This is why I flip..... I mean restore
 

I dont feel flip is a dirty word, but there are plenty of threads about that discussion right now so ill just keep it simple with flip.

Restoring bikes funds my bike buying without having to use my actual paycheck, and I almost always flip bikes in my size range so I give them a good ride before I send them on their way.

So here are two bike that I acquired that funded the purchase of a third bike and all the next parts(saddle, wrap, hoods, i guess thats it) that I put on said 'new' bike.

A Pug UO6
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And some Sekine
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And heres how they left the shop;

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Most importantly in the end I acquired a bike that I really enjoy by working on a couple of bike whos new owners really enjoy. And nothing came out of my bank account!


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Ill post the 'after' pictures and more back-story about the bike when I get back in a few hours.

^This is what motivates so many of us here. - And kudos to you for sharing the happiness with your customers.

What you do is called restoration. You treat your work as an artist would.

I reserve the "flip" title for a schmuck that buys bikes at yard sales for $5, hoses them down, takes pictures, then tries to sell them for $200 along with some made up story how it sat in his father's basement for hundreds of years.

Yeah,them peeps really peev me :notamused:


I REALLY dig what you do with em and why,Brother,and they look (and ride,I'm sure) much better when they left :thumb:

It's the same as i do!
All of my bikes are bought and repaired then ridden for a while and then sold on.
Well except maybe my Peugeot randonneur which i'm going to keep unless i find another bike in the meantime that i prefer more.
Sometimes i buy bikes just for a part and then sell the other parts off , or replace the part with a lesser model and overhaul the bike to make sure everything works well.
I don't spend any money on bikes and just flip to create the money.
Even though i try to make 50% - 100% profit on what i buy i still sale at a good price.

My current fleet of bikes, all of my spare parts/flipper parts, and all of my tools have been paid for by flipping. This year is really weird for me because I tend to spend a bunch on my own bikes and try to make up for it with flipping profit. I normally start out in the red and try to recover through the year. I am almost $2K in the black for the year! I could go crazy and buy something for myself and still end up ahead.

There are a lot of legitimate ways to flip. I've always done this to fund hobbies. It's a creative way to learn, meet other bike folks and enjoy a little of what I call "wrench therapy." For flips, I usually look for basic functionality & usually the more "interesting" stuff is what I end up keeping (unless it doesn't fit). I have, however, sold bikes that had crappy tires or rusty parts though with full disclosure and pricing to reflect their state...In one case recently I actually bargained for the guy who was buying my bike...told him to keep some of the cash he was trying to give me so he could buy some new tires. It all works out I think. I typically would not go into a detailed/correct restoration on a bike to flip...not-so-pretty parts that work with proper adjustment & fresh/good grease is OK...I guess I save that level of intensity for my own projects. I could imagine it being much fun to do this as a more "professional hobby" type business thing in which case I could see building some really nice stuff to sell.

A lot of my flips were my main bike at some point so I didnt mind fixing and cleaning up all the small things, but then another nicer bike or two come along and eventually I need to move some bikes to have room in the shop to work on bikes.

So heres my 1985 Raleigh Competition GS after a little rub down. The original owner bought it but then moved to a rural town without paved road. He tried to ride it for a bit by adding a wider rear tire but gave up and it went mostly unused for quite a while. Other than the rear tire he never replaced or removed a part on the bike.

The Kashima saddle still has some good cushion to it, but I've wanted a new Turbo for a while and after putting it on and riding it its not coming off.

Heres the finished product;


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i flip because otherwise i couldn't afford to have a nice bike, let alone more than one. Both of my c&v bikes cost under $100 net, and counting other flips, i'm still in the black overall

Isn't that why we all get into flipping?

Up until about a month ago I was in the black about $4K counting all of my flips and tools and keepers... For good reason I stopped updating the spreadsheet after my IF, Litespeed and Merckx MX Leader entered the fleet all within the same 2 weeks this spring!

This summer I will get things back under control and sell off all the bikes and parts I don't use...though I have been considering picking up a new mountain bike :twitchy:


Nice Raleigh btw. How big are those tires? Looks like a comfy ride!

The Comp GS is gorgeous, Flipping/Rehabbing bikes funds my fleet as well and has put my whole family on vintage road bikes.

Thanks man. I've seen the bikes you have rehabbed, you do some inspirational work. I hope to soon have my Raleigh super grand prix as minty as the one you had.

Thanks. I got the tires and pugeot uo6 for free. It is quite comfy. I commute to wok with it so wide tires are fine, I mine get some thinner ones sometime. I'll check the size when I'm home.

You are more of a bike restorer than a flipper IMO. The term “flipper” has bad connotations to me as I’ve seen their results. Having the interest and skill to bring an old neglected bike back to a mechanically sound and aesthetically pleasing level is the purview of an ever smaller group of individuals that you are a member of. Keep up the good work.:thumb:

My only gripe is that I would prefer to find a nice bike to restore and keep it. I have had a few incidents where a flipper grabbed a bike. Replaced the cables and jacked up the price.

Nice work!

I don't flip whole bikes, actually I buy very few. The ones I do buy are for harvesting parts to use on my bikes, the stuff I don't want gets sold to finance the stuff I do. I also buy parts at swap meets for resale on ebay.

I financed my fleet that way, and have even bought a nice chrome Paramount for Mrs. K with the proceeds. With her bikes, I bought a Raleigh Super Course, then an opaque blue Paramount, and finally the chrome one. I kept and reused a lot of parts, others were sold for a nice profit.

No one can complain when I make an extravagant bike purchase, the family bank account is untouched. :innocent:

Wow, high praise indeed. Thanks for the kind words. :)

BTW-I should have another before and after thread shortly.

I have not been terribly successful with flipping. I don't devote all that much time to searching out bikes or parts, and there's a lot of other people around here who know bikes and will grab anything cycling related that they see. I will catch the occasional good deal at my favorite thrift store though. Never on bikes, really, but I have picked up some great deals on accessories and clothes that I was able to sell for a good profit on eBay. That happens maybe once every couple of months, though.

Nice. I do the same. Now, if I can only find a legit and complete 70's era keeper.

I just picked up a very interesting bike from the 70s. I dont know much about this bike but it had tubulars, campy and a leather saddle so it cant be too bad. Ill put up some pics soon. Owner claimed it was all original except replacing tires 12 years ago and (poorly)putting on some new wraps.

All ill say is that it was made by Sears, but its Austrian.

My son got an early 70s Sears catalog from my mother and he was looking at bikes the other day and right there in the catalog was a Sears Free Spirit listed as being built in Austria (Puch I'm sure) out of Reynolds 531 so I guess we should all use care when turning up our noses at old Sears branded bikes because it just might be something worthwhile.

J.C. Higgins? :)