Car boot sales dodgy bargains

gerryattrick

Retrobike Rider
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I often pop in to local car boot sales on the lookout for bike parts, and have sometimes come across decent stuff from what I assume are amateur carbooters, usually old and in a very tatty condition, but very cheap and worth taking a punt on for parts or a rebuild. However there are always people selling only bikes and bike stuff, most of which is the usual cheap Emmelle/Apollo/Townsend, but sometimes you come across Marin/Kona/Spesh. A few weekends ago I was browsing at one stall when a young kid was trying to sell them a Hardrock that could only have been a year or two old and looked in very good nick and in the end they bought it for around £25 telling him the most they could sell it for would be £50. Call me cynical but it doesn't take a genius to work out why a 16/17 year old was selling a bike like that so cheaply with no questions asked. Needless to say the bike was put around the back of the stall rather than being put up for sale (probably by pure coincidence I saw that what was no doubt a legitimate example of the same model/colour bike was put on a well-known auction site the next day from a location not too far away). I've seen comments on this site before about the dubious nature of bikes sold at car boot sales, and this instance probably won't stop me looking for genuine bargains, but it will certainly make me avoid certain sellers and newish bikes and ask more questions of the seller.
I feel bad about not doing anything but a) I've grown used to my face being the shape it is, and b) absolutely no way of proving anything.
 
Been going to car boots since the age of 10 in Brighton and around here and you get used to whats 'iffy' and what is a down right bargain.
 
Slightly OT here, LOF, but I visit Brighton a fair bit (possibly leaving London to move there) what's the best carboot there?
 
Theres loads. Brighton