Torontocentric question bout High park cycles
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Torontocentric question bout High park cycles
I called high park cycles to see find out their hours and to see if he would be as crazy on the phone as he is in person, but the phone is disconnected. Can someone save me a trip outa my way and tell me if they are still in business. Also it would be a plus if you have and good stories relating to said shop, but not a necessity.
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I was by the shop and there is notice on the door advising he is in arrears in rent to the tune of 19000 dollars. This is a city ordinance and it notes he had till the end of March to pay or they would calll in an appraiser.. I drive by on a daily basis and it remains closed.....
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I can't believe that the shop is still around in any form. Their business was already questionable back in the 80's... They always had some interesting items but... let's leave it at that.
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They are having an auction this Monday for the entire contents of the store. You have to buy the whole lot. Would love to know what it goes for. He had a lot of nice vintage bikes and parts.
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He wanted $300,000.00 when I inquired about a year and a half ago. All I had was $299,000.00. Darn!-(
Seriously, my son did go and talk to the guy a few times and he did want to sell the whole kit and caboodle.
And, it is not Jacob. I just did business with Jacob a couple of weeks ago, sending him 120 vintage bicycles from our Bicycles for Humanity inventory. B4H sells off vintage bicycles that we cannot, or do not have time and resources to work on. People, like Jacob, buy them in lots of 100+ for twenty buck a piece plus shipping.
B4H uses the money to help fund shipments of bicycles to Africa, at a cost of $10,000 (approx) per shipment.
Seriously, my son did go and talk to the guy a few times and he did want to sell the whole kit and caboodle.
And, it is not Jacob. I just did business with Jacob a couple of weeks ago, sending him 120 vintage bicycles from our Bicycles for Humanity inventory. B4H sells off vintage bicycles that we cannot, or do not have time and resources to work on. People, like Jacob, buy them in lots of 100+ for twenty buck a piece plus shipping.
B4H uses the money to help fund shipments of bicycles to Africa, at a cost of $10,000 (approx) per shipment.
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"98% of the bikes I buy are projects".
Last edited by randyjawa; 05-05-12 at 05:32 PM.
#9
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The owners name is Jon, he was closed down for a long time due to not paying rent or being behind.
Don`t get me wrong he explained to me that the place was falling apart, with water leaking etc he was right, parts of his ceiling were collapsing.
Then he reopened and also was opening on Sundays.
He would always tell me , I need a business partner, if I had the cash i would of jumped at it.
The last few Sundays that I visited TO he was closed I guess i got my answer why,
I had cleaned him out of his Old school Bmx bikes for the last 2 years
Don`t get me wrong he explained to me that the place was falling apart, with water leaking etc he was right, parts of his ceiling were collapsing.
Then he reopened and also was opening on Sundays.
He would always tell me , I need a business partner, if I had the cash i would of jumped at it.
The last few Sundays that I visited TO he was closed I guess i got my answer why,
I had cleaned him out of his Old school Bmx bikes for the last 2 years
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He wanted $300,000.00 when I inquired about a year and a half ago. All I had was $299,000.00. Darn!-(
Seriously, my son did go and talk to the guy a few times and he did want to sell the whole kit and caboodle.
And, it is not Jacob. I just did business with Jacob a couple of weeks ago, sending him 120 vintage bicycles from our Bicycles for Humanity inventory. B4H sells off vintage bicycles that we cannot, or do not have time and resources to work on. People, like Jacob, buy them in lots of 100+ for twenty buck a piece plus shipping.
B4H uses the money to help fund shipments of bicycles to Africa, at a cost of $10,000 (approx) per shipment.
Seriously, my son did go and talk to the guy a few times and he did want to sell the whole kit and caboodle.
And, it is not Jacob. I just did business with Jacob a couple of weeks ago, sending him 120 vintage bicycles from our Bicycles for Humanity inventory. B4H sells off vintage bicycles that we cannot, or do not have time and resources to work on. People, like Jacob, buy them in lots of 100+ for twenty buck a piece plus shipping.
B4H uses the money to help fund shipments of bicycles to Africa, at a cost of $10,000 (approx) per shipment.
