What to do with hoards of good parts that won't sell?

[dirtman]

It was a hoard like you just dealt with that got me back into bikes a couple of years ago. I cleaned out 15 loads of old bikes from a place about 20 miles away from home. The guy had bikes and parts strewn all through his house, garage, and four sheds. He saved everything, but only about 1/3 of it was worth anything at all, the rest was junk at best. He had everything packed in unmarked boxes, or boxes marked with some illegible code that only he understood. I borrowed a 26ft straight truck, me and a buddy moved box after box till the truck was filled, we made four trips each weekend till we were done. It filled my garage, my car trailer, half my basement, my attic and two truck bodies I bought in the back yard. My only investment was time and fuel, but the truck burned about $500 in fuel by the time we were done. I had hoped that the whole bikes, those he had gone through and was trying to sell himself might make a few dollars back but it turns out that used bikes don't sell, I couldn't get $25 for a complete working bike. If it wasn't carbon fiber or 80 years old no one had any interest. I tried CL and FB. There were a few bikes in the lot i wanted for myself, and I ended up keeping four clean English three speeds all in 23" frame sizes, and four road bikes, plus some spare parts and a couple boxes of tires and tubes. The rest was of little interest to me.
After two years of nothing selling I started parting out the bikes, selling off the bits that would sell, and trashing the rest. I had 30 pair of 27" gumwall tires, the local bike shop was getting $45/pr, I listed them for $10/pr and got no replies, just $2 offers. The only whole bikes that sold were the low end department store models. When I listed those, I got dozens of emails and the bikes were gone quick., When I listed a top quality brand like Raleigh or Motobecane, I got nothing but lowball offers and scammers. The guy had cases of new alloy road bike rims, Weinmann, Araya, Rigida, etc, but they went unsold for a month on fleabay.
I ended saving a few and junking the rest. I got to the point where I felt that if someone didn't feel it was worth $25, plus shipping, it wasn't worth my time to list pack and ship it. I was spending hours every week running around trying to find boxes to ship in and spending money on fuel doing so. After eBay fees, I was losing money. I should have pulled out the few items I wanted to keep and hauled the rest right to the junkyard I'd have been ahead of the game in the end.

 

[dirtman]

It really bothered me to part out good, complete working bikes but the alternative was to just scrap them. I couldn't believe that they had zero value here. Even the parts got little to no attention. A few of the road bikes were like new, although they were nothing special, they were still super clean, although older bikes. The junky department store bikes sold better than the name brand bikes. What got me most was that some would offer more than I had a bike listed for to get an 80's Huffy, but minty clean Raleigh and Motobecane models got zero emails at $50 and $75 each.
One guy showed up to look at a Murray bike for $40, a low end three speed who told me they were the best bikes ever made, then he offered me $10, because he had no money. He was driving a new GMC pickup. Another offered me $200 for the whole lot of bikes and parts, which included 14 new in the box bikes, and dozens of new complete wheels, and boxes of new parts from the 60's and 70's.
It all makes me realize that all that I've collected myself over the years likely has no value. If its not brand new from Walmart or Target it seems they don't know what it is and have no interest in it. The collectible end of it seems dead here.

What surprised me most was how a complete bike would go unsold locally, with pocket change type offers, yet the same person who offered $25 for a minty clean bike turns around and buys its wheels after I parted it out for $100 a month later?

 

[Jesse McCauley]

I got into bikes with alley bikes and still have a soft spot for a bicycle being unappreciated.
That said I don't devote much time to working on most bicycles I find in the wild and I simply give them a light cleaning and put them out in the world for free. Generally speaking the bikes I give away don't last and I am hopeful that they will get renewed life.

 

[razinhellcustomz]

It really bothered me to part out good, complete working bikes but the alternative was to just scrap them. I couldn't believe that they had zero value here. Even the parts got little to no attention. A few of the road bikes were like new, although they were nothing special, they were still super clean, although older bikes. The junky department store bikes sold better than the name brand bikes. What got me most was that some would offer more than I had a bike listed for to get an 80's Huffy, but minty clean Raleigh and Motobecane models got zero emails at $50 and $75 each.
One guy showed up to look at a Murray bike for $40, a low end three speed who told me they were the best bikes ever made, then he offered me $10, because he had no money. He was driving a new GMC pickup. Another offered me $200 for the whole lot of bikes and parts, which included 14 new in the box bikes, and dozens of new complete wheels, and boxes of new parts from the 60's and 70's.
It all makes me realize that all that I've collected myself over the years likely has no value. If its not brand new from Walmart or Target it seems they don't know what it is and have no interest in it. The collectible end of it seems dead here.

