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Interest in bicycles when its warm vs the dead of winter?

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Shipping is through the roof, gas is $6/gal in some places, diesel and fuel oil is over $8.
I keep hearing that unemployment is way down, but locally all that's hiring is minimum wage jobs.
Truck companies are closing up in droves. Yet they say unemployment is down. I know dozens of middle age guys
who are out of work and unable to collect, a few who were avid bike guys, but they're broke. A few are flipping burgers because no one is hiring drivers. Those that are want younger drivers who they can get cheap and hopefully train.
I hear real estate is sky high, property taxes have doubled since 2008, and utilities have added huge fuel surcharges.
People are pulling back and not spending anywhere. We lost four local grocery stores, those that remain are sketchy at best. Walmart shelves are empty, it takes hitting all four remaining stores to do your weekly shopping and event hen you only find half of what you needed. Two supermarkets were out of eggs and milk for a week, one buys their eggs from company a friend owns.
I called him to see what was going on, he said nothings going on, they haven't been ordering anything. all of a sudden. He's got plenty of eggs but no buyers. A friend of my dads works for the company who delivers milk, he says they stopped going to several locations for unknown reasons, the same farmers say they're not ordering milk and its getting shipped to a processing plant instead before it spoils. He's selling off cows because demand dropped in the past two months.

A buddy has sold used bike parts on eBay for 20 years or more, lately he said nothing sells, he quit ebay a few weeks ago and plans to haul most of his stuff for scrap. He sold tools, bike parts, fishing tackle, and outboard parts for years some how maintaining perfect feedback on several accounts, but he said he hadn't had a single sale since Feb ended. He tells me it fell off drastically after the last week in October, he had 314 items sold in Oct. then 12 in Sept, 8 in Oct, 2 in Nov. and 4 in Dec. then only five in Jan and Feb. Same items same prices. He said he did have four items sell in March but none of those buyers ever paid.
He's in his 60's and tired of dealing with it all and he told me he's going to crush or burn what he's got left.
I do know he pulled several hundred aluminum rims out and was running them over with his tractor because he realized they were worth more in scrap then as rims. The same for boxes of alloy calipers and old Normandy hubs. He made a deal with local scrap yard with a grinder to grind up what he brings in on the spot. He took two dump trucks of stuff last week there. Boxes of new Suntour derailleurs, Alloy road rims, calipers, etc he was dumping out boxes into his trailer tossing the packaging into a burn barrel. He said he's tired of things not selling for enough money and plans to empty the place out, sell the house and move to FL to fish and play golf. HIs reasoning is that if buying up old parts and selling them online can't pay the taxes and the cost of doing so he's done. With fuel so high, driving 100 miles and hiring 20 guys to empty the contents of a closed down bike shop
is expensive, so is storing stuff that has a limited market.
Lately I've been thinking the same thing, with my own taxes and utility bills going so high lately, its time to move somewhere cheaper. A third of what I made last year went to property taxes alone and another third to utility bills
The original plan was to sell down what I have to help pay for the move, but there's not enough buyers who are willing to pay fair prices and the few that would in the past have stopped buying lately.
 
The collective here in DM is receiving 10 donations a day and selling 2-3 a day.
The bike paths are thicker than the highway on the weekends.
eBay sucks to sell (no more for me) but buying is ok. CL and FB market is crisp for decent stuff now, but the winter had literally nothing.
I see no problems here
 
Over the years, I've always bought three or four frames or junkers during the spring and early summer. I'd hunt the parts down for them and by late fall I'd have all the frames with their original paint cleaned up or the rusty ones repainted. Come winter, I have never had to buy much. Chicago winters are nasty and the bikes have always been a cheap and fun way to pass time and forget about the weather. So, I understand why the old bike business has always been seasonal, at least here in the rust-belt. Lately, I see so-so bikes and parts for sale here on the CABE with high prices asked for them, and have to laugh at the comments people leave . I can't believe some of the prices being asked, and am regularly shocked by serious comments, saying, " Great deal! Etc, etc... Some folks must have a lot of money to burn, or quality old parts and restorable bikes are finally drying up. I 'am happy I got into this hobby when I did. Sure can't pay these high prices anymore.
 
Things are just a bit slow right now, but it will pick up soon... I've been collecting bikes (and a whole lot of other stuff) for over 40 years now, it's in my blood and I'll likely never stop. As a matter of fact, these slow times are the best times to buy !!
 
I can see distance being an issue considering gas prices. There have been a couple bikes I might have bought in the last month that would have been double the price including a tank of gas to go get them.
Luckily I don't need to drive much, less than a tank a month.
Its good to have a shopping bike nobody wants to steal and all the stores I need pretty close.
I recommend a bike to everyone that lets me sneak it in.

Less gas, less mid-drift, fresh air and sunshine.
What could be better?
 
The collective here in DM is receiving 10 donations a day and selling 2-3 a day.
The bike paths are thicker than the highway on the weekends.
eBay sucks to sell (no more for me) but buying is ok. CL and FB market is crisp for decent stuff now, but the winter had literally nothing.
I see no problems here
There are tons of bikes for sale here, with pricing all over the place but there don't seem to be any buyers this year. I talked to a few flippers who concentrate on bikes for those bound for the shore. They have garages full of bikes and most haven't sold a single one, not even over this past weekend.
Many of the bikes listed have been listed and relisted since last summer, especially those that are close to here. Nearby areas look to be the same way.

