curbtender

The lines at the shops are pretty crazy. I see you are thinking about checking dumps. I've always had better luck at the scrap metal yards.

gthomson

Interestingly enough, when visiting the dump (called waste mgt and recycling now) the guy said you can take a look but you can't remove the bikes. They all get donated to a coop to fix and provide for those who need them. Good cause, so can't complain about that.

We have metal recycling locations which might have some but probably have them melted down pretty quick. Worth checking though. Would the auto scrap yards have any bikes do you wonder?

curbtender

I wouldn't think the auto yards would be taking misc scrap. If you have an active donation center for bikes, they probably have already beat you to most of the honey holes.

slporten

LBS in my rural ish locale is completely out of bikes.....so is our Walmart!

bikemig 

There is a ton of inventory out there on the used bike market. Everyone is trying to cash in on the covid bike market. I keep an eye on the local market and I have never seen as many high end bikes being sold at one time. There are also some great deals to be had. It would not surprise me if prices start to come down to earth in the fall when cold weather hits. I recently picked this up because I couldn't resist; now I need to find a home for a 48 cm custom frame which is in fine shape. I plan on using the parts for a different project.

Wanderer

This spring and summer, I have done several rehabs for people I don't even know, out of my garage... referred by a friend or relative of mine.

They say they can't get into a LBS for 2-3 months, and want their old bike to ride!

I have been charging them way more than I think it's worth, to try to turn them off ----- but it doesn't bother them! A few of them have brought another bike with them, when they come to pick it up. Lots of kids bikes just need minor adjustments............

It is truly amazing how bad people let their bikes get. Outside storage seems to be the biggest culprit!

gthomson

wow bikemig that looks like a great find, regardless of the size. I've never heard of Gangl bikes but the components all look great. Is that how it came or did you already do some work on it? The market is crazy around where I am, and I think it might vary based on demographics, but to put things in perspective, a well maintained 1980's road bike (nothing special, we're talking Free Spirit and other box store bikes) selling for $250-350. Anything the next level up (Lemond, Peugeot, Motobecane) selling for closer to $600 and then I won't tell you what the Italian models are selling for.
Wanderer I can believe you would be busy, it's been nuts. I think it's finally starting to go back to normal as the bike shops are actually taking phone calls now and I notice people who were pricing items too high are dropping their prices to come back to reality.

Glad to hear some of you guys are doing well in this market. about time right?

FiftySix

I've noticed that one of the regular bicycle sellers on the local CL here is now easing prices down. That seller hasn't had low prices in many months.

gthomson

FiftySix Yes I can see that as I am noticing the social media listings that are still up are dropping their prices. I guess the biking season is over for the masses so the demand is dropping and those that didn't take advantage of the boom are now trying to dump inventory.

Hopefully this might be a market for real buyers not interested in paying outrageous prices.

OldsCOOL

We have something in common with bike tastes. I have collected C&V racing bikes for years and recently came upon an ‘83 UO-14. It was advertised on Facebook Marketplace for 75$ and my wife saw it. I stripped it down for cleaning, ditched the 27” wheelset, swapped the Mafacs for Superbe and Simplex DR’s for Suntour Cyclone. The previous owner installed Suntour barend shifters and that is really what caught my eye.

Anyways, I wanted to do a flip but like it so much it may earn a spot next to the upper echelon racers.

Strange but with all this odd snapping at vintage bikes (cheaper) I have scarcely seen any around town. Most here are still riding older MTBs.

gthomson

OldsCOOL Hey OldsCOOL, do you have any pictures of your UO14 to share? Would be interesting to see what you did with it. I mostly did cosmetic changes (wheels, seat, bar tape....) just to modernize it a bit but kept the original paint scheme and Shimano Sakae gearing. I replaced the flywheel with a 7 gear cassette which has degraded the shifting slightly but still runs smooth as silk. I love riding it. I guess I need to get on a higher end model to really see the difference.
Feel free to send me pictures of your collection, I love looking at bike porn.

OldsCOOL

Very nice! The 83 was using carry over components from the 70’s and really needed the upgrade. Keep in mind this was a trashed, kicked around bike that was shown no mercy for 30+yrs. I have Michelin Lithion.3 23mm tireset on the way to add some performance feel to it.

gthomson

OldsCOOL Very nice, I like the colour and the tires. Makes it look more sporty. Would yours have had the chrome front forks? I was originally going to go that way and put on some thinner performance tires but it was at the peak of the pandemic and I had a real tough time finding stuff so I jumped at these wheels that became available. I then decided, let it be more of a cruising bike as I have some newer road bikes that I take out on the longer rides. Turned out great as these wider rims and tires give it a real smooth ride.

I live in a smaller town outside of Toronto and so all the activity for old bikes is in the city. I love going into visit on a weekend and seeing all these people riding around on these old bikes - some in good shape and some beat up to hell ha ha. Makes it difficult for buying though because everything is in Toronto and a pain to get into.

OldsCOOL

Mine is a painted fork with a semi-sloping crown, which is odd as Peugeot was trying to be more trendy on the ‘83 frame but hung obsolete parts on it. The 27” Weinmann concave wheelset with Helicomatic rear hub/freewheel setup weighs a ton. I tossed a racing (85) wheelset on it. Huge difference. The frame is double butted and is capable of bringing the bike into the 22lb range, easily.

What tubing is used on your frame?

gthomson

I am not 100% sure. On the frame there's a sticker that says 453 Reynolds butted seat post steele, made in England. Would that be what the frame is made or just the seat post? Does yours have a sticker on the bottom with Velo Sport on it? Most Canadian made bikes were made by this company and then re-branded with the brand name they were contracted out to build (Peugeot, Gitane, Raleigh, etc....)

OldsCOOL

Reynolds 453 was a cro-mo frame if I recall. Mine is a double butted mangalite and has that decal. This seatpost is a French LaPrade. Fun bike to ride with the sporty 23lb weight and barend shifters. The odd thing that caught me by surprise is the Stronglight 50/36 chainrings. I expected it to have typical 52/40.

Papa Tom

I haven't been buying anybody's resells, but after several years of resisting the urge, I have started collecting bicycles and bike parts from people's trash again! I just refurbished a steel mountain bike that I SHOULD sell, but I think I like it too much, so it's probably going to sit around here for a while. Fortunately, the other two I picked up this past week are 24" and 20" girls bikes that I have no personal use for!