# Used bikes and parts



## dirtman (Jul 31, 2021)

About four or so years ago, after being away from bicycles for a bit, I got involved in a few large clean-outs of both old bike shops, a few bike hoarder estates, and lately a rather large farm packed with old bikes and parts. The original intention was to simply find a few things I wanted, build myself a few decent older bikes, and maybe sell enough of the extra stuff to cover the cost of moving it. 
Now, four years later, I have a garage, a storage trailer, and most of my basement full of parts I felt were worth keeping to either use or sell.  I've always enjoyed old bikes and working on bikes. I spent many years in bike shops as a kid, doing repairs, building new bikes, and later selling off old shop inventories on eBay. But I didn't start actively chasing down big lots till I stumbled on a free deal up in NY that gained me about 80 bikes and a trailer full of new parts just for the taking. One led to another, then another and so on. My only expenses are my time, fuel for the trucks, and on occasion some extra hands for the move. The most I've put out for a big cleanout was just under a grand but only because I needed several drivers and some muscle to move everything in a hurry in the city. Most cost far less to handle. Being retired helps but I still don't like working for free. 

Every so often I weed through it all and find things to list and sell, hopefully to help cover the cost of it all. 
What I'm finding out is that apparently none of it has any value when it comes to selling any of it.  
I've listed a handful of really nice project bikes and a few that I've gone through and made into nice riding bikes, but have had no takers at all 

Little by little its gotten bigger and bigger with the last clean-out being a joint deal with a guy who had been doing this for decades. 
On his suggestion, I started listing more stuff on CL and FB, that pretty much turned out to be a waste of time, nothing sells unless its darn near free, and even then they want free delivery.  
Something that has really amazed me is how someone who answered an ad for a bike listed at $200, will drive hours to get here, then show up with only pocket change expecting to buy the bike for $15. Then they get mad because they're going home empty handed. 
I had that happen with a new in the box 1980 Trek 512. I ended up parting the bike out piece by piece on ebay and finally sold the frame through a friend who sells at a flea market. 

Vintage parts, which I see selling for decent money on fleabay, don't sell at all locally, and a few tries on ebay have turned out to be a waste of time as items listed didn't draw any bids or sold for less than the time it took to list them. 
The only bikes that have sold and sold consistently are department store bikes.

I see items bringing good money on eBay but when I list there nothing sells. I quit selling my own items on ebay and have a friend do the listing on her accounts. She takes a percentage and does all the shipping and listing.  I watch the same items selling for other sellers but when we list the same thing it doesn't even get a look with the same title in the same category.  I'm starting to wonder if those high priced items selling on ebay are real or maybe just items put there to get people to list their items. I had four new old stock JC 
Higgins three speed hubs, I had just watched four or five sell for over $80 each. I  gave her a pair of them to list, they went up, right next to another used one listed for $120 BIN. The $120 hub was gone three days later and showing under sold items. Mine never got a look with an almost identical title and good pics. Several others all sold for over $80 that next day, yet none we listed got so much as a look on the watch counter. 
 A few months ago I had a minty clean Huret Jubilee rear derailleur sit for two weeks without a bid while five others sold good money. 
Mine was cleaner, the same version and model and it had good pictures yet it went through two re-listings in the same category with no bids and no watchers.


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## Adamtinkerer (Jul 31, 2021)

I hear you, seems the same thing when I tried to list anything! I think sometimes, you see something sell for a decent price, and then list a similar item, and crickets, could be there was only ONE person seriously wanting said part at the time! Even here, I see good deals, and am surprised to see them still there the next week, and sometimes several weeks later! Basic supply and demand, there are only so many in the hobby, with needs and money at the same time! Personally, I might only buy parts a couple times a year, when funds exist.


