Best lead-in I've ever read.

Diligence is key. In the last month, DFW members have scooped up deals for Ironman and Trek road bikes. I'd pay 90% of asking on any below.

Trek 360 for $189
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/bik/4893264887.html

Ironman for $250
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/bik/4881913495.html

Univega Mixte for $120
http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/bik/4857996057.html

Raleigh frame set 531c
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/bik/4828296993.html

I have a conference coming up in San Marcos in April...so I will be looking at the CL adds a few weeks before then.

I have been watching that Univega for a while

I get my bikes on craigslist and garage sales.

Although it might not work the super-warm parts of the world, but in NC (where we have something resembling winter) I've found the prices much lower in winter and the deals remain on CL longer than in the summer.

In my area I think we have a craigslist-good-samaritan who occasionally contacts people saying their $50 bike is worth more. I have seen a number of ads jump in price by $100 shortly after being posted. I guess it could be a jump based on lots of emails requesting to buy the bike. Not sure.

Bridgestone RB-2 1989 Like new! .....a nice bike and worth an offer

Hopefully this ones a typo........but I'd offer $125-$150........ 1980s vintage raleigh grand prix

Vintage Women's Raleigh Super Course

Motobecane Bicycle Frame

Pretty tough to find someting under $100 on CL but these are worth a look IMO. If you find one you like try and negotiate a better deal, sellers tend to expect it.

Houston is too far from Dallas to chase these deals, but the other guy looking in Houston might by interested.

I am looking for bikes that need to be flipped....are these examples of $100-$200 flippable?

Sorry about that........

That won't be an easy task with the amount of flippers we got in Dallas, good luck :thumb:

As stated, the four in post 27, if purchased at 90% of list price, have decent margin IMHO. YMMV

+10 On the boonies. C/L buyers are incredibly LAZY. They need to be spoon fed details on the bike, and it needs to be conveniently located.

I picked up a Tomassini Prestige last year at an incredible price. It lasted two days. Location? In the boonies. It was about a an hour and 15 minutes NW of Charlotte. Meanwhile, it was two hours away from me (four hour round trip). I grabbed it, well worth the travel.

People want a smoking hot deal, 15 minutes away, where the seller will hold the bike until the weekend, or whenever it is convenient.....

Lazy buyers are your competition. There are even many lazy flippers out there. Be what they are not and you will score some deals along the way. Act like them, and people like me will score the deals. Your choice.

Most buyers also have NO imagination. If the bike is not complete, most will not bother. I picked up a high end model of bike from a major European manufacturer, at a silly low price, conveniently located in Charlotte (I don't live in Charlotte, so it was not so convenient to me). The problem? The bike did not have wheels. I sold the pedals on that bike for what I paid for it... That bike sat on Charlotte C/L for two weeks.

I've even bought bikes from lazy flippers. There is one in Charlotte, guy sells over 200 bikes a year. But he doesn't know bikes, and he doesn't do any work on them. Of course, he makes a sweet profit without turning a wrench, so his strategy is working pretty well. Occasionally, he will get an older bike, higher end, that needs work. He buys cheap, so he sometimes will sell those bikes cheap. I've bought several from him. All needed work and most were missing parts.

There is a thread called Bike Flipping 101. You may enjoy reading that.

I learned a good rule here when I was flipping bikes: have an eye for making a minimum profit of $100. Otherwise, it turns into a waste of time. Of course, you can make your own rules for yourself. Learn what things generally go for. Buy low and sell high. In other words, don't pay general market value, because you'll lose when you sell. Wait to find something whose seller undervalues.

People in the boonies generally don't expect to get much for their stuff, because their choice of buyer is narrow. It might make sense to look at the CL listings there. Then sell in hot markets, in densely populated areas. I made a road trip of buying only once. I accidentally won some ebay auctions in central CT, far from me. I made the trip worth my while by lining up deals along the way. I came home with seven bikes in my car, though I paid too much for one or two of them. I ended up selling them at my cost, but they didn't take much work, so it wasn't so bad.

There is a guy, actually its a couple, in my town that flipped probably 100 in the last year based on CL ads and all are 70s-90s bikes. This couple does nearly nothing to the bikes except hit em with a power washer and they list em for much more than they should sell for. Each bike listing comes with 1 picture that is usually blurry and often not even of the whole bike, and a writeup that is maybe 5 words long about how the bike is 'clean' or 'ready to ride'. The model is typically missing, so obviously the size, year, components, etc aren't listed.
Ive always wondered where they find all the bikes and also who would ever buy from them.

Its an odd mix- on one hand they are quite active as they list constantly and get new bikes thru the year. On the other hand, they are incredibly lazy with how they present the bikes. Their prices are what the bike should go for if fully cleaned, greased, tuned, and wearing all new consumables. And even then, their pricing could be viewed as high.

...maybe I just don't list what I rehab for enough, but this isn't a job, its a hobby and I like seeing vintage bikes on the roads and trails. Better to move a bike along so I can start on something new than have it sit in my garage for months while I hold out for a little bit more money, all the while responding to emails and texts, sifting thru spam emails, and reposting the same bikes over and again.

My greatest bargains have been incomplete bikes or components. Most recent was a decent road bike with Tange prestige tubing and all Shimano 600 kit. Free due to one bad wheel. I pick up a lot of free tubular wheelsets. I personally ride these, after a careful regluing, or sometimes change out the rims for clinchers and then sell them.

Components: most of my scores have been used and incomplete. Like some relatively recent Campagnolo Record Titanium brakes. Barrel adjusters missing. And a Campagnolo Athena 11-speed rear derailleur for $5. Barrel adjuster and one of the jockeys was missing. There is a lesson here ... one missing part on a component slashes its value to close to zero. So the brakes should have sold for $200, but went at 1/10 of that. Good for me.

You need a spare parts inventory to make this all work. But this takes time and patience to collect.

This is How To Find Vintage Bicycles and I have found a thousand or more. These are what I have found, using the exact methods described. If a first time vintage bike hunter, use Word of Mouth - you just might be amazed!

I used to flip bikes, but I stopped. Now I have the spare parts inventory. Oh boy, do I have a spare parts inventory!

Found two schwinn's at the local thrift shop. Priced at 169.99 and 199.99. Too rich for my blood. So much for the good ole days of 14.99---- 15 years ago a lot of these bikes could be had for less than 50bucks..... The market is crazy at times but you have to keep looking!!!

You gotta think of the "other" places. Just got a Centurion off Freecycle yesterday. Low-end, but, hey, it was free! I posted that I was looking for old ten speeds on a neighborhood message board thing a few weeks ago...got a couple Rockhoppers and a '79 PFN10E parts bike for free, and should be getting another unknown bike soon.

Great Flip Candidate - Ironman for less
Vintage Centurion/Diamondback Expert TG

Fuji Touring Series - needs drop bars reinstalled
Fuji Touring Series III