American Pickers

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ckdesigns69

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I have seen some posts here about how these guys are driving up prices of used bikes and making our picking harder. Well, I tended to agree until, I saw last weeks episode and watched the boys give back to a pick. If you missed it, they bought some folk art canvases from a carnival that the owner is trying to bring back after Hurrican Ivan nearly destroyed. Mike gave 200 bucks a piece for these and sold them for 5 grand a piece. So, they returned to the guy and gave him 5 grand to help rebuild one of his rides. I thought it was a great gesture and a reminder that the spirit of man is still good for the most part. I watch the show every chance I get and will continue. I watched another episode where he gave 35 bucks for an old Rollfast that I would have given twice that for. I don't think they hurting us in any way. They are just like any of us. Trying to get best deal for something that they can flip and make enough profit to keep their business afloat in a bad economy. Granted, I am a collector and not a seller, I see these guys actually helping to bring back the interest in old bikes and their history. I think they are cool dudes. I just hope they don't find the barn full of bikes in southern Ms. that I am visiting this spring. Those are mine guys! :D
 
I ran a shop south of here for six years. We basically cleaned up old bikes and collected old bikes from different places. After the first few years, we thought we had cleaned the area out for 50 miles around us.

In the last three years, we found three OLD, OLD bike shops. Each having nearly 300 bikes each and approx. 4 semis of parts from one location. Just those three. There are TONS of these places still around too. People just don't spread the word or the owner is real old and doesn't care. We processed about 1000-1500 bikes PER YEAR. Not all old, but the bikes are out there in loads.

This same thing is happening with Model A's. All these people keep saying they are getting rare and hard to find and the "rat rod" guys are driving the prices up. But I can search my local CL and find 2 dozen of them. Imagine how many were scrapped?

There will always be plenty of bikes to find. Just be happy that's not the only thing they are looking for!

I love the show!
 
I agree, The problem isn't with the shows it's people who watch the show just long enough to get gold stars in their eyes and think they have a gold mine in the back yard. I also thought that was a rather nice gesture. But like my uncle always told me, sometimes it's better to make a customer than make a dollar.
 
i know you guys need to stop finding stuff and selling it :mrgreen: so i can find it and sell it for SUPER expensive :mrgreen:
 
I have watched since the first show. I wonder if they would have gone back to give the giy that money if the cameras hadn't been there. I remember several times they made almost obscene profits off of stuff they bought and that is the first time they went back.
 
It's their job and they probably put far more hours into selling than we think/see. I'd like to say I'm a picker, have been for years. If I chalked up the hours I have spent digging through barns, fields, woods and shops, my profit would be gone! :lol: But I love it. I doubt they are really getting rich doing this (maybe from the show, but short lived), and the main guy has been doing it for years judging by his collection. They are getting paid to do what we would all LOVE to do! Plus, it's their knowledge of "stuff" that allows them to be successful.

I attend a lot of antique shows, swap meets and salvage yards. It's been going on for years. Everybody is trying to find something for a deal. Where do you think those people get their stuff? Same way! There just isn't a camera there. :mrgreen:
 
udallcustombikes said:
I have watched since the first show. I wonder if they would have gone back to give the giy that money if the cameras hadn't been there. I remember several times they made almost obscene profits off of stuff they bought and that is the first time they went back.
Click to expand...

This is probably pretty accurate. They've been scrutinized not only here but elsewhere in the webosphere for making monumental profits on picks. This was clearly a good gesture but they certainly didn't miss the opportunity to get some publicity for it. I'd have done the same.
American Pickers is a great show, and as much as I've expressed my frustration about the show in the past it is NOT the show, but the way it's affected the public regarding anything "old", and bicycles especially....
http://gadsden.craigslist.org/atq/2063938473.html

I even saw an ad on CL last week specifically inviting American Pickers to come buy their crappy childs bike.
 