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## dirtman (Aug 1, 2021)

I listed a 23" frame 1975 Paramount P10-9 in orange for a friend last summer, he hadn't ridden it in a long time, and finally decided to part with it. 
It was on Campy hubs and clincher rims, and pretty much all original. He bought it new, rode it sparingly and hung it on a wall. 
He wanted $200, I listed it for $500 after putting a fresh set of tires on it and regreasing the BB, HS, and hubs. It was ready to ride. It never got a single email, not even the 'still for sale' emails. He said lower the price and see what happens. So I put it up at $250. Again, nothing, not a single question, offer, nothing. Meanwhile, I had sold two dozen old beater bikes at $100 or more each.
 I took the thing down and just gave him the $200 figuring I'd get that back out of the parts. I put it back up at $500. Then finally around New Years I got an email on it. A guy half way across the country was interested in it, he asked the right questions, called and talked about it for a bit, and said he was going to see about either making the drive or finding a way to get someone to pick it up. After a month, he calls, says he's making the drive, he's coming from Indiana, I'm in New Jersey. He tells me he'll be at my place around 5pm the next evening if all goes right. He calls me several times through the following day, tells me he's running a bit late due to an accident but the GPS now says his ETA is 8pm my time.  He calls back at 8:15pm, tells me he's crossed into NJ and wanted to know what exit was best off the highway. He tells me where he's at, and he's not more than 15 minutes out. I tell him to take the next exit, and gave him instructions what to do after that. He calls me asking which way to turn at the light right off the highway, I tell him to go right, and make your second left and I'm right there. I walked out front so he could spot me and the bike. 
That was the last I heard from him. Not another call, he never showed up, never emailed, nothing. I had tried to call him 10 minutes after that last call but it just rang.  I pretty much waited around and adjusted my schedule to meet this guy and he doesn't show, and worse yet he apparently made up the whole story for kicks? I back searched his phone number, turns out he's in his mid 60's, and does live in Indiana, and at the time I found several posts on another forum where he was selling something and had left his phone number on that for sale page. So I know the name and phone number matched, and that he was into bikes. The one post he left was about him driving 900 miles to buy some bike in TX the year before. 
I never saw any new activity beyond that though. After thinking about it, he was likely able to make his conversation sound right and ask the right questions about which way to go by looking at Google maps but what gets me is why? 
He had to devote as much time as me to the whole charade, and to come out of it with what? 

I gave up and parted it out last winter letting a friend of mine list the parts on ebay. I came out about $50 ahead after fees and likely lost money if I counted my time in it.

I'm pretty convinced that most of what we see selling for big bucks on fleabay is staged these days. The items I see in under Sold Listings seem to come out of nowhere. 
There have been items that I was actively searching for that appeared in the sold category under the very name or title I was searching for and yet they never showed up for me while they were listed? 
I also have searched an item I have for sale to see where to price it, and I find others just like it, listed for three times what most others are at. I tried using contact seller to ask a few questions and I get either no response, or it tells me I cannot email the seller and that all info about the item is in the ad, all while there is no info in the ad, just a picture and heading. 
The other result is finding one of two similar items with high bids on Wed. just like mine, then a long list of the same item all with the same pics, but under different ebay names, all listed for crazy prices. Yet after the sale ends, none of those high dollar items can be found and the item that did have bids is gone as if it never existed.  Its almost as if eBay somehow generates ads to fill the search results as you search so that you don't find nothing. Then there's the items that show up which are completely unrelated to your search. I searched for a Shimano Baitrunner Reel' and the first four items are reel parts, only one for that reel, then a starter for a Mack truck, some car tires, then one used reel for five times what its worth, then somd underwear, and way down at the bottom, marked items you may be interested in were two beat up and battered used reels, both with the same pics, one for $14.73 wth five bids, the other for $396.07 BIN.


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## Robert Troub (Aug 10, 2021)

dirtman said:


> About four or so years ago, after being away from bicycles for a bit, I got involved in a few large clean-outs of both old bike shops, a few bike hoarder estates, and lately a rather large farm packed with old bikes and parts. The original intention was to simply find a few things I wanted, build myself a few decent older bikes, and maybe sell enough of the extra stuff to cover the cost of moving it.
> Now, four years later, I have a garage, a storage trailer, and most of my basement full of parts I felt were worth keeping to either use or sell.  I've always enjoyed old bikes and working on bikes. I spent many years in bike shops as a kid, doing repairs, building new bikes, and later selling off old shop inventories on eBay. But I didn't start actively chasing down big lots till I stumbled on a free deal up in NY that gained me about 80 bikes and a trailer full of new parts just for the taking. One led to another, then another and so on. My only expenses are my time, fuel for the trucks, and on occasion some extra hands for the move. The most I've put out for a big cleanout was just under a grand but only because I needed several drivers and some muscle to move everything in a hurry in the city. Most cost far less to handle. Being retired helps but I still don't like working for free.
> 
> Every so often I weed through it all and find things to list and sell, hopefully to help cover the cost of it all.
> ...



