American pickers
 

Iknow this has very little to do with bikes but
Mike Wolfe picks up some classic old bikes on American Pickers.
Does anyone know if he sells on ebay and if so what is his seller name?

I dunno, but he sure lights up when the bikes appear. You can almost see his ears perk up.
Did you see the one he paid $65 for and when he pulled it out, useless? I could feel his pain.
The old guy who collected the junk grinned like a possum.

He said in the latest show that he has a soft spot for old bikes, maybe because he "made his living on them for so long" or something like that. Interesting.
he sure knows his stuff though! And his personality makes people feel good about selling to him, he doesn't try to play some sleezy game with people and lie etc. Unlike the serious "flippers" in my area that don't even bother to clean a bike flip or even adjust a screw, yet still want top dollar.

I noticed he really seems charged up when he finds a bike, not like many flippers. Some people on another forum dont like him because hes making money doing something he likes. I think many of us have some degree of "picker" in us when we see bikes.

I didn't see any bikes for sale on his site, but he does have some pictures.

http://www.antiquearcheology.com/antique_bikes.htm

If seems to me from watching the show, that for a lot of his picked items, he already knows who he will sell it to. He has probably cultivated a big list of buyers in his 20+ years.

Probably a lot easier selling this way instead of advertising and waiting, but maybe sometimes he could sell for more if he had a bidding war on eBay for something really rare

Last night he picked a pretty cool item - a 1920's Western Union messenger bike stand. I'd love to have that in my house.

Mike used to have a bike shop in my hometown and has always been a bike geek. We have sold vintage toys to each other over the years also. I have always felt that I was treated fairly dealing with him. I believe the majority of his sales go to known collectors rather than auctions. The last time I talked to him was on a community bike ride. He was sitting on a friends porch when I rode by on a Colnago. He didn't recognize me with my helmet on, but yelled out " NICE BIKE ". I went back and had a few beers with them. I used to be involved in dealing antique toys. Until you have tried to make a living doing this, you can't believe how much time is involved. You look at a LOT of junk for every treasure you uncover.

Edit: Of course, after the beers I walked my bike home!!!

It's an Interesting show and Mike seems like good people.

They flipped that Raleigh Super Course? for $300

...And were those 'Simplex' motorcycle frames?Couldn't quite hear them.

they were simplex motorcycle frames.I would have really liked the bike rack but probably wouldnt have
paid the price for it.I think it was sold for $500.I liked the one episode where he rode the "high wheel" bike.I never knew how you dismounted from one of them without killing yourself.

we're waiting for a flood of valuation questions from newbies

That was a really cool bike rack.

Anyone see when they bought a Motobecane Grand Record? Black and red about a 1975 model. Looked neglected but wasnt in too bad a shape.

Yes, it was Simplex-they were made somewhere in NOLA I think. I guy I played baseball with-10 yo or so- had a Simplex moped way back in 1963 or so.

In respect to the pickers,I like the slightly pudgy guy more than the mouthy guy. The mouthy guy is too.... something.... for my taste.

Big Aside- have you folks noticed that many of the colectors-especially the eccentric ones- have cats- lots of cats.We have 4 indoor cats, and two neighbor cats that stop by for takeout(they jump onto the windowsill, stretch and make their intentions clear by threatening to claw my screen)

I can't remember ever hearing the term "Pickers" before this show?? Common term??

Charlie

common for antiquers. My dad was an Orientalia dealer after he retired. He had a small group of pickers that he hand-trained in the Asian Arts. It looked to me to be a hard way to make a salary, a little like gambling for a living.

yeah, pickers is a fairly common term. it seems their status varies by area too. They're not such popular people where i live.

I find it amazing that they can walk into a junk yard full of bikes and only come away with only one item. It is a unique ability to sort through a load of bikes and come away with only the one worth their effort to sell.

If it were me, anything not Huffy or Raleigh I'm dargging home and wasting countless hours fixing up(for very little profit).

My wife and I collect cats along with everything else LOL, at 13 we have reached our limit though. All have been rescued strays with 7 of them being solid black and were abandoned by the mother cat in our yard 4 years ago. I drew line at five but they crossed the line and cornered me LOL.We do help with the spay and release program our township has.

My brother and I used to try what they do seeing a yard full of old cars,motorcycles and junk but we always had doors slammed in our face or told to get off the property before they get there gun. Old farmers and the like never would get rid of anything and most would sit and rot until they passed away and someone would come in and clean the property out:(

Something about having "just a couple of guys" along with a camera crew, perhaps?

I get into these shows and then I can't tear myself away. Not just "Pickers," but "Pawn Stars," also. Like PBS's "Antiques Roadshow," but with an edge.

My only question is, as the seller, you have to know these guys are going to flip these things for double what they're offering you, so why wouldn't you just throw it on E-Bay?

For that matter, what are these guys going to do next season once all those "simple farm folk," having seen the show, are just that much wiser?

One thing about that show is it makes me feel a whole lot better about how the inside of my garage looks.

I'll take the Raleighs!:thumb::p

Aaron :)

Did you ever find a Western Union Rack?