ran60

I saw a schwinn breeze in the local goodwill, seems to be in orig. cont. ie..rotten tires some rust and just dirty. They want $400. this seems very high to me, is this bike worth that unrestored or otherwise? (did not check the year)

Sirrus Rider

If it were pristine and I were good and drunk at the time I might give $100 for it. A more realistic figure would be $50 to $75.

LesterOfPuppets

OMG! Last one I got I paid $20, for a yellow 1977. I wouldn't go over $80, and I'd have to REALLY love it to do that.
Check out this one outfitted with upside down drops and the dude's calling it original. Hahaha! I can't even tell what's going on with the brake lever, but it looks pretty gnarly.

sonatageek

Ah the free market, where you can ask whatever you want and people are free to not buy it.

social suicide

I recently volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity restore. They were trying to sell used avocado toilets for $75. They had about 25 of them. They probably have 100 by now.

USAZorro

Obviously, there's a decimal place (or two) missing.

rhm

You imply a joke, but I think you've actually hit the nail on the head.

Flying Merkel

Thrift stores are not for the thrifty. Haven't seen one good bicycle bargain ever. I did see a wretched woman's Schwinn Collegiate with busted cables, trashed chain and rotted tires for $130.00. All other bikes have been Magnas & Pacifics with rusted spokes. Not even an old Huffy.

LesterOfPuppets

For a long while I thought I'd never experience a nice thrift store find, 'til the other day I got an old Giant Iguana in excellent condition for $17.50 at the Salvation Army.

mrhedges

goodwill is overpriced for lots of things, i saw some wooden kitchen spoons that were priced the same as they are at the dollar store.

Maddox

I'd honestly bet it was $4.00. Go back and check.

LesterOfPuppets

One would hope. My Salvation Army had a well worn Centurion Ironman with a $400.00 pricetag on it, however. I was thinking they must've accidentally hit the 4 key instead of the 1 key, but nope, that's what they wanted for it.

ran60

Thanks for confirming that this must be a mistake, it's terrible what thrift stores try to get away with.

Chris_in_Miami

There was a Centurion at a local SA priced at $400 for several months, I think they priced it that way because there are frequent half-price sales and $200 is a bit more reasonable (though it was still well overpriced in this instance.)

It's been discussed here dozens of times before, but thrift shop pricing is wildly inconsistent. I've scored countless amazing bargains on bikes and other items, and I've seen prices that made me laugh out loud.

michael k

Thrift stores here want $75-$150+ for Roadmasters and huffy's then pretty much give away these...

wrk101

I guess it all depends where you live.

I have bought dozens of bikes at thrift stores in the last couple of years. But pricing is very erratic (I don't buy the overpriced ones). I have seen new XMart bikes priced higher than Walmart! They tend to price bikes on how shiny they are. Some of the bikes I have picked up in the last two years at thrift stores: Schwinn Tempo, Schwinn World Sport, Panasonic Mixte, Schwinn Voyageur 11.8, Fuji S12S, Fuji Del Ray, Fuji Monterrey, Schwinn Super Sport, Trek 330, Centurion Accordo, Lotus Classique, Peugeot PE-300, Nishiki Olympic, Raleigh Mixte, and a number of hybrids and MTBs.

LesterOfPuppets

My recent $17.50 find: (after I replaced the pedals and front tire)

Chris_in_Miami

Nice Giant! I might have to hit a few thrift shops on the way home

cycleheimer

It was a joke! C'mon, ain't ya got a sense of humor?

mstrpete

I just sold a restored '72 Breeze for $150 on CL-I was speechless when they didn't blink at my asking price. I would have come down, but I wanted to test the waters as well. I bought it last year at GW for $50. Thrift stores are wildly hit-or-miss, but the hits are worth the misses for me.

wrk101

Silly pricing is not limited to thrift stores. I bought a nice bike from a guy this spring. He had two bikes for sale, one was a 1971 Schwinn Varsity in mediocre shape, the other was a 1988 Terry Despatch in great shape. He had a really high price on the Varsity, told me "it originally sold for over $600!!!", but he had a really low price on the Terry. So I just nodded my head, smiled, and bought the Terry.

EjustE

There is one (to be un-named) thrift store in the area, which has bikes. Usually they go for $10-15. Or they used to. The last few months or so, the prices are CL-like. There is a British Sunbeam step-through 3sp (pretty much like the Breeze mentioned) tagged at $49.99 with rust aplenty. I thought that it might have been an aberration, but I went there the other day and they had an 80s Mongoose MTB, double butted frame, Suntour components (non-index). I was interested until I looked at the price tag: $79.99. hmmm

corkscrew

I'll agree with thrift stores being hit or miss. A local youth ranch wanted $200 bucks for a low end Raleigh road bike in rough shape. Although in Southern Idaho road bikes are a rarity, so I suppose someone paid it. Meanwhile I got a mid-range Nishiki mtn bike at the same place for $20.

The part I find scary is not one thrift store bike I've bought was in ready to ride condition. Many times the brakes don't work properly.

unterhausen

never seen a decent bike in our local thrift stores, but what I do buy is so cheap I often wonder why they even bother to charge money for it. And I hear they dumpster a lot of stuff anyway.

Chris_in_Miami

Yes, they won't even accept incomplete bikes, so the ones that get dropped off after hours with a missing wheel go in the dumpster. Fortunately, I'm a certified dumpster diving instructor.