SLOW LEARNER! They were RIGHT, I was WRONG!
 

After ignoring the advice of some of the master rehabbers on this list (OK, flippers, but it seems like flipper has become a toxic word, so I am going to call them rehabbers) that messing around with hybrids and MTBs is just not worth it, I must now admit, they were right, I was wrong.

I am done messing around with them. In an average market like mine, there just isn't much upside, and even at low prices, they take too long to sell.

It took me six months to sell the last one, for a whopping $100. It was a decent LBS bike, nothing special, but nothing wrong with it either. The remaining MTBs I have will either go to the co-op, or moved out over the weeks to come. Road/racing/touring bikes are it for me.


I understand some of you in some of those super hot markets might be able to make it work, but in an average market like mine, it just is not worth it.

In the future, I am going to listen to the sage advice of some of the experienced posters around here.

The good news is that there appears to be no shortage of decent road bike projects out there. I picked up six in the last week.


thrifty bill
slow learner

I wouldn't be that fast to give up on them...stick on a rack or a basket and it's not a MTB anymore...it's a commuter! MTBs can sell...you just have to market them right and set them up correctly (take off the knobbies...add a rack...platform pedals). You sell them as inexpensive, reliable everyday transportation capable of light trail riding.

I will readily admit as a recreational keeper bike, a rigid frame MTB or a hybrid can be a compelling value. In our keeper fleet, my wife has a Giant Cypress (hybrid) and we have two Trek 950s (rigid frame MTBs). Great bikes for what they are. So I frequently recommend them to friends looking for a recreational bike, lots of functionality for a very low price. And the occasional rider often prefers the trigger or twist grip shifter over a DT or STI shifter. I have never been able to convert my wife to STI.

I was just down in Brevard (somewhat near Bill from what i gather) and noticed that I saw very few road bikes around. Most everything was a mountain bike. The problem though, they were all new. Nothing but Rockhoppers and Stumpjumpers strapped on top of cars. I would assume this means that people are regularly upgrading and the market is probably flooded with used mtn bikes, but i certainly saw no evidence of people riding older ones.

yep, steel MTBs have 0 steam on the used market.

Down in this market, they're the only thing that will sell. Throw away your beach cruisers.

-Kurt

Exactly, met a guy in Brevard yesterday. He was selling off his old road bikes to fund a modern MTB. His MTB was obsolete, being 1998 vintage. MTB riders want the latest and greatest: disk brakes at a minimum, etc. So they are dumping the "old" MTBs, with very few buyers.

There are no problems moving a good clean name brand MTB around this area as long as it is priced within reason and is in good shape,hybrids sell very well also as konAaron snake said it is how you market them. I live in the flattest part of the state of NJ so if I need to rehab a MTB I install street tires and sometimes a rack if I have one and maybe a used set of riser bars and list it as a good commuter in fact the only bikes I have that have been listed 5 times in the last 60 days on CL are a Schwinn Suburban 10 speed and my mens Liberty 3 speed road bike and at a $125 obo should have been gone. I guess it depends on the area.
Glenn
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Brevard, NC is the hub of some of NC's (and the east coast's for that matter) finest mountain bike trail networks - pisgah, dupont, bent creek, montreat, tsali, etc. Asheville is also, but Brevard is in the heart of Pisgah, and having a modern mountain bike to ride there makes it more of a pleasure and less of an ordeal I'm sure.

When in the Pisgah, I walk. These days, I'd look around to see what rock norskagent is hanging from.
The first time I went, in 1982, someone stole the battery from my VW squareback.
The last time I went, in 2008, someone stole the battery from my CRV.
Both times, parked at the ranger station.

I can see how a road bike would be useless there, unless you like climbing rough pavement.

Nope. Sure, I can sell them, but they are never worth the time/labor involved to do so. Even If I get one for $5, it won't sell for more that $60-$80. And I still have to pay for tires, tubes, etc. I'm not going to waste my free time overhauling a bike for nickels and dimes.

This, too, will change. Keep in mind the market is a fluid animal.

Up until about five years ago, I had a steady stream of old road bikes, because no one wanted them. I could buy all of them I wanted, some pretty nice, always under fifty bucks, and sometimes under five. No one else wanted them. I would buy old Fujis for five bucks and help a VCU student convert them to fixed gear. Good luck with that now. I would pass on five dollar bikes that today would sell on the local CL for two hundred bucks, I didn't see the use at the time. Once I gave away about twenty frames in a giant house clearing.

Another time I bought an old Schwinn at an auction for five bucks, removed the brooks saddle and tossed it back into the auction pile sans seat. People at that auction thought I was crazy for years and years, because there was no resale value on an old ten speed. None.

Eventually, the market will move and shift, and those unsalable MTBs will be worth something, and considerably easier to sell. I recall passing on dozens of mixtes, plenty of Japanese bikes, lots of low end cottered crank stuff from the boom years, any and all of which I could have had for a fiver. At the time they were unsalable. Any road bike-- anything, even a 531 framed one-- would just sit in the local thrifts. Today, they're gone as soon as they are put out. There's a variety of reasons. One is the number of them showing up at the local thrifts has declined drastically.

