DFW is cyclical.

I'll go for months and see nothing at all interesting. Right now, with the weather getting cooler, a lot of people seem eager to dump their bikes and pickings are getting pretty good. I mostly just window shop right now. I might jump into the flipping biz at some time down the road (not enough time right now). Periodically there are some WHOA! finds (recently, an early 80s Bianchi with 600 drivetrain for $75...!) If I had the time and money to pick things up and flip them, I think I could do okay.

Peoria IL has a disappointing CL

In Philly that bike would be long gone!

Vancouver, BC: Good stuff comes up semi-regularly, but there are only real deals to be had on quality (upper-entry, mid-range) stuff fairly rarely. I see a couple of probable serious deals every week, and the chances of closing on one are slim unless you're quick. The number of Apollos, Norcos, Peugeots and Nishikis with cheap to barely-decent parts (and often with 'issues') running north of $200 is egregious, as are the epic perpetual (twice daily+) reposts of some folks trying to make a living off plucking everything 'vintage,' cheap and decent and selling it for an instant $200 markup (or selling off cosmetically-challenged parts for around the ebay standard for a mint equivalent). Actually a fair number of high quality vintage road bikes (though I think it seems like there are more when they're not selling now, in the rainy season) - but the prices are typically reflective of what is undoubtedly a hot market: $1000-1500 asking for good older SL (or equivalent) steel bikes with Campy mix, Shimano 600, whatever...bikes that would almost certainly go well under $1000 in Seattle. Seller's market if you have anything genuinely decent and don't necessarily expect to pay your high Vancouver rent with the profits. That said, I saw a $50 Japanese-made Bianchi on yesterday, so...

+1 Asheville MTBs are plentiful, then the hipster bikes. Not much in the nicer vintage arena. I do post an occasional bike or two, most of mine are sold elsewhere.... I find marginal demand in the Asheville area for vintage racing bikes, and I live too far out for many buyers.

ftfy

FORDSVT is spot on.

Three years ago a guy could flip through the daily listings, and at least see a cool mtb, road racer of some ilk, or the odd gem.

Not so much anymore. Anything that's priced right and is cool gets snapped pronto.

I had to pounce on my Colnago Elegant, and drive over with cash flying out of my hands for that deal.

Jet and I were first in line, and the seller was a fantastic guy.

Over the last year I've seen a total of three bicycles I could really keep and enjoy.

A Carl Strong, a Retrotec mtb, and a De Rosa Primato.

Each one had so many offers on them, they blew right past my price range.

Since they pulled the plug on nationwide CL searches, I don't waste my time with quests anymore.

I'm a CL addict. Chicago CL is somewhat vibrant. Lots of junk, lots of deals.

I've sold a lot in the last couple months. If the price is right it sells fast.

Its free, no shipping, just list and wait for calls. Its a great thing!

I really can't complain about Orange County, CA's board. Yes, it's 90% Xmart and beach cruisers, but overall I give it 4/5. I've kept my eyes open and it's paid off a couple of times. As with anything on CL, if you want a bargain you'd better know how to read between the lines, have your research done, and have your cash in hand.

Los Angeles is a different story- holy cow, there are a lot of fabulous bikes that pass through there. I wish it wasn't so sprawled out, it makes getting them almost impossible. By the time I drive up from OC they're usually gone, and your negotiating juice is pretty much impotent if you've just driven 1.5 hours to SEE a bike.

It probably already is. That's the other thing- especially people who don't sell a lot of stuff, they don't bother to take ads down.

San Diego is mostly overpriced junk, flippers and fixed gears. I haven't bought anything off of CL for at least a year, and the only reason I got that one was that it was a Schwinn Sports Tourer that most people would have assumed was a Varsity, they just said "Schwinn 10 Speed".

Still......I look a few times a day and keep hoping.

I don't know, ours is OK. Lots of magna/huffy junk and BMX but plenty of reasonably priced stuff too. If you want a nice bike at a decent price they're out there. I donb't see much high end stuff and when I do they ask generally what it's worth. You can generally pick up a decent Mt or road bike for $200 or less. If you want to make some money, not many smoking deals and the market is low priced so you can't stick much into them. There's a couple of regular flippers who sell anything from Huffys to Treks.
Every deal I've ever picked up has been at yard sales and every CL stuff I've sold (mostly frames from donors) has been at or near my asking price.


https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik/2729725316.html

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik/2716303150.html

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik/2713828405.html

Purchased or stolen?


Raleigh CL has deals about 2-3 x a month. I've seen STI (Sora) bikes for $150-$200 quite often, and an 8-sp Colnago was offered for $150. By the time the buyer got there, it was up to $300 due to phone calls. Still, a buy.

You have to scroll a lot, because the handful of flippers tends to dominate on the days they update their listings. We have a self-appointed bike Nazi who flames regularly on one flipper, and it's obvious by now it's personal, because the flipper is a decent guy and sells decent bikes with a 1-year warranty, and negotiates his prices.

