Yes, true, but... I still find plenty of things to entertain myself with. I don't flip them, but now they're turning French, which I avoided for decades. I have 5 nice frames sitting in my basement to build right now: 2 Italian, one Swiss and two French. Oh, and the Italian I took to get powder coated.

I mostly just look on ebay now. Mostly I lose, but sometimes I get killer deals. I don't know why. I don't take it too seriously. Believe me, I have way more desires than money!

Oh, I only mess with higher end European models from the 70s or before. I can't and won't work on junk. No fun at all.

WTF isa DKO?

"Dirt Knocked Off," as in, that's all that many flippers do.

I was happy riding around on a beat up old Miele but it has all been downhill since I came across my De Rosa.

Totally agree.

How about a bike?

I'll see Twin Citians at the swap in the morning.

Ahhh.....I see.

There was a guy in Tampa who did less than that....haven't seen him around in awhile

The classic DKO guy is the one in Charlotte, sells over 200 bikes a year. He puts up pictures of bikes for sale, sometimes still on the rack on his car, often several of them, where you can't see any details. But he turns them quick. He must have an in with a couple of dealers, or something providing him stock. I've bought several bikes from him.

Here's a pic from a recent ad:

Couldn't agree more - today I finished up the messy cleanup of my front yard: almost 50 cubic yards of tree limbs (under the influence of 2400mg of Motrin so that I could make it through those 7 hours) pruned, cut up and the remaining crap stacked for the chipper-dude coming next week.

Cost? $1400.00 and the tree-guy never finished the job. Came back two days in a row while I was at work and removed almost all the wood, too. Sneaky bastage. When I think of how much bike-related stuff I could've gotten with that money - and how much pain I could've saved my back - I want to kill something

But, hey, life could be lots worse - and I know it. I am learning to be happy with what I've got

DD

Joined BF about two years ago when I decided to take up cycling again really as as an attempt to find distraction from a family health crisis we were going through back then.... The crisis fortunately resolved itself within the first year with what we are sure was a miracle, which also gave my new "hobby" a very positive and inspired feel, that's why I lasted so long around here......despite the crazy rising prices on anything I am interested in for a next project for another French 80's dream bike build. In the last two years, everything just went crazy with the prices for used or NOS French parts and framesets, which left me kinda stuck with a lot of components to build that next bike and extras/spares to circulate between my present two bike that I just couldn't afford the framesets I need when they do pop up. I might be at the point of just forgetting about that third bike, as I am very happy with the two I have presently anyway. I'm thinking of just fiddling with what I already have for the foreseeable future and maybe just treat myself to some big component buys to keep things interesting. I'll still watch the internet for those framesets I had been looking for, but how things had been with prices out there, I might just have to watch from the sidelines while other cyclist with deeper pockets battle it out to post the highest winning bid!

Chombi

"I want to kill something"

50 cubic yards of tree? I think you already did...

TWO Bikes!?
Chombi, you're making me feel guilty. Maybe it's guys like me that are driving up prices, buying too many bikes and so creating a dearth of decent C&V bikes in the marketplace.
Of course, if prices continue to rise, we can expect that bubble to pop, and we'll all witness the return of $25 PX10's.
( I could always use a few more PX10's. )

Better chance of cheap or eventually cheaper bikes from Italy, not France. The Euro recession will hit Italy hard, time for them to sell stuff, I think I have already begun to observe this, newer ebay sellers from Italy.
Unfortunately, the shipping from Italy is now a big hurdle, it has become silly high.
The recession in my view has ebbed, and the vintage bike market is reviving. Actually it did not drop as much as I expected and then stayed flat for quite a while.
Some of the prices I see transact indicate to me that there is more money available to secure a decent "name" quality bike, There is also an evolution to the 80's bikes being recognized too.
No more deflation, but inflation.

Enjoy bike riding ... make that your hobby, You'll be on your death bed wishing you had spent more time bike riding, but you won't be wishing you had more money, objects, and possessions.

Boy, howdy... Not around here!
The C&V market here is considerably worse than it was in the so-called depth of the recession. You can't give a bike away, and yet there is virtually nothing being offered at a flip price. I think Thrifty Bill touched on the reason for that - There are 101 flippers for every flip!

