So this is a first!

[71SC360]

After work today I made a side trip to look at a few bikes a guy has. He's an older guy that's been fixing bikes off and on for a number of years. He has a few bikes and parts that are a little interesting but nothing spectacular. He mentioned that he was willing to sell it all off for X dollars and it got me thinking so I spent a little time digging through all of his stuff to see what was really there. When I finished digging I told him I wanted to stop back tomorrow to buy a few things from him but I wanted to talk to the wife first about buying it all out before I made up my mind to grab the few things I was interested in. Well, I talked to the wife and she actually thought it might be a good thing.

Wait a minute... did she actually say buying more bikes & parts might be something I needed in my life right now? I had to scratch my head after she said that.

So, tomorrow I am going to call this guy up and go back (with my wife, pad an pen in hand) to take an inventory to see if it's all worth what he offered it to me for. Buy or not, I'll take some pix tomorrow. SHould be an interesting day...

 

[Wildcat]

A few years back, I was suddenly getting approval for bikes and bike stuff from the wife also. It may be because she realized it was a win-win situation. It wasn't that expensive, so it left more money at her disposal, and she knew where I was and what I was doing when I was doing "bike stuff" in the garage. She even brought refreshments out and hung around sometimes, I had good music out in the shop.

 

[Crassly]

Good plan to try and pencil it out before committing to buy. Be careful you don't put much value on things that are a tough sell or are unlikely to be used in repairs, etc. That being said, I am betting you will find that getting the "bundle" will prove to be worth it. And having the approval of your better half is too cool. My wife used to roll her eyes when I brought home more stuff, but when I was able to make a buck or two once in awhile she decided it wasn't all bad. Good luck!

 

[Oak Tree]

Hold on there, buddy. Women are smarter than we are. When they change suddenly for your benefit, something is up. I expect a "girls trip" is coming up soon and she is paving the way so you cant say no to her.
That being said, get everything while you can!

 

[horsefarmer]

How to value old parts bikes? neighbor was cleaning out garage and had a group of 6 1950s midweight bikes. Unsure if they were worth anything he asked me for an "offer" knowing I ride by his place on my old bikes. Now these all need work (one old schwinn looks like it was run over by a car). Then he says if you don't want them i'll sell them for scrap. Well I thought about it and got back to him, told him I thought they were worth around $2 each as scrap, but I offered him $40 for the lot. He was glad for the cash and I got some cool stuff to build.

 

[Wildcat]

Any pics of the haul?

 

[71SC360]

I only bought a few of the bikes because he got really strange about the whole deal. He wouldn't sell any of the parts either. Basically he said it was all or nothing. For the price, I passed for now but I am going to let it stew for a while....

 

[ozzmonaut]

Sometimes just placing vague and somewhat low values on bikes is enough to figure out the big picture. Usually you can look at a group of bikes and parts and say "That would be a good deal at X dollars". If you actually have to do a full inventory and check values to be able to see the clear line between "worth it" and "not worth it"... then it probably isn't worth it.