Seggybop

There's going to be a police auction here on Saturday morning. Word is that the number of bikes available is going to be in the hundreds.

Has anyone ever gone to a cop bike auction before? How was it?

There's only going to be an hour to look at the bikes before the selling starts. Any ideas on how to check them out uber fast as to separate the nicer/newer bikes from the 99% which will be crap?

I'm hoping I can recover my bike that was stolen last year and maybe pick up some other cool bikes, if at all possible.

EricDJ

I find that police auctions in person seem to go stupidly high. Maybe thats just here.

DannoXYZ 

Like all auctions, people can get caught up in the moment and bid outrageous fortunes. At the local campus-police auctions here, I've see beach-cruisers that have been dredged up from the lagoon go for more than $150 !!! You can go down to K-mart and buy a NEW one for $89.95! If you know your bikes and pick one that may look bad, but have good components, you can make a killing! I bought a MTB with a slight dent in the top-tube with Deore-XT gruppo for $10! Just the chain alone was worth $25! Squeezed the top-tube in a vice to round out the dent and cleaned off the rust, used some touch-up paint on the scratches and I pretty much had a new bike! Used it all through school and it still runs great to this day!

Itsjustb

Where's this auction?

Always looking for a great deal on a bike....

TexasGuy

Yeah. I've not seen any good deals at police or government or repo auctions. I'm sujre they're available. Problem is too many people want the product and drive the price up to retail or beyond.

nodnerb

I just went to a police auction in my city last weekend. It was just a pile of rusted crap. THere were a very few good name bikes(maybe 10) out of 700 , but so old and beat up they can't even be considered. It was pretty disapointing. Plus, I';ve heard they sell any bike. If they recovered a bike from the bottom of a lake, they brush it off and it goes straight to the auction. You just have no clue what happened to a bike. Kind of scary. You never know though, you might find something good. But very very unlikely.

capejohn

The good bikes have already been claimed by police and politicians. I doubt you will find anything worthwhile. Stranger things have happened. But alas, not often.

bkaapcke

If you want a nice bike, you have to pony up. There is no way out of it, unless you get a hot bike from carigslist. Then you are a jerk for buying stolen stuff.

carpbum

I've been to a couple of them. 95% of the bikes are junk, but 99% of the buyers were looking to spend less than $20. You aren't going to find any Madones or such, but the chances of picking up a $300-$500 bike for $50 are real.

Michigander

I have experienced exactly the same thing as capejohn.

Retro Grouch 

Forget about buying a whole bike. Think "donor bike" for components and "frame set."

Seggybop

auction was fail and loss. There was only one good bike out of the dozens present, a modern Specialized hardtail MTB, and everyone knew it. Suffice it to say it went out of my price range. oh well.

bennyk

You should look for all the pimped-out drug dealer bikes. Low riders with tinted glass and chrome rims. I have a buddy who picked one up at a police auction and found $10,000 and a kilo of coke in the seat tube.