Just purely out of curiousity there is a guy in the Grand Prairie/Arlington area right now that has like 15 to 20 bikes on Craigslist DFW.....is this guy legit to buy from or what is he pushing here? Of course he looks like he makes his money buying old bikes and rebuilding them and reselling them....absolutely no problem with that. Just curious about him really....if I have to deal with him in the future?

The concept behind Craigslist is that the buyer and seller meet in person. The buyer gets to see the merchandise in person, the seller gets to see the money in person. Once both persons are satisfied that the transaction is what they expected, they do the deal and leave. It is harder for one of the parties to misrepresent their offer. Even if you question what the seller is representing in his ad, you don't provide payment until you see real evidence in person. If either party turns out to be not legit, then the other party is only out their time and perhaps travel effort.

This is not to say that the seller is legit, but it is different from how you would approach a deal on ebay for instance. If I was suspicious of a seller on either site, I would ask more questions hoping that the responses to the questions would provide evidence that the seller was legit or not legit. Then I would have to decide to go to the next level.

I already know how Craigslist works.....isn't that a given since I was already on the website? But other then telling me how Craigslist works can you give feedback on this seller or no?

You're welcome.

I think I know of this one but I have never dealt with him personally, sorry.

But if it were me he is a either a bike flipper in the best case or a thief in the worst, either way I prefer to deal with individuals with individual bikes for sale.

To me it seems like a bike flipper as well. No problem with that. Hope he make a good business out of it.
But, that does seem to make it harder to find a good deal. Folks out there scanning the landscape looking to buy up any good deal so they can flip them.
Again, I don't have a problem with the practice, it just makes it harder for me to find what I am looking for at a good price.
I suspect that folks who make a living off of stealing/selling bikes probably don't use Craigslist so much. I would think that would make it to easy for the original owner to find their bike. I would guess that most stolen bikes are either pawn shopped or chopped up for parts.

Hes just a flipper, Just like I was when I was in Irving. There are some good ones in the area in Keller and Aubrey. I have never delt with that guy though, but theres some sketchy ( as far as quality goes) coming out of some parts of Arlington. Just like with everything in life check everything out since most have not owned the bikes long and most do no rehab.

I know who you're talking about. He posts his location as Arlington for some bikes and Grand Prairie with others. Always in caps. I don't think he rebuilds them at all. He got busted by someone yesterday for buying some junk bike at Farmers Market for $30 in the morning then posting it on CL in the afternoon for $150. A lot of times he'll post that the bike was "in a shed for years" like the one he got at the flea market yesterday.

This morning there is a guy in Arlington and one in Balch Springs with TONS of old steel bikes. Most of them look fairly reasonable shape but just a bit overpriced IMO. (There is one that has an obvious bent-fork thing going.)
My question is, how do these guys find all these old steel bikes? I am looking for one but have no idea where to go outside of The List. Everything on The List is overpriced. What am I missing?

I don't know if this is the same person, but a couple years ago there was someone in Arlington that was constantly being accused of selling stolen bikes. If I remember right, it was a woman's name though. Not sure if there is any relation to the seller you're talking about (Arlington is a pretty big city, after all).

As far as where they get them from, I've heard all kinds of stories as far as having connections with city dumps, metal recycling places, thrift stores, etc. I think those relationships are a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Then there are the time intensive methods of cruising garage sales and looking through neighborhoods on trash night. I've gotten three or four bikes for free that way- one from the city dump, a couple from the curb, one from a dumpster.

There is an industrial lot I've seen that has dozens of bikes stacked up; they just sit there. I have no idea where they came from, but the stack grows once in a while. The guy never seems to move them. I got his phone number at one point but never bothered to call.

I guess my point is that if you want to get into the flipping business, there are probably "wholesale distributors" of old, junked bikes out there if you keep your eyes open.

First Monday Trade Days in Canton (or at some of the road-side vendors along some of the smaller highways heading into Canton).

what kind of steel bike are you looking for?

Steel road bike. 60cm. Something fairly nice but I'm not afraid of a project. As long as it is mechanically pretty sound. I don't want to have to do a complete rebuild

would you be interested in a '71 schwinn contenental? most all of the mechanicals were replaced in the late '70's.

I seen that bent fork Schwinn and told him. He changed pics of it the next day of the same bike but a different angle. He has two Schwinns, both are bent fork.