Dolphin.
Mahi Mahi (Dolphin Fish)
looks like this:

and impressive caught on fly.

This was sorely neglected and in the middle of nowhere Upstate. Fun detour to pick it up coming back from Ithaca. Fun to take the whole thing apart and make it shiny and smooth-spinning. Fun to sell it for way more than I could spend on a bike for myself!

Thanks... It's a foreclosure, and everything is nuts!!! Nobody seems to know what the rules are anymore... I could get the deal of the century, or I could be left out in the cold. Bikes make much more sense.

I make a trip back east each year... nothing is impossible.

Nope, that is how they came. Otherwise it would have a short little back, and wouldn't stop a single splash.,,,,BD

I flipped about 40 bikes last year and about half of them were English 3 speeds.
I pays to focus on one thing. I had a buddy years ago who did just air cooled VWs. There's a guy here in town who does Vespas.
I bought every 3 speed that came up on CL for less than $50. If it was ugly, it went to the back of the pile and I picked parts off of it. If it was pretty, I fixed it up and sold it.
I got to where I could clean and lube and tune a bike in under 3 hours and they'd sell for $100-$150 (I'd have made more if I were living closer to Boston). I never had to buy any parts, there was always something in the pile. I was confident in my product, that's important to me. I had personally checked all the bearings and everything. The bike was good for another 50 years if the buyer took care of it.
And, of course, I skimmed the best parts for my personal ride!

That's great. I like the sound of that strategy. I seem to be gravitating to the 80's and 90's derailleur bikes with steel frames. I do spend some money on parts but not an amount that seems bad. I like the way you don't have to buy any. I suppose you do buy things like tires and brake pads, though, right?

Do you take apart the rear hubs to any degree? It's not terribly hard to repack the wheel bearings without fussing with the planet gear system.

I have a nice looking Falcon and a similar Windsor, and I think I'll convert one of them to fixie to sell, to see how well the concept goes over in this area. I don't see as many in these suburbs as I see in the city.

The Falcon is a 24" frame, and the Windsor, so I guess the Windsor is the better candidate.

I use to do fixed gear conversions, but stopped because they were not worth the small profit when I had to spend much more to build them. For me I won't do it ghetto and always used a real set of flip/flop track wheels and always with a front brake. I normally sold them for $250-350, but often had $200+ into building one of them. During the time I was building them a few summers ago Bikeisland was selling complete track wheelsets with tires, tubes, cog, and lockring for $120 shipped. I think the closest thing they have no is at least $20+ more. I personally found it easier and more profittable to just fix them up stock or part them out to someone that wants to build their own fixed gear.

And as part of the thread here are the last three complete bikes I have sold.

Late 80's Miele Doral sold for $300


1980 Schwinn Traveler sold for $160


85' PH501 sold for $225

Here are a few more. . .

85 Fuji Sagres



74 Raleigh Record



80's Miyata Sport



Concorde Freedom 12 Deluxe

I had to buy some tires at first but as the stack grew, there always seemed to be enough to go around. I got pretty religious about raiding the dumpster behind the LBS, too. That guy sold tires to everyone who came through the door, whether they needed them or not. Lots of good tires in there. I put them on my bike and rode them around a while, just to be sure.
I didn't take apart the rear hubs, just oiled them real good and put a few miles on them and figured I may have to do a free replacement some day. It never happened, though. Early on there was one with a busted part where the index chain screwed in, inside the hub. I paid another LBS $35 to fix it. didn't make much on that bike.

Flipping bikes to resell is sort of like breeding dogs to sell the puppies, sometimes you just end up accumulating puppies.
Working on my pruning list.

Do you folks offer guarantees?

I don't. I'm upfront with the buyer and very flexible with negotiations. My bikes usually sell fast despite my remote location. I usually offer excellent 'customer service' such as: good advice on parts/repair, incentives for return customers, bulk discounts, and if it's convenient for me, cheap or free repair (depends on the circumstance).

Since most of what I sell, sells inexpensively enough that it could be flipped for a profit by the new owner, I don't do returns. Come to think of it... I've only ever had one customer ask for a return, and he was trying to scam me.

Nothing official really, but I tell everybody I sell a bike to that if anything breaks or if they need help tuning or adjusting I would be more than happy to help. I would love to see some of those bikes again as I often suffer from seller's remorse but I have never heard back from anybody... I guess that's good though right?

To somewhat hijack your question...Anybody have any major regrets? I had a beautiful Sunset Orange '73 Super Sport in my size that had a stuck seat post I battled and battled with and finally sold cheap because I was frustrated...I hope to see that one come back some day (and I've contacted the buyer to let him know if he ever grows tired of it I'll buy it back from him).

(right after I bought it for $15...luckily somebody had swapped out the crumby old brooks saddle it came with but thankfully left me the original front tire...sigh)

I have only started selling... I have been collecting for years. I see no reason to offer returns. I am upfront with the condition and I ask questions of the prospective buyers. If they are satisfied at the time they hand over the cash, they are the new owners of the bike. If they realize that they missed something... too bad. I don't hide anything. I haven't gotten any requests for a refund, and I never expect to. CL is not a store, it is an "as is" public market place. Don't give your money to anyone unless you are satisfied with the item.

I have never asked for a refund for something that I have purchased. That part of the deal should be worked out before the cash moves. Are there guarantees in life? No.

From around 2007 to Summer of 2009

and more

I agree withthis. I need to get rid of some "puppies" so that I can work on the bikes that I want to.

I have an orange SS regret. It was at the dump at I took it for a dolled up Varsity. Grabbed the Brooks and left the bike. On the bright side, when I got home and googled it, I discovered Bike Forums. I've been here ever since. By the time I got back there the bike was gone. I hope someone picked it up before the smelter man came.

I gave a guy a partail refund once. It wasn't bike stuff, it was a set of china from my wife's first wedding. I said it was like new. The guy said it had "cutlery marks" on it and sent some pictures of them. I don't know nuthing about china. but I don't see how he figured he was going to eat off of them without getting a few "cutlery marks" of his own on them. They had only been used a few times.
I gave him $40 and he was happy. After several thousand dollars in sales, I figure I'm doing alright.

I always tell the buyer to give me a call if they have any problems. I sold a dozen or so bikes another 5 or 6 bike relayed items with no call backs last year . I think it is only right to stand behind your work. I know it's only CL, but I advertise my bikes in ready to ride condition.


The only things I have sold in 2010 are bike trainers. I figure I am going to hold on to the bikes for the snow to stop flying. I have spent so much of my bike time working on flips, that I am just getting around to making some change to my riders.

I hate you :/

See also
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ll-Away-My-U08

i really only started reselling in october... finding bikes is the hard part. selling in SoCal is easy.




(replaced tape before i sold this one)

Sep 8, 1964 Red Flamboyant Schwinn Sting-Ray with Persons Solo Polo seat
Paid= $15 - Sold= $500

You just sold the Stingray? How much work did you put into it?

Stingrays are HOT these days!