Have no idea what it's worth but I picked up a 1990 (based on crank date codes) Nishiki Colorado MTB at a garage sale this morning. 7-speed STI thumb, Exage components. Maybe I can flip for some profit, or it might work out for my 10yo son as it's an 18.5" frame. Note the price in the inset (I couldn't leave it for that! :)):

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ekhatfull/...kicolorado.jpg

Needs cables, tires, and saddle, and the requisite clean and tune. But, rides pretty smooth as is, should be nice for someone.

I haven't found out much about it...anyone have some insight into Nishikidom?

Even at $5, you might regret trying to make a buck on this one. :) It is a decent quality bike and will make someone a nice ride, but I'll be surprised if you can get more than $60-$80 for it after it's all cleaned up and tuned. Unless it is rare or collectible, a rigid frame mtb just doesn't bring much, at least around here - and I'm in a hot bike market.

I just bagged a clean late 80's/early 90's Giant Sedona for $35 on CL, and it had been there a few days. I cleaned and tuned it, and am passing it on to a friend for what I paid for it so he can drag his son around on a tag-along. If he didn't need it, I'd strip the drive train off and drop it onto a small framed road bike for the local coed contingent - they love small road bikes with lots of hill-taming gears around here. :)

I had thought of that too. We'll see what I have to put into it...tires will be the most expensive, and good looking tires are a big selling point IMHO. Saddle can come from the co-op. Heck, might even find tires for that matter.

Rgeardless, it wasn't staying for $5. If anything, I could end up with a use for the 48/38/28 Biopace rings. I could part it out I suppose.

Oh - absolutely. For $5, it is a no-brainer. I didn't mean to imply otherwise - it is more than worth the fin for the parts. That's how I ended up with the Giant I mentioned. I had no use for it at the time, and did not know of my friend's need for a tow bike. I just wasn't going to let a clean bike go by for that kind of dough. It's a disease. :)

Flipping it for profit, however, will largely depend on how you valuate your billable consultant hours. :D.

Why can't I ever find $5 bikes?... Definitely hard to turn away from a decent bike at that price.

I found this Giant Iguana on CL a couple weeks ago for $10. I think it's about an 89-90 year.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...t/IMG_2512.jpg

It was dirty and needed a good tune, and was a little small for me. The price was OK though. I tuned it up and cleaned it, as well as putting on some decent tires. It rides real good, probably better than the dept. store bikes of today.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...t/IMG_2528.jpg

I have put a couple hundred miles on it towing my kids trail-a-bike, as well as running errands with it. I hate to sayit, but since the last photo, I robbed the handlebars,stem, and shifter for another CL find that I will use as a commuter for awhile. I'll probably install the take-off parts from the other bike and then sell this.

Aluminum isnt my thing, but for $35 at a yard sale it is. I actually picked this up two months ago along with a Reynolds tubed Trek 715, but I'm just now getting around to looking at them.

1993 Giant Cadex ALR1
Campagnolo Shamal low spoke count wheels horrible out of true (i wonder why)
the rest is all shimano 105. Indexed dt shifters which I think are kinda cool.

http://static.pixelpipe.com/4ec5eedf...aec63974_m.jpg

http://static.pixelpipe.com/6e91d8c7...c8433e60_m.jpg

http://static.pixelpipe.com/bd97609e...8ad27d9a_m.jpg

That Cadex is pretty sharp! Never seen one of those.,,,,BD

A Bottecchia with a messed up white spray job. I'm considering powdercoating it burgandy and installing bar end shifters / 8 or 9 speed for a coworker. The couple Campy bits should help defray the cost. I may trade out the DA wheels to my Cilo for the low end cassette 8/9 wheels.

The bike has Columbus Chromor stickers - and is probably an 85 year model. Does anyone have more info?

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/2858/dscn0380g.jpg
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/9214/dscn0381j.jpg

Snagged this '72 Raleigh Super Course today -
It had been masquerading as a Schwinn 10-speed in the local CL.