Thanks Peter. I am a pretty hard core rider and can attest that is good advice!
(... I still want more $25 PX10's though.... )

The prices for any vintage components I'm interested in have dramatically increased over the last few years, especially dura ace 7400. It's all getting more and more expensive too, campy stuff has been raking in stratospheric prices recently. Anymore I don't even bother with vintage stuff, the modern parts are cheaper and easier to find, not to mention it works better for what I use it for...

yes this is an expensive hobby for me. Mainly because i don't really cheap out on parts for a personal bike. i'll search for NOS c-record stuff and Dura ace for personal builds, most of it is not cheap.

But at least it can be a health hobby. The way i look at is it could be way worse. I used to collect baseball caps, i have about 100 of them. I don't really wear them that much anymore and what sucks is there's pretty much no resale value on them. At least with C&V rides you can at least break even or make some money when you do decide to sell them. It's a win win. Plus you gain a lot more bike skills by learning to fix everything.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. With bicycles, you can buy one of the very nicest collectible bicycles that exist (with provenance) for about what the average licensed racer, or for that matter your average club rider, now rides on a daily basis. If you go out for club rides today, you can be assured that there will be many $5K bikes and the occasional one costing in the 5 figures. You frequently see young riders, who are quite obviously still living with their parents, who have $5K bikes in club events. The depreciation on these new bikes in one year is far greater than most of us will ever consider spending on any bike. We are cheapskates! As CV-6 correctly wrote: Champagne tastes and beer budget.

I've thought on this topic quite a bit since moving to Europe for this tour. Several of my nicest rigs are in long term storage, including a Chesini I left in prepped form for a future build up (thread to come in..oh 2014 or so), but I couldn't help myself when I saw a '78 'Nago for sale. I paid way too much for it, but it is a gorgeous bike, and was fairly ready to ride, and I needed a L'Eroica rig for this year (I hope).

After much thought I have come to believe I am about done with the amassing bikes phase, and am just going to enjoy the riding and tinkering with what I have from here in. Granted, with some 9 bikes in all (or is it 10?) that's hardly a sacrifice. I just think the "find it fairly cheap and resto yourself" within a reasonable budget days are gone for me. My first real resto was just in 2008, a $200 complete Raleigh Comp GS that just needed some love and a few reconditioning parts. I don't think I put more than $600 total in it, and I doubt I'd be able to come close to that nowadays. It's been an uphill climb in expense ever since, but I am just happy to have the bikes I really wanted to find before the prices shot up.

I doubt it will stay this way though. I think (hope?) we've seen the peak in Campy value, people selling SR pedal dustcaps for $100 (saw that bid close a month back), and the rest. I think the vintage appreciation will run its' course and the costs will start to go down, although probably not to pre-2005 levels.

Still, all in all, to get a very nice condition 1978 Colnago for only a couple hundred over what it cost when new? Not bad considering inflation. I sure do enjoy the hell out of riding them, and messing about with the parts almost as much. It's a great hobby we've got here, doesn't hurt anyone, and keeps us all wrenching or riding and out of our wive's hair. I'm really looking forward to the next 20 years of it, e-bay be damned.

I dont think you guys are doing the hobby correctly. You should always be money ahead.

Cycling is not just a hobby, its a way of life.

In the past 10 years the ‘hobby’ side of this has become a lot LESS expensive.
Just ask collectors of Sting-Rays and Balloon Tire bikes. Prices are half what they were 10 years ago.

The ‘flipping’ side has gone way way up, though.

Well, you do live still in Detriot. One of America's fastest shrinking cities.

Flipping used to pay for all of my bad habits, but now I cannot break even flipping bikes on CL.

E.g.;
I just did the math (below) on the expendables I buy for each flip-bike (assuming it is in decent condition to start with).
If I need replacement pedals or a saddle or whatever, it's $20-40 more.
This does not include little things like cleaners, cable ends, polish, etc.

Sales prices here are extremely depressed: Since last year, nice, mid-level bikes just rot on CL for $120, and prices on rougher-looking projects are almost that high.

Of course, there is still the rare case where a higher-end bike goes for a song, but then the competition for it is FIERCE!

Had an opportunity to purchase an incomplete, Egli Vincent Comet, in the late 70's, for about $3k. Had some race damage, and cylinder was toasted. I passed.
Any other Vinnies I came across were a little too steep(I thought) at the time.
As for what they are really worth, of the two VO's I know, one would rather take his to the grave than part with it.
He is one of the few, who still actively rides his Vinnie(or did, it's been a few years since I was still in the loop).

Currently, watch this one. https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vince...item337191575d

Lucky for me I wouldn't want one of those .