Oddly, I haven't particualarly suffered; I don't find as much stuff, but the stuff I find is way, way nicer on average. Go figure.

But the market will move on MTBs one day. When? You'll have to figure that out.

If you put a $25 rack on the back...or even cheaper if you find a good used source...and $30 worth of street tires, you can get $150-$200 for a decent mid level + MTB/Hybrid if marketed correctly. I've found I sell bikes on c-list much more easily and quickly if I explicitly state what the positives of the bike are and what type of rider it would be good for.

Location, location, location. Tough to get $100.00 for the same thing here, just 100 miles to the west.

Just got $120 for a 90s Specialized Hardrock Sport, a very basic, non suspension bike with entry level Shimano components. I had bought it at the neighborhood garage sale a few weeks earlier for $30. Underneath considerable dirt, it was in excellent shape with straight wheels. Unlike usually, the Altus canti brakes were working fine. Some grease, new cables, brake pads filed to fresh rubber, derailleur and brake adjusting and it was ready to go.

Buyer was a former triathlete who wanted something for his wife to ride on unpaved trails. He rode it around our neighborhood for a while, had me pull up the seatpost, generally gave it a thorough looking-over, liked it, paid without trying to negotiate me down. I figured that was about the right pricing. I've seen others trying to sell similar bikes here for up to $250 but those are the ads that appear again and again from people who can't take a hint.

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On one hand, that's really quite sad. As KonAaronSnake mentioned, they do make great commuter bikes.

On the other hand, it also means that they can be had for cheap if you want one to ride instead of flipping. I have an older Schwinn Sierra that I converted for commute duty, and it's actually become my favorite ride. It's so dang comfortable that I don't care if I'm a little slower on it.

Same here, even though D.C. is a good market. MTB, kids, and ladies bikes do not command good prices.
I bought 8 bikes in the last community yard sale. One cruiser, one older Fuji road, and a ladies Specialized hybrid were the best. One was a mens Giant MTB bought for the frame. Except for the Fuji, they averaged $10 each. It worked out because of the low cost and I only had to buy one set of 26" slicks. Except for the frame build, the work was cleaning and tuning.

That's pretty much the economics here. The cheap garage sale MTBs need cables, tires, tubes, and sometimes a chain, shifters, brake pads, etc. I have a $5.50 T/S one right now that I am finishing up. And it had rusty spokes (enter the donor bike that had better wheels). So lets see: tires, tubes, chain, shifters, brake pads, donor wheels, cables (most of these parts were donors, which helps, but I still had to buy the donor bike too)..... When I am done, it might sell for $100... If I paid retail for those parts, I would have way more than $100 into it. Next time, if I get a bike like this one for free, its going straight to my favorite thrift store, to be sold to someone else.

Too much work, they take up too much space, no one wants them, same amount of labor as a good road bike, with very little return.

I'm in the camp that thinks that there may be some collectability for a narrow slice of the vintage MTBs...not enough to stock up on them or anything...but they made lugged mountain bikes for what, like 3 years?

I absolutely love old-school lugged rigid MTBs (commuterized). I saw one of the most gorgeous bikes I've seen in awhile recently, and it was a rigid GT with Columbus tubing, gorgeous lugs and what looked to be a bomb-proof Suntour drive-train.

That said, the ubiquitous Wal-Mart MTB that has become the standard DUI bike, the standard "Joe Schmoe" bike, the average "I just want a bike"... doesn't quite have the cache that roadbikes have and will probably continue to have.

I've had a number of very successful MTB flips. You just have to be realistic. Most of them have been 10 or $20 lower end LBS bikes from the early 90s that were in like new condition. They are super easy to sell for $50 or $60, and it's worth it to make $40 for not doing any work other than posting a craigslist ad. It at least covers the cost of gas and maybe breakfast while out yard sailing.

The other bikes have been ones with unique parts that are worth money on their own. I have many examples of buying an otherwise unremarkable MTB with one or two rare parts, putting them on ebay for an obscene amount of money, putting less rare replacement parts on the bike from my parts stash, and making an easy $150 or $250 with very mimal effort.

Exactly. But they are not useless. I have had great success stripping the drivetrain off of $5 mtb's and installing them on small road bike frames. Instant 18 or 21 speed small road bike with granny gears. Instant upgrade, the women dig them, they are easy to sell, and the swap is straightforward and easy.

There's your ROI for an otherwise white elephant bike.

Here's mine - street slicks and all.

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I wish I had an easy way to find another one of these in my locale. I have an experiment I'm wanting to run, and this bike could work for me.

I have a fleet of Specialized, schwinn, and diamond back mountain bikes (like 6 of them) total spent was less than one wallyworld bike would cost. Having four teenagers, I am really glad that these old bikes can be had for a song. When the kids outgrow them, I'll probably donate them.

Cheers,
Chris

+2 to that.

I generally don't look at them... I might make an exception for a really fine MTB at a ridiculously low price, but even at that, I know I'll be trying to sell it in a market that is supersaturated with good deals on MTB's.

I've been wondering lately about another potential way to make a MTB more attractive...has anyone tried adding one of those motor kits? How much do they cost, and is there a profit potential?