You're obviously doing something wrong....


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## Boneman (Aug 19, 2021)

I quit selling on EBay as they have no protection for their sellers. I have 1300 auctions with 100% positive feedback. The last  group of items that sold, 2 requested returns from having buyers remorse. I listed in my auctions no returns,however, EBay forces you to accept returns regardless. One was 25 dollars shipping that cost me 50 dollars to get my item back. The second item was 47 dollars to California that cost me 94 dollars to get my item back. I contacted EBay to fight this and EBay pointed out in their sellers contract you have to accept returns regardless of buyers reason even when you list no returns. Both these clowns had less than 10 auctions and EBay won’t let you cancel peoples bids with low auction counts. I just started listing on Facebook and hopefully that will work out.


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## GTs58 (Aug 19, 2021)

Boneman said:


> I quit selling on EBay as they have no protection for their sellers. I have 1300 auctions with 100% positive feedback. The last  group of items that sold, 2 requested returns from having buyers remorse. I listed in my auctions no returns,however, EBay forces you to accept returns regardless. One was 25 dollars shipping that cost me 50 dollars to get my item back. The second item was 47 dollars to California that cost me 94 dollars to get my item back. I contacted EBay to fight this and EBay pointed out in their sellers contract you have to accept returns regardless of buyers reason even when you list no returns. Both these clowns had less than 10 auctions and EBay won’t let you cancel peoples bids with low auction counts. I just started listing on Facebook and hopefully that will work out.




I hope that works out for the most part. But from what I've seen on Faceplant, the buyers can be just as bad or worse than the ones on eBay. Big difference though for the seller when he has some buyers with remorse or changes his mind and decides he doesn't want the item. Have you listed anything here on the Cabe?


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## Adamtinkerer (Aug 21, 2021)

I think I'll list here if I ever get around to selling anything bike related! Like I've also sold guitars on eBay, but won't again, Reverb is a music gear selling site, better to go with a site specific to your item when possible! I still buy on eBay though!


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## JoNy (Aug 31, 2021)

Thanks for posting the warning flags.


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## sworley (Aug 31, 2021)

I am so tired of eBay's games. I sold some parts and a bike on there last month. The parts got sent back to me despite using the label I paid for and printed from their site. The bike got damaged by UPS and required a costly part to fix, eating up any margin I made. Oh, and they're keeping my money hostage for a month, too. I will continue to use eBay to buy, though.


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## Archie Sturmer (Nov 15, 2021)

I recommend writing short sentences, and limiting any item description to about 5-lines, (on equivalent to regular type on letter size paper).  Perhaps the buyers figure that if the seller writes a novel; then the sales might not be simple financial transactions.


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Dec 20, 2021)

Robert Troub said:


> You're obviously doing something wrong....