The roads are devoid of even cars here lately, I went shopping Sunday afternoon and the place was empty, on the day before Memorial Day.

As far as people riding bikes, I haven't seen a bike rider all year here. Bike riding has been scarce here for years. All the real shops have closed up, the few that remain are just selling the cheapest bikes they can find because that's all that sells.

eBay has become a strange place lately, tons of Chinese sellers, and sellers who don't have a clue how to sell.
I had a guy this morning with something listed i was interested in, but he had the price way high, but had a Best Offer option on the ad. He was asking $50, the item sells new for $30 in the stores, I offer him $20 plus shipping. He comes back with a counter offer of $49.99, "Its the best I will do' he tells me. Why bother with the best offer option if your only going to take the amount its listed for?
 
Over the past years I can't help but notice that for some reason when the weather gets warmer bikes get harder to sell? All winter long, I see bikes come and go on CL and FB and most will sell eventually. Once the weather warms, all interest in used bikes or parts seem to dwindle to almost nothing?
I see things on eBay listed for months on end, bikes on CL that never sell and ads get no emails regardless of price. I've watched five or six older Schwinn cruisers, a few Rollfast cruiser go unsold for $50 or $100 over the past few months. Back in Nov they'd have been gone in a flash. Its the same way every year.
I was in a bike shop last week and he was saying the same thing, he sells 90% of all his bikes in mid to late Dec, then one or two every now of then till Sept. He said he's thinking about closing completely between Jan and May due to no sales. (There was a shop like that around here years ago, the guy worked another job and only opened the store around Christmas and at nights the summer and fall. He was closed from Jan to Jun.
I would think that spring would be when folks are digging out their bikes and needing them fixed or out looking for a new bike. Even tires don't sell. I had a stack of new middle weight tires listed for a year, I sold four pair in Oct. two in Nov. Two in Dec, then nothing since. I finally sold the rest of them to a guy from OH who happened to be only about 80 miles away at the time. I'd have figured that more would have jumped on $20 - S7 tires regardless of the brand (branded 'National' K75). They looked like Kendas.

Worse yet, the only bikes that do sell are junk department store models. If I list a junk Kent for $50 its gone in hours, if I list a Chicago Schwinn it sits for months.
People also don't make offers, at least not reasonable offers.

I had an early 80's Schwinn Cruiser in nice condition, I went through it top to bottom in March, it was listed till the other day on CL for $300. It never got a single email. I gave it to a buddy who lives in TX to take home and sell. He sold it for $350 on his way home to a gas station attendant 30 miles from here. The guy asked him if he was the one who had it on CL, he tells him he saw it but it was too far away.
He was 30 miles away for heavens sake. I'd have probably met him half way or even delivered it if he paid first.
I get emails on bikes from guys and hour away who say they really want the bike but 35 miles away is a long ride. Or they don't own a car.

I was talking a guy at the local flea market a few weeks ago. He was walking table to table hunting for old military items and a particular type of china his wife collects. He finds an old Spanish bayonet on a table. He looks the thing over up and down, tells me he's got a rifle that's missing one and its a perfect match.
Being a bit of a gun nut myself I'm thinking its worth about $80 or so. He finally asks the guy how much, the seller says he'll take $30. He puts it down and walks away. Meanwhile I'm seeing them online for $120 and up. I asked him what he thought it was worth if he didn't want to spend $30? He tells me he's willing to spend $25 tops. Are you kidding? He walked away from something he may never see again over $5? He never made an offer, he just set it down and walked away. I turned around, picked the thing up and looked it over for a bit, then told the guy $10, he said no, but $15 will take it.
I walk back over to my buddy and told him I got it for $15, and he's pissed off. He figured he'd wait till it sat there on the table for a year and then offer the guy $2.
I offered it to him for the $15, but he refused. ( I was really just going to give it to him figuring it all works out in the end anyway, but I wanted him to admit he should have just bought it or made an offer.
Another buddy offered me $100 but I refused. 20 minutes ago buddy number one calls me and asks if I still had it, "He was thinking and he probably should have grabbed it that day at the flea market". I told him I sold it to let him stew over it a bit.
I think people forgot how to bargain these days if the price isn't dirt cheap or what they had in mind they don't bother. I see it at yardsales and fleamarkets all the time. They get a price, then walk away because its not what they expected.
Overall (most) people are cheap. Your flea market guy # 1 is laughable. He walks over $5.00 difference. Does he squeak when he walks? I bet he's rich. You are a good negotiator. You should have sold it to guy # 2 for the $100.00. Tell guy # 1 what you paid, what you sold it for and then let him stew.

That reminds me of a Pawn Stars episode ( most are lame, but if I'm bored) where Hoss (or whoever Ricks idiot son is) drives hours to look at motorcycles for Rick, gets a negotiated price lower than Rick said he'd pay for a minty 1970 Triumph, and Hoss still refuses the deal over $500.00. Needless to say, Rick is PO'D when they get back, and even that clown Chumly shakes his head at what a dope Hoss is.

Those chumps are millionaires and lowball so much I wanna hurl. I mean if you wanna lowball and come to your senses and meet at a reasonable trade off, that's almost acceptable.
 
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
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