Summer Sell a-thon

I started in the spring wanting to thin the herd, at that point I had 9 bikes which was way too much for my 2 bedroom apartment and I wanted to get down to a core 4.  I did NOT want to be the crackpot with a porch full of bikes and parts again.

I started with the Ibex, I paid $80 for it, rode it in last year clunker challenge,considered keeping it but couldn't get the fit quite right.  I put new grips and tires on it for $50 and basically broke  even with the sale at $130.  It went to a Mom who wanted a camping bike and something that could haul a kid trailer.

Next up was the 87 Letour that I started on last year.  I got this bike cheap, $50 but it had no rear brake, I spent $10 get a nice used long reach from the co-op.  This bike was odd in that I did all the normal full refurb stuff, stripping the bike to the frame, rebuilding all the bearings, cleaning the components, waxing the frame etc, but  I didn't change the bar tape or tires.  I picked up some misc cables to go with bits of housing I already had an a new chain so maybe $20 to get to about $80 all in.  The Schwinn sold for $130 to a nice local young man who was going to commute on it.

I had intended to keep riding the Novara Randonee but between its less than ideal fit, short TT, overlap with other bikes in the fleet and the fact it was prime selling time I put it on the market.  This bike gave me some challenges between seat post binders, shifters and trying to use a cartridge bb but it was in fine fettle by the time I sold it.  I paid $70 for the bike but then replaced the shifters, did the normal bar tape, chain, tires, cables and then also upgraded the cockpit.  I got $200 for it and we'll say that after getting use out of it riding (Including the Tour De Lopez),  I just about broke even,  It went to a Kid who is going to college in LA and needed a bike to get around, his dad is an avid cyclist and gave the Novara his blessing, and paid for it lol.  Had I kept the cockpit stock and not messed with the Symmetric shifters I could have probably done well on this bike but I did build it to ride it and I made it comfortable for me,

The Allez was the crown jewel of the bunch, I had a lot fun riding it last year to determine that a 56 cm bike just wasn't going to fit.  I got a great deal by finding this for $80 on CL.  It got the full spa treatment, I bought new tires and cables but the bar wrap and new chain had been in the parts bin for a few years, I hated the quick link on the Connex chain but used a KMC quick link instead which worked great.  I spent about $150 all in, and got $225 for it from a young guy who was already an Allez fan and was intending to use this one for winter commuting.  One of these days I will find a 58.

And tonight I sold the Rock Hopper to a tall gentleman who will use it to commute on the Burke-Gilman bike trail.  I got the RH for $65 and if I could have gotten the rear shifter to work I think I could have come close to doubling my $$.  As it was I put another $40 into for tires, really like the Schwable City tires btw, and used an orphan left friction shifter from the parts bin to solve the shifting issue,  I ended up selling it for $120 so I did make a little bit on this one.

I started with 9 bikes, adding the Rock Hopper brought me to 10, I have sold 5 and have the Trek  420 yet to refurb and sell and that will get me down to 4 bikes.  A lot more room and a bit of cash in my war chest for the potential coming unemployment, depends on how long it takes to find a new gig. 

I might have squeezed more $$ out of the above bikes but I am happy overall and my investments certainly did  better than sitting in a savings account,  and I had fun on most of these bikes to boot,  My plan is to refurb the Trek 520 over the winter an then do a lot of comparison riding between it and the Cresta GT,

Ride. Refurb. Thin the herd. Stack the Cash. Smile. Repeat