What surprised me most was how a complete bike would go unsold locally, with pocket change type offers, yet the same person who offered $25 for a minty clean bike turns around and buys its wheels after I parted it out for $100 a month later?

I just recently bought a really nice near mint condition Schwinn Varsity 10 speed from the Zt. Vinnie department store here in town for $25.38 after taxes and rode it a couple times this summer... Rides, shifts and brakes great, now if I had to sell it I figured it might go for $40.00- $50.00... Will see this spring when I post some bikes for sale how it will do...

 

[dirtman]

I sold an Orange 1974 Varsity here on CL about four years ago. I listed it at $250 and got so many emails I figured I listed it too cheap. I pulled the ad and put it back up a few months later at $400, it sold for $340 cash in three days. The bike was clean, fully serviced and ready to ride. I had owned it for 30 years.
I listed a minty clean Continental, a bike I bought that was always a bit small for me, only a 21" frame, but with a longer seat post I made it usable.
I listed it for $300, then $200, then finally down to $50, but got no replies, I finally parted it out and sold it on ebay one piece at a time. The cranks brought the most at $100 shipped about two years ago.
I found over the years that Varsity bikes have a following, they don't want other variations of that model, just the Varsity.

I was told years ago that what's collectible follows an age bracket. Guys who are in the mid 30's, are generally those who are buying and paying the most, they're at the age where they've started to make a little money, maybe get settled in their careers, and want to buy the things they couldn't have or couldn't afford as a kid. They tend to buy things that they thought were cool or things that were 'In' when they were 12 to 17 years of age, but either they or their parents couldn't or wouldn't afford. They tend to pay whatever it takes to own that item NOW, before they get too old to enjoy it as they would have back in the day.

The next stage of collecting is realization that you can't take it with you, this often happens as the same group turns 50-55. They loose some interest in those items they overpaid for and realize there's other things they'd rather have, or they're selling things off as the result of a divorce or career change.
The next buyer is generally the retired or soon to be retired group who had those items and remember them fondly from their youth. This group is smarter about money and not as likely to overpay. They're willing to wait for the right deal. Only on occasion will this group pay top dollar.

The problem is that these days, the bikes most 35 or so year old guys had were mass produced in huge numbers, often imported from China, so the collectible part is far less then bikes from years past. Your also getting into the age bracket where video games and computers were becoming the norm, so less were into bikes as a group.
The older crowd, with the latest round of inflation doesn't have the spare income to buy or build huge collections, they're downsizing not building it seems. The money is no limit crowd is dwindling, as are those who remember many of the real classic bikes of the past. Then there's age itself, as we get older, many can no longer ride as much as they once did, many not at all. Its hard to maintain interest in a hobby if your no longer able to get out and enjoy it, and many of those who really began seeing these older bikes as collectibles are simply no longer with us.
I've watched dozens of rather large local collections, many of which took years and tons of cash to accumulate, get liquidated for pennies on the dollar over recent years with only a few bringing any serious sums of money.
I see it both at Estate Sales, on eBay, and on CL and FB, bikes that wouldn't have lasted 20 minutes 10-15 years ago now going unsold for a fraction of what they were once worth.
Anything less than showroom perfection goes unsold or completely ignored lately.

Those department store bikes that sell so well these days are likely what those buyers remember and relate too, they likely have never owned anything else and are buying back the bike or brand they once owned and knew. Basic brand recognition and nothing else.

 

[SirMike1983]

You make some good points about people going through phases when they collect things. Your point about computers and video games is particularly good. People my age grew up with 8-bit Nintendo systems and some of those sets have taken on value. This is not to mention the value of old mountain bikes and BMX bikes going up quickly in the last few years. I have to wonder about the person willing to pay $500 for an old and potentially non-functioning computer or piece of electronics though. They're plastic and don't seem to age as well as a vintage bike from the 1950s. I guess we'll see though.