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Ban the Deed not da breed
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Jacobs on Spadina, that guy lives and breathes bikes, He`s all over the place when it comes to buying, he lowballed alot of my bikes lol on CL
hE Also gets alot of bikes from the police auctions, he posts alot on Cl but rarely with pictures of the bikes.
hE Also gets alot of bikes from the police auctions, he posts alot on Cl but rarely with pictures of the bikes.
#12
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Jan had some incredible stuff in his shop and even more in the basement but his prices were nuts and he was hard to deal with, I am surprised he lasted as long as he did. Sad, I hope he gets some money out of it, he really does love bikes just not people.
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Updates on High Park Cycles auction?
Take a look at this thread with updated (June 2012) information on a sale at High Park Cycles:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...igh-park-cycle
Now, that was an item-by-item sale, not an auction. Today on CL's there was a series of ads by Dr. Jamie's Bike Clinick claiming he had the vintage frames from High Park Cycles, and that he got them at the recent auction.
Does anyone know if there was an actual auction after the sale in late June?
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...igh-park-cycle
Now, that was an item-by-item sale, not an auction. Today on CL's there was a series of ads by Dr. Jamie's Bike Clinick claiming he had the vintage frames from High Park Cycles, and that he got them at the recent auction.
Does anyone know if there was an actual auction after the sale in late June?
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The irony is, a week later the bike was back on the Police Auctions website. The owner told me that the winner had changed his mind, and since he was a regular, high volume customer, he was allowed to return the item.
#16
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I think that low-balling is part of the game, I respond saying that I will consider their offer if I have a hard time selling the bike.
I dealt with Jacob once on a high end bike which I had priced accordingly and he and I chatted on the phone about it. I mentioned that I had had a few low-ball offers and he and I both agreed that my price was good and that I should hold firm. I appreciated his candor.
Jan, on the other hand, had very high prices so you had to low-ball him to get any kind of decent price out of him. This never worked though and, more often than not, would lead to him refusing to sell anything to you and/or verbal abuse. He is a good mechanic though, he is working at Dave Fix My Bike now.
I dealt with Jacob once on a high end bike which I had priced accordingly and he and I chatted on the phone about it. I mentioned that I had had a few low-ball offers and he and I both agreed that my price was good and that I should hold firm. I appreciated his candor.
Jan, on the other hand, had very high prices so you had to low-ball him to get any kind of decent price out of him. This never worked though and, more often than not, would lead to him refusing to sell anything to you and/or verbal abuse. He is a good mechanic though, he is working at Dave Fix My Bike now.
Last edited by jet sanchEz; 07-10-12 at 01:49 PM.
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Jan, on the other hand, had very high prices so you had to low-ball him to get any kind of decent price out of him. This never worked though and, more often than not, would lead to him refusing to sell anything to you and/or verbal abuse. He is a good mechanic though, he is working at Dave Fix My Bike now.
The one I really liked was the Mexican guy at Marco's Bikes. He had good customer service, sold used parts for cheap, and knew his way around bikes. They were gone almost overnight, no warning, so not sure what happened there.
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He's working at Dr. Jamie's, too. Saw him there yesterday. Tried to ask him what happened to all his former inventory, but he wasn't interested (understandably) in talking about it. But he didn't seem as miserable as when he was running his own shop.
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High Park cycles pops into my mind every so often after I saw the place closed down, so I'm glad to hear Jan is OK. He was certainly a unique character. Watching him deal with others, I felt like apologizing for his behaviour. He treated me differently once he discovered we share the same ethnic bloodline. Otherwise that old Eastern Euro charm can be tough to handle. Glad to learn he is around and kickin' somewhere.
Guys like him are a dying breed, reminds me of owner of Mojo down on Queen West in Roncesvalles.
Guys like him are a dying breed, reminds me of owner of Mojo down on Queen West in Roncesvalles.
#20
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He is also a good mechanic too and, once you get to know him, quite a nice guy. His son has another Mojo Cycle up on Dundas near Roncesvalles that is less cluttered and more professional looking.
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His son is cool too, mild mannered kid, offered me winter storage for my bike at his shop, something his dad could never do!