udallcustombikes said:
I have watched since the first show. I wonder if they would have gone back to give the giy that money if the cameras hadn't been there. I remember several times they made almost obscene profits off of stuff they bought and that is the first time they went back.
Click to expand...
Remember They ARE in it to make money. But they both agreed that what the guy was doing was really cool and Mike gave 500 for the good condition sign not 200 like the guy wanted, so he upped his own buying price, not many people would do that. And yeah I think they would have gone back even without the cameras there. Danielle is a regular at the bar I work at on the weekends, a total sweetheart and I don't think she would work for them if they weren't good guys. My experience is they are business men like all the rest and have a good repore.
 
i love the show. love checking out all the cool stuff they find, but don't kid yourself.
those guys would buy your grandmothers dentures if they had gold in em and then they'd sell em back to her for 10 times the price they paid.

they climb on top of peeps stuff with total disregard to whats under foot.did ya see the episode when they left the poor guy out in the wheelchair for over an hour? thats just ignorant in my books.
total disregard to the owner of the property.

if i get a good deal, i pass that good deal onto the next person. profit is not my driving force.
seems lately more and more forum members are all about flipping old bikes/bike parts to make a profit and less about building and riding.

its a sad state of affairs when ya find that cherry schwinn and the first thought that crosses your mind is profit.
what ya really should be think'n is..........

dam i'm gonna look good riding that. :)

thier target demographic is old folks property and the more think about it, the more they remind me of the crooked door to door sales man who screws your granny outta her hard earned cash.
when they believe thier gonna make 700x profit on set item, offering $10 instead of the $5 asking price is still crooked in my books.

but don't blame the vacume salesman, he's just doing his job making a profit.
besides, he's a good guy, he sold her that $2000 overpriced vacume at a discount.
he knocked $200 off the price. :)
i don't know, but this seems something most of us just wouldn't stand for.
 
Dr. Icy,

Couldn't have said it better. Money should not be the sole driving force for resurrecting these old beauties. The love of the build and the ride is what it is all about.

With that said, I don't judge those would make their living selling these babies; just don't rip your customers off with obscene profits.
 
2dawgs said:
Dr. Icy,

Couldn't have said it better. Money should not be the sole driving force for resurrecting these old beauties. The love of the build and the ride is what it is all about.
Click to expand...

What you just expressed is the key disconnect between that television show and the reasons why we gather here on RRB. During the opening credits of the show Frank's narrative kinda says it all, "We'll buy anything we think we can make a buck on." That part I get, but the disconnect reveals itself when we admit why we're here, because we love bicycles.
I drove 230 miles (one way) down to western Kentucky last week for the sole purpose of collected an EXTREMELY rusty old bike. While there the guy was offering me a number of other neat items, in fact I should have bought that old toboggan, but I just came for the bike. I'm not interested in, as Franky said, "anything I can make a buck on", I'm in it for the bikes.
 
mikesbikes36 said:
i wanna know what bar u work at on the weekends ..i wanna meet that chick ...i think she is the bees knees !!!!! kinda cute 2 !!
Click to expand...

She does seem like a cool chick. And yes she is cute. Might tell her about the site sometime, We might get a new member?

As far as the show I do like the show and sometimes they do make a profit and I think that is business, everybody that shells out money for something wants to either keep it or sell it for more money. I do respect the fact that he ups his buying price at times but the thing to remember is he's doing this for money, not the love of the pick like all of us, so paying retail is not going to pay for fuel, meals, hotels, insurance, repairs on the van, tires, both their salaries and Danelle's too.
 
I saw the show for the first time last night. I liked it. It was entertaining.
 
bighit said:
I wouldn't say that the only reason they do it is for the money even though frank said it. I am sure they were doing it before the show and have accumulated there own collection of stuff. They must come across tons of stuff and are picky about what they keep for themselves.
Click to expand...

True they probably do keep some cool stuff, and obviously they get a kick out of finding something good, but when it's all said and done they have to make a profit on what they buy or they're out of a job.
 
You know how at the end of each pick they display the amount they paid for an item, more often they list the 'value' price than a 'sold for' price. THAT is what is misleading people who don't typically 'trade' in used items.

Did you ever get a piece of jewelry appraised for insurance and then try to pawn it? Then you know the difference between 'value' price and 'selling' price... :roll: :mrgreen:

Cheers!
Dr. T
 
They know about the site...we traded T-shirts a while back and I spoke with her on the phone a couple of times. :wink:
 

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