I think you're right about 10-speed stuff. It seems like only the very high-end or niche stuff does well. A basic Raleigh or Schwinn 10-speed like a Grand Prix or a Varsity is still kind of a yard sale bike. Maybe time kind of passed them by... Some of the prices of vintage BMX and high-end mountain bikes are eye-popping.

I wonder sometimes about people paying $20,000 for an old Fender guitar and the like. In 30 years, will it be worth that? Take a look at colonial type furniture and 19th century furniture. Where I live many people who are now in their 60s-70s collected that stuff, but the value has cratered on many such pieces. One a lot of that furniture, it's like 30% of what it was 30 years ago. When you go in for the "big money" there's always a risk.

 

[dirtman]

About 20-25 years ago, 50's balloon tire bikes were the big seller, you couldn't touch one for less than the price of a decent car.
Today, I see them going for a fraction of what they sold for then.
English three speeds had a big following in the late 90's, with top models bringing decent money, but now your lucky to even find one a new home for the price of a few gallons of gas.
I never got into BMX, Mountain bikes, or video games, BMX bikes were too small me and I didn't live around any places to ride offroad, nor did I care too. Other than a few dirt trails through the woods, my bikes stayed on pavement. Video games always felt like a waste of time, yet those just a few years younger seemed to be obsessed with them.
Luckily though I never threw away my old computers, slowly the old stuff is becoming collectible to at least some degree. Usually enough to make back what it cost new and then some.

I can understand the attraction to Schwinn bikes, they were hailed as top of the line for so many years and every kid wanted one, but I don't get the attraction to department store Huffy and Murray bikes, or even Walmart bikes from China from the 90's.
Most bikes and products from that period to me always seemed like cheap copies of what we once had.
With the road bikes now, its the ultra high end stuff and the very, very low end stuff that sells. The mid level bikes and components that were on most bikes gets no attention. 20 years ago I sold a minty pair of Huret Jubilee derailleurs on fleabay, they were probably $40 new tops, they sold for $420.
Last fall, a minty clean set went unsold at $50 starting bid. 20 years ago we were stripping new old stock bikes for their parts because of how much the parts were bringing.
What really gets me most is that one would expect bikes to be in much higher demand with fuel being so high, but I don't think I've seen a bike on the road around here in a year or more. My neighborhood is slowly changing over as the older generation passes on, most of the younger homeowners now, most who inherited their houses, don't own or even ride bikes. I have 6 couples with kids all around me, not a one knows how to ride a bike, or cares to ever learn. The parents are in their late 20's and the kids are 8 to 12 years old. Their parents did, I grew up with them. When I was a kid, you rarely looked out the window and didn't see a kid on a bike, but today, the kids don't leave the house. If it weren't for school buses stopping in the morning, you would never know they had kids.
What's worse yet, older kids, who are old enough to drive a car, don't bother to get their license, they have no interest in driving, they get mom and dad to drive them around. They graduate school not knowing how to ride a bike or drive a car. To me, that alone is pretty unfathomable.

I had a conversation a few months ago with one new neighbor who was complaining about the cost of labor to get electrical repairs done.
It turns out a number of the lights in their basement had quit working, (all double 48" florescent fixtures in a drop ceiling about 7ft high). He tells me that it took five weeks to get a guy to show up and it cost him $900 to get new bulbs installed.
When I asked why in hell he didn't just buy new bulbs and change them, his reply was that he don't know anything about that sort of stuff.
He works as a driver at a local electrical supply store. Another neighbor asked me how much would it cost to have new wiper blades installed on his SUV.
I told the guy to go buy them and I'll show him how to change them. Two days later he bought a new car, he told me he took the car to a shop and they told him it needed $1500 worth of work, most of which was new tires. So his solution was to trade it in with no money down on a new car with higher payments. ???
Another neighbor tells me I should get rid of my antique truck, a 2001 Dodge van with 30k on it. It bothers him seeing such and old vehicle in my driveway. I told him I plan to trade it in when it hits 100k, which at the rate I put miles on it should be somewhere around 2060, meaning I'll likely own it till I die. The same goes for my 20 year old Lincoln Towncar and 25 year old F350 , neither which have over 20k on them.
The van hasn't moved in a few weeks, I'm still unloading and sorting through a load of bikes and parts I brought home that are still stored in it.