Maybe you could tell us all what that is.
Many of us have had the same experience, I for one tried multiple methods of listing, some so far as to copy a listing exactly but with my own photos, seller info and reduced price. I then watched as the other item sold and mine did nothing.
Maybe it is something else.
I know for a fact that eBay sells items themselves and I can prove it.
I sold a set of beautiful 1969/70 Honda CB650SOHC carbs to a buyer in France. He paid, I shipped to eBay Global Shipping. Then eBay canceled the sale claiming gasoline smell and fluid leaking from package. 
Bullpoop. 
The carbs were disassembled, cleaned with soy based cleaner (no smell) rebuilt and some parts replaced with chrome parts I had then shelved for 6 months. I had built them to use, then i used a different setup I made and put them up for sale. When I boxed them, I bubble wrapped, stretch wrapped and then put them in a bag and heat sealed them, put them in a box, bubble wrapped and heat sealed it in another bag, then boxed that to ship. I have shipped international before and I always check what needs to be done and I exceed it.
When I got the notice, eBay let me keep the money but I requested the carbs back instead and told them to keep the money. They refused claiming shipping was too hazardous.
Again Bullpoop.
They reimbursed the buyer as well. (Nice of them). I was not happy, but they basically told me to come to Silicone Valley and pound sand. At that point eBay was out $250 and a little time. This is important.
A month or so later guess what? The carbs showed up on eBay listed under a "business" account for sale and the pricks  used my listing, right down to the description and photos taken on weathered planks on my front porch.
So eBay doesn't sell things to inflate prices and make themselves look good right? They listed them with a duplicate listing to mine, except one difference. I sold them for $250 but they relisted them buy it now for $450!!!!! They even offered Global Shipping Program on them!!!!!
Yes, eBay is a bunch of shysters but not only on rules or fees. They outright stole my listing, hijacked the carbs and listed them at an enormous profit and after telling me they couldn't ship them to me they had shipping costs in the listing!
Tell me what I did wrong. Please.
Sometimes the answer is the answer whether some people believe it or not.
The End
Rob


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## TWDay (Dec 20, 2021)

The problem is bike aficionados have become greedy. If you look at the prices on items needed to restore a bike on ebay and other sites it is absolutely ridiculous. The prices are so high that many people wait either for the cost to be reduced or they find what they are looking for through local bike groups or they just put the project away and forget about it. Having an old, rare bike is not like having an old rare car or truck. Vintage bikes don't hold their values like vintage and classic cars and trucks do. Everybody loves a beautiful original or restored classic car or truck, but the numbers drop for vintage bicycles. If you go outside of your vintage bike groups like The Cabe and others, you don't have the collector/admirer base that cars and trucks have, yet those in the bike hobby think that their bikes and parts are gold. As an auctioneer I see this ALL the time. Many folks think they have a gold mine, and then when we do a real life appraisal they see that what they have does not have the public interest like other hobbies. 

To give an example: I have a 1967 Schwinn Stingray I want to restore. To buy the parts I need will end up costing close to 1000.00 if I buy them separately. Yet on ebay there is an unrestored 1967 Schwinn Stingray, a complete bike with very nice parts and its only 500.00. Even has the original seat. And I saw a seat like it listed for 230.00. THAT ladies and gentlemen is why your parts don't sell. The buyer is patient and will eventually get what they need, but not from you. Or they will shelve the bike until a later time, disappointed that they can't complete the restoration.

Like I tell estate sale and auction clients, you have to know what the market will bear before you decide to price your stuff. Otherwise you will not realize a sale and end up tossing most of what you have in a dumpster.


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## TWDay (Dec 20, 2021)

And by the way, don't use ebay. At one time you could use ebay as a barometer for values on just about everything. Not any more. Use sites like The Cabe and Rat Rod bikes if you are looking to sell or buy bikes and bike parts. Usually, those members know their REAL value and assist other members with getting what they need to do restorations and repairs. That is how the vintage car and truck folks do it. I know, I've been helped and I've helped folks for over 40 years restoring cars and trucks as both a hobby and a business. I can't tell you how many parts I've given away or had just given to me over the years while doing a restoration. Everybody wins.


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## TWDay (Dec 20, 2021)

Oldbikeguy1960 said:


> Maybe you could tell us all what that is.
> Many of us have had the same experience, I for one tried multiple methods of listing, some so far as to copy a listing exactly but with my own photos, seller info and reduced price. I then watched as the other item sold and mine did nothing.
> Maybe it is something else.
> I know for a fact that eBay sells items themselves and I can prove it.
> ...



With eBay, nothing surprises me.