Nervex lugs, nice paint, 1st gen DuraAce, Huret Challenger, and Weinmann concaves.
(I posted a few more pics in the "Show us your Raleigh Super Course" thread.)

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...Nervex003a.jpg

Well... now I just need a Jubilee rear dérailleur to match the front dérailleur I have.

:)

The inner cage plate looks pretty rough but should clean up nicely and make it even lighter than it already is.

Picked up a bunch of bikes this week, seven of them. No camera right now, I will post pics later. Today's find was three mid 1970s Nishiki Internationals, all cromoly frames, alloy wheels, three piece alloy cranksets, and a lower end Cresent mixte. All four bikes have bluemel aluminum fenders, and other extras. Package deal, price was right. Yesterday I picked up a 1984 Fuji Royale II basketcase, with the gold Araya wheelset. Also a modern leather Fuji saddle with Ti rails. It looks good on my 1995 Roubaix.

The other pickups this week were a 2003 Giant OCR2 frameset, and a Japanese built Mongoose MTB donor bike (needed some parts).

Now I need to arrange additional storage and get some projects done....

The cadex bikes are an aluminum/Carbon mix. I'm pretty sure the main tubes are carbon
.

There were aluminum models as well, I think this is one of 'em. All the carbon ones I saw had the weave showing.

This is a ALR 1, a carbon one would be a CFR something depending on spec.

American eagle find...
 

Picked up this american eagle bike today 75$ complete don't know what year it is though
serial is KS64613. parts look like in great shape same with frame. using parts for repaint of a nishiki safari i did.

Some pics of this weekend's finds. All need work, but four out of the five should clean up well.

Concord mixte:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/...b2122eb4_b.jpg

Nishiki International #1:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/...4f20c8dc_b.jpg

Nishiki International #2:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/...c45b284b_b.jpg

Nishiki International #3 (will probably be a donor bike for the Concord):

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/...1150871a_b.jpg

And a 1984 Fuji Royale II (quad butted version, with gold alloy Araya rims):

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/...131ec082_b.jpg

khatfull and bigbossman, I dunno, I get $150 to $200 for basic mtb's. People who want them as basic transportation buy them.

Its all about your market. Around here, older LBS branded MTBs go for $100 to $125, anything over that mark has to be something really special. By the time you put tires, tubes, cables, and a couple of hours labor into one, you are upside down on your investment around here. Buyers want racing/road bikes. Hybrids and MTBs just don't get any respect.

The only way I have been able to make anything on MTBs is by careful use of donors: donor bike tires, tubes, seats, pedals, etc.

The greater NYC metro market is a lot different/better than the mountains of NC.

On the other hand, I can usually find bikes at lower pricing too, so it kind of evens out.

You're correct; http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...93&Brand=Giant

+1 on the MTB pricing in my locale too. Generally not worth the bother.

- But what I really wanted to say was, good work on snagging all that Nishiki-Fuji flipper fodder !

I've got one. PM me?,,,,BD

Two of these things belong together, two of these things are kind of the same... but one is just pretending to be high end.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...campyhuret.JPG

The Crane rear d is in really nice shape...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/crane2.JPG

My pockets aren't quite deep enough for that right now... thought I might find the mate to the front d at the coop but only found that Shimano Crane languishing in the bottom of a box.

How about the Giant OCR frame?

Here it is, occupying the living room couch. Ran out of room in the workshop and the garage....

The line you see vertically down the head tube is a rubber band holding the fork in place.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/...535da80f_b.jpg

Sixty Fiver, I have a Gran Turismo that matches your front derailleur. You interested? That front matched either then Gran Turismo or the Valentino. I had it on my bike for a few months, and I've had enough fun with it now. It's not as horrible as people said. It weighs about a pound, and I imagine it will never wear out.

wrk101, if the difference is our markets, then no, it doesn't even out. I am able to make a profit on an MTB, whereas you say you can't. I have zillions of knobby tires in decent shape, so there's no cost to re-tiring the bikes to me.