tape must have sold it! Looks great in the picture! Goes well with the blue decals! Great display of mechanical ability, along with a creative flair!

I'm glad you're o.k. I thought I was going to read about you going over the handlebars!

Nice job on the bike. The bar tape was the topper.

I'll second that!

I've started flipping bikes recently. My first was a Schwinn Collegiate women's 5-speed that was bought for an old girlfriend. She rode it once. Bought for $30, spooned on 2 new tires at about $50, sold for $140, 9 years later. My rate of reurn pure year prolly wasn't much to brag about.

I've done great on some bikes. My last one was a Nishiki hybrid found in a dumpster. After tearing it down, I discovered that whoever owned it rode it around the world with any maintenance at all. If I get what I'm asking, I'll make about $15. That doesn't include my labor. But it was an interesting project. Keeps me away from TV.

Finishing up a Bridgestone mountain bike. What a little jewel. Whoever owned it, rode it hard and upgraded the wheels & derailuer. With it's early 90's surf dude paint job & battlescars, it looks like poopy.