By and large, the people are decent, the buyers will meet you and many sellers will, too. We really don't see too many sellers who are completely clueless about their bikes. Maybe 1/5. The other 4/5 either know their stuff or google it to find out.

I did get a pretty good deal on a set of 10-sp Eurus and 10-sp Vento Reactions, with cassettes, a chain, and ProRace2's mounted, because the seller was "not a Campy guy." He had a P3C, Look 585, and his wife had a Look, all set up with SRAM.

We don't get outright screaming deals like Thrifty Bill out west. I think he uses the Force on some of those buyers, and roccobike was the undisputed king of the deal here. Yard sales and just plain staying on top of things netted him some great buys, but not that often from CL.

I'd say the $50 Landshark and $25 Bianchi that I missed yesterday on Raleigh CL were pretty smokin'. The seller finally e-mailed me and said she got over 100 emails yesterday. "I had no idea how popular they would be".......

Raleigh warrants a look see for sure, but when I go to CA I do better on the OC listings. I always look at both, to the detriment of my wallet.

OMG, I need a $50 Landshark!

The flippers on the Cleveland Oh board make it almost too painful to look. I am 100% okay with folks flipping bikes -- but when you have someone who has been posting the same bikes (many of them) for more than a year -- well I just wish there was a statute of limitations on an individual getting a clue.

But then who would the politicians in my party run against?

OC is better than LA. The Los Angeles list has much volume, but way too many $300 Peugeot UO8's and $200. Schwinn Varsity fixers. If I was unemployed, I might be able to snag a deal 2x a year. There was a 1973 or so Pogliaghi on the Ventura county CL for a while but not cheap at $1,600. and big at 61 cm. Too high to buy as an investment. Then there are the $2,000 Masi Nuova Stradas...

Toronto - in the season i find there's alot of good road stuff, there's a couple guys on our craiglist parting out bikes and whatnot, there a dude named Cam with alot of C&V stuff, if you guys go to Toronto's CL and Type CAM in the search you'll usually get a whole lot of vintage stuff. most deals go pretty quick, usually i try to scoop them up and fight off the mountains of other ppl on CL. The bike market here has always been pretty good and it does have a lot of collectors as well.

here's the link to the search i was talking about:

https://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/sear...inAsk=&maxAsk=

I DARE YOU GUYS TO CLICK IT, haha, i bet no one's CL list even has close to that stuff

check out the tandem: https://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/2716445262.html

deltas on a tandem, never thought you'd see that eh

I'm in north Los Angeles County, and I drive through Orange County to San Diego to get a deal ( 50 miles to L.A. another 50 to S.D.). L.A. has way to many flippers, Orange has to much money, San Diegon is full of people getting rid of older bikes to buy newer bikes and is the triathlon capitol of the world. I picked up my two IM bikes in San Diego for 150$ and 200$ for "need work" condition, just tires and tubes.

I agree with this. There are great bikes to be found and if you have time to watch CL A LOT then you can find a smokin deal that lasts 5 minutes. I have scored my share of them.
I just paid slightly less than full market for a 1986 Miyata 912 because it's super clean, I really wanted it and the seller didn't put it on CL. That's rare for me.

I stopped looking at Los Angeles CL also. With the traffic here a bike 25 miles away could take FOREVER to just go look and hope it's still there. I will look at Inland Empire CL and have found some great deals there like a pristine 1986 Schwinn Peloton for $200 in Rancho Cucamonga.

And then there is this> https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/2731477620.html

Central Jersey is full of Beach Cruisers and and Walmart trash...strange cuz there are a lot of high $ roadbikes around on the weekends.

North Jersey is a bit better, good for old 3 speeds

NYC lists are heavy but prices are high and the good stuff goes in minutes

I'd give it a C- at best.

+1 on this assessment of the Bay Area. I don't have any stats to verify this but it's my impression that two things distinguish our local CL: high average price and sheer volume.

Around here, any POS with two wheels that spin will regularly sell for $200+. You almost never see a complete steel road bike listed for less than $150. I guess there's enough demand for even beater bikes that no one has to sell a bike for any less. I see other guys from different parts of the US posting on here about snagging a medium- or high-quality steel ride for 20 or 30 bucks and I just laugh (so that I don't cry). You can hardly buy a seatpost or a stem for that much in my neck of the woods.

The rate of new posts here is nothing short of amazing. I'd say on an average day, we see 2-3 posts every minute. The upside to all this volume of course is a wide selection. If you're willing to wade through all the crap you'll find that there are some gems out there almost every day.

So, just out of curiosity.

How does the flagging system work? Say you flag a guy that's posted the same thing daily and sometimes more than once a day what happens?

Does it require more than one person flagging something to make it go away? Does someone have to sit there and look at the flagged posts and decide if they should be removed?

^ https://www.eskimo.com/~newowl/Flagged_FAQ.htm

https://www.eskimo.com/~newowl/pages/flagged.htm

https://www.eskimo.com/~newowl/pages/StaffRemove.htm

https://www.eskimo.com/~newowl/pages/...htm#oftenlinks