Just bought a cheap bike

[johnnyb47]

Hi to all.
With the long nights drawing in there's nothing more I like doing than disappearing into my man cave and tinkering around with my bike. Unfortunately there's only so much you can do to your bike before it becomes mechanically and cosmetically perfect so I thought I would venture into world of buying a cheap bike and give it some tlc and sell it on for a small profit. This will then keep me occupied during the long evenings doing something that I enjoy and keep me out of mischief. I've just paid the princely sum of £5 a MTB called generator. It's got front and rear suspension and just needs some new gear cables and TLC. I can spent hours cleaning and polishing bikes in the evening so this example will keep me happy for many evenings giving it the once over. I never heard of this bike before to be honest and was wondering if anybody else has. I can only assume its a cheap low end bike ( I haven't picked it up yet to judge it ) .
After I've given it a service and some tlc I will sell it on ( a bait for a small profit ) and look for another purely for the enjoyment factor of tinkering around with bikes.

 

[SuperHans123]

With a name like Generator it has to be a BSO. Still useful to someone once tidied up and made safe.

 

[johnnyb47]

I've just got it back home. It's called a Toledo Generator..After giving it a quick look over both wheels need the hubs tightening as well as the crank which will cost nothing. It will need a couple of new gear cables which are cheap enough from Wilkos. The rest of the bike is in average condition with lots of cosmetic marks to the paintwork. It's definitely a cheap bike "from new" as the components are none branded but on the plus side £10 will make this bike perfectly useable and safe ,and will keep me occupied for a few nights sorting / cleaning and learning about bikes. Once it's sorted it be worth £30 all day long so I will of made £15 profit doing something I enjoy :-) If not I will of lost £15 and a trip down to the tip lol.

 

[Cycleops]

Is this it? £60 on an eBay site. Don't know if it's new or not.

 

[Cycleops]

Still useful to someone once tidied up and made safe.

You could always call the local Army Bomb disposal squad.

 

[Drago]

I'd pay you good money to shove it back in the chicken shed from whence it came!

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Why do so many BSO manufacturers seem so keen on that ugly and awkward looking frame / swing arm / rear sus set up?
Still, have fun tinkering!

 

[johnnyb47]

That's the contraption buddy, except the one I've got doesn't look as in good nick.

 

[BorderReiver]

Just curious, how much does it weigh? Did you need a crane to get it home? Still, have fun tinkering.

 

[Globalti]

I tried this once, I had an idea I could make money from fixing up old bikes. I had to do all the work on the floor, which made my back ache and I soon found that the frustration of trying to adjust crap components outweighed any higher feelings I might have earned from achieving mechanical perfection. I also dscovered that the kind of people who buy bikes at that price level don't give a toss and probably don't even know whether the forks are on back to front or not and don't appreciate your efforts. I realised at that point that bike shops mustn't make money from bike repairs no matter how much they charge. So I gave up.

But carry on tinkering....

 

[mybike]

I've got one, spent many happy hour tinkering & rode over 450mile on it. I've left it at my mothers for when I visit.

My steed

• mybike
• 14 Jan 2015

 

[bondirob]

If you can't sell it donate it.
http://www.re-cycle.org/

 

[johnnyb47]

If you can't sell it donate it.
http://www.re-cycle.org/

Isn't that a brilliant idea. There's many a bike sitting in a shed gathering dust just waiting to be taken down to the local skip. Donating them to someone who really needs them out in a third world country is a brilliant idea. For what my bikes going to cost to get it going ( which is peanuts ) I think I will just give it away to someone in need

 

[Brand X]

There's bugger all money doing-up cheap bikes from what I've seen but there might be a bit of cash to be made buying more average-budget bikes that just need a little TLC. Check the price a bike goes for on eBay (also take into account gender and frame size; women's bikes seem to sell less well than men's bikes and you may struggle to off-load an XL or XS size bike - although of course sometimes that's exactly what a buyer is looking for). Look at the cost to buy the bike, and then find out what parts you will have to buy to make it good; some components are actually very cheap; I bought a Giant Expression that needed a new crankset (cheap single-piece riveted job) and SJS Cycles had a suitable replacement for £20. I did have to buy a crank extractor tool though.

If you can buy a bike for £50 and sell it for £150, that sounds pretty good, but the cost of bits may add up to £50 and if it takes more than say 6-8 hours to do the job, then your £50 profit less than a day's wages. At the moment I've got a thing for shopper bikes, but I've got to be careful not to waste money on the less desirable models; fortunately there are a fair few Dawes Kingpins in my area so I keep an eye on eBay for any cheap ones - I tend to ignore anything sold as "vintage" or "retro chic". I hope to bag another one for under £25.

 

[Alan O]

I've been watching the prices of bikes and components on eBay for a little while, and I'm seeing most bikes going for a lot less than the cost of buying a frame and components separately.

So, rather than buying a bike and replacement components and doing it up to sell, doing it the other way round might be more profitable - buy complete bikes, strip them, and sell the components.