Used bikes and parts

[koolbikes]

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.

 

[dirtman]

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.

 

[Archie Sturmer]

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?

 

[dirtman]

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.

 

[Oldbikeguy1960]

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.

 

[Oldbikeguy1960]

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!