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## PCHiggin (Dec 20, 2021)

dirtman said:


> I listed a 23" frame 1975 Paramount P10-9 in orange for a friend last summer, he hadn't ridden it in a long time, and finally decided to part with it.
> It was on Campy hubs and clincher rims, and pretty much all original. He bought it new, rode it sparingly and hung it on a wall.
> He wanted $200, I listed it for $500 after putting a fresh set of tires on it and regreasing the BB, HS, and hubs. It was ready to ride. It never got a single email, not even the 'still for sale' emails. He said lower the price and see what happens. So I put it up at $250. Again, nothing, not a single question, offer, nothing. Meanwhile, I had sold two dozen old beater bikes at $100 or more each.
> I took the thing down and just gave him the $200 figuring I'd get that back out of the parts. I put it back up at $500. Then finally around New Years I got an email on it. A guy half way across the country was interested in it, he asked the right questions, called and talked about it for a bit, and said he was going to see about either making the drive or finding a way to get someone to pick it up. After a month, he calls, says he's making the drive, he's coming from Indiana, I'm in New Jersey. He tells me he'll be at my place around 5pm the next evening if all goes right. He calls me several times through the following day, tells me he's running a bit late due to an accident but the GPS now says his ETA is 8pm my time.  He calls back at 8:15pm, tells me he's crossed into NJ and wanted to know what exit was best off the highway. He tells me where he's at, and he's not more than 15 minutes out. I tell him to take the next exit, and gave him instructions what to do after that. He calls me asking which way to turn at the light right off the highway, I tell him to go right, and make your second left and I'm right there. I walked out front so he could spot me and the bike.
> ...



Had a guy call on a bike a few years ago, he supposedly lived on the other side of town, a good distance from me.  I gave him directions to a gas station near my house and said I'd meet him there, told him to call when he arrived.  He called, said he was 2 mins away, and asked for my address. I again told him to call when he arrived @ the gas station. Never heard again from him, LOL! I don't get it other than them wanting your address so they can come back and steal from you or they're just bored and are sitting in moms basement in their pajamas and have no life?


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Dec 20, 2021)

That can be and is a problem for some I know.
But if a guy is selling something nice at a lower cost than ones listed next to his and they keep selling and he doesn't, what could be happening there?
I cannot speak for everyone. I no longer sell on eBay since Managed Payments started. When I did on my seller account I had about 900 ratings with a 100% positive feedback that was 5 stars as far as the eye could see. I still had the same problem I described way more than once.
Are people just attracted to rusty old parts thinking that makes them authentic?


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## mrg (Dec 20, 2021)

My eyes are sore, too many words and not enough pictures!


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Dec 21, 2021)

Too Late. SHE'S HERE!!!!!


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## rustndust (Dec 23, 2021)

Oldbikeguy1960 said:


> That can be and is a problem for some I know.
> But if a guy is selling something nice at a lower cost than ones listed next to his and they keep selling and he doesn't, what could be happening there?
> I cannot speak for everyone. I no longer sell on eBay since Managed Payments started. When I did on my seller account I had about 900 ratings with a 100% positive feedback that was 5 stars as far as the eye could see. I still had the same problem I described way more than once.
> Are people just attracted to rusty old parts thinking that makes them authentic?



Long time reader, new sign up here. 

I watch it happen over and over on eBay, there will be three or four items listed, often new items by the same seller, and only one gets any bids. One item gets run up, yet the other identical items never get a bid. 

I sold quite a bit on eBay back in the 2000's but quit after they stopped letting sellers leave negative feedback for bad buyers. 

Time and time again I'd list multiple items, in the same category, with the same search words and title, yet only one would get any bids, often getting bid up far beyond its value, all while identical items just went completely untouched, no bids, no views, yet they were listed identically. It was as if no one could see those ads. 
I hear a lot of this same sort of complaints from a few buddies who still sell there too.


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## Archie Sturmer (Dec 23, 2021)

Odd thing about eBay is that sometimes the number of watchers will be presented, and other times not. 
If the number is zero, why not so state, and I do have interest in how many competing or prospective buyers might also be watching.


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## koolbikes (Dec 23, 2021)

eBay is not what it use to be.
Dirtman, Have you tried selling your bicycle parts at any Bicycle Swap Meets?
 Trexlertown, Hershey, Butler or at Bicycle Heaven, all in PA ... but near you in NJ. I know it's a lot of work hauling this stuff around, but you get to meet those your selling to.


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## dirtman (Feb 12, 2022)

I went to Trexlertown once a long time ago, it may have been an off year because it really didn't look like much of a turnout. Maybe 30 or so sellers tops and not much being sold. It seemed like it was mostly high end road bike stuff and a few sellers with some balloon tire bikes and parts for big money. I had gone to check it out with a buddy who at the time owned a bike shop, he was looking to retire and was looking for a way to unload a ton of vintage inventory he had accumulated. We never went back. That was before I got back into bikes and started accumulating so much myself.
It was almost a 3 hour drive back then. That's the closest place on your list. Google maps says its 135 miles from me here and that's the closest of those you listed.  
I thought about taking a drive out to see Bicycle Heaven's museum but its a good 6 or 7 hour drive each way.  
There's a few 'swap' meets locally but none that I've seen are worth loading up a truck, making the drive and spending a day to sell a handful of items. I stumbled on a show about 10 years ago down in FL. It was probably a good thing I was not going to be driving back home because I'd have likely loaded up on all sorts of deals, that was back in 2009. It was a mix of bikes and old cars in the show with a fair amount of sellers set up as well.  I remember giving $25 for a minty clean Schwinn Racer coaster brake model which I used while I was there that winter and spring. I ended up giving it to a buddies kid when I headed home. If I weren't flying home, I'd have brought it home with me.  I kick myself for not buying a super clean green Hornet some guy had for sale for $60. I rode it around for a half hour at the show but I had already bought the Racer and couldn't fit two bikes in the cab of the truck. I should have bought the Hornet and torn it apart and shipped it home in pieces while I was there. 
In general, my experiences have given me the impression that swap meets are places to buy bikes and parts no so much to sell them. The deals seem to favor the buyer not the seller.


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## Archie Sturmer (Feb 14, 2022)

dirtman said:


> I went to Trexlertown once a long time ago, I had gone to check it out with a buddy who at the time owned a bike shop, he was looking to retire and was looking for a way to unload a ton of vintage inventory he had accumulated.



Did your buddy ever retire, and how did he unload his inventory?


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## dirtman (Feb 18, 2022)

He closed up shop a few years after and sold off most of the small items on fleabay and sold the larger items to a few collectors. I ended up with a good bit of it early on but wasn't around when he finally closed up shop. That was in the late 90's and into the early 2000's.  At one point, either he or the guy who had the shop before him must of sold used bikes, he had a chicken coop full of old bikes, most from the 40's and 50's. Most were ladies models though, but many were really clean original bikes. I had asked him once why he didn't sell used bikes and he said that the insurance co. wouldn't allow it anymore. At one time, all the shops here had new and used bikes, but by the 1980's that was all a thing of the past. 

I think by not selling used bikes and not servicing older bikes those guys sort of obsoleted their own inventory and got stuck with it.


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Feb 18, 2022)

dirtman said:


> He closed up shop a few years after and sold off most of the small items on fleabay and sold the larger items to a few collectors. I ended up with a good bit of it early on but wasn't around when he finally closed up shop. That was in the late 90's and into the early 2000's.  At one point, either he or the guy who had the shop before him must of sold used bikes, he had a chicken coop full of old bikes, most from the 40's and 50's. Most were ladies models though, but many were really clean original bikes. I had asked him once why he didn't sell used bikes and he said that the insurance co. wouldn't allow it anymore. At one time, all the shops here had new and used bikes, but by the 1980's that was all a thing of the past.
> 
> I think by not selling used bikes and not servicing older bikes those guys sort of obsoleted their own inventory and got stuck with it.



Part of the master plan to push us more and more into the Consumer Driven Society.
Crappy products made from crappy materials with crappy or no warranties.
I have bikes from the 1960s that still hold air in the tires and the chrome still shines up looking better than most of the new chrome on bikes now.


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Feb 18, 2022)

Oldbikeguy1960 said:


> Part of the master plan to push us more and more into the Consumer Driven Society.
> Crappy products made from crappy materials with crappy or no warranties.
> I have bikes from the 1960s that still hold air in the tires and the chrome still shines up looking better than most of the new chrome on bikes now.



P.S. I bet his insurance did not go down when he couldn't sell used bikes anymore either!


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