 

[SirMike1983]

About 20-25 years ago, 50's balloon tire bikes were the big seller, you couldn't touch one for less than the price of a decent car.
Today, I see them going for a fraction of what they sold for then.
English three speeds had a big following in the late 90's, with top models bringing decent money, but now your lucky to even find one a new home for the price of a few gallons of gas.
I never got into BMX, Mountain bikes, or video games, BMX bikes were too small me and I didn't live around any places to ride offroad, nor did I care too. Other than a few dirt trails through the woods, my bikes stayed on pavement. Video games always felt like a waste of time, yet those just a few years younger seemed to be obsessed with them.
Luckily though I never threw away my old computers, slowly the old stuff is becoming collectible to at least some degree. Usually enough to make back what it cost new and then some.

I can understand the attraction to Schwinn bikes, they were hailed as top of the line for so many years and every kid wanted one, but I don't get the attraction to department store Huffy and Murray bikes, or even Walmart bikes from China from the 90's.
Most bikes and products from that period to me always seemed like cheap copies of what we once had.
With the road bikes now, its the ultra high end stuff and the very, very low end stuff that sells. The mid level bikes and components that were on most bikes gets no attention. 20 years ago I sold a minty pair of Huret Jubilee derailleurs on fleabay, they were probably $40 new tops, they sold for $420.
Last fall, a minty clean set went unsold at $50 starting bid. 20 years ago we were stripping new old stock bikes for their parts because of how much the parts were bringing.
What really gets me most is that one would expect bikes to be in much higher demand with fuel being so high, but I don't think I've seen a bike on the road around here in a year or more. My neighborhood is slowly changing over as the older generation passes on, most of the younger homeowners now, most who inherited their houses, don't own or even ride bikes. I have 6 couples with kids all around me, not a one knows how to ride a bike, or cares to ever learn. The parents are in their late 20's and the kids are 8 to 12 years old. Their parents did, I grew up with them. When I was a kid, you rarely looked out the window and didn't see a kid on a bike, but today, the kids don't leave the house. If it weren't for school buses stopping in the morning, you would never know they had kids.
What's worse yet, older kids, who are old enough to drive a car, don't bother to get their license, they have no interest in driving, they get mom and dad to drive them around. They graduate school not knowing how to ride a bike or drive a car. To me, that alone is pretty unfathomable.

I had a conversation a few months ago with one new neighbor who was complaining about the cost of labor to get electrical repairs done.
It turns out a number of the lights in their basement had quit working, (all double 48" florescent fixtures in a drop ceiling about 7ft high). He tells me that it took five weeks to get a guy to show up and it cost him $900 to get new bulbs installed.
When I asked why in hell he didn't just buy new bulbs and change them, his reply was that he don't know anything about that sort of stuff.
He works as a driver at a local electrical supply store. Another neighbor asked me how much would it cost to have new wiper blades installed on his SUV.
I told the guy to go buy them and I'll show him how to change them. Two days later he bought a new car, he told me he took the car to a shop and they told him it needed $1500 worth of work, most of which was new tires. So his solution was to trade it in with no money down on a new car with higher payments. ???
Another neighbor tells me I should get rid of my antique truck, a 2001 Dodge van with 30k on it. It bothers him seeing such and old vehicle in my driveway. I told him I plan to trade it in when it hits 100k, which at the rate I put miles on it should be somewhere around 2060, meaning I'll likely own it till I die. The same goes for my 20 year old Lincoln Towncar and 25 year old F350 , neither which have over 20k on them.
The van hasn't moved in a few weeks, I'm still unloading and sorting through a load of bikes and parts I brought home that are still stored in it.

The car thing is kind of crazy. My feeling was that I couldn't wait to get a license and a car so I wouldn't have to be toted around by my parents anymore. Well, and maybe pick up a few girls along the way. But it's kind of crazy that kids would actually want to be driven around by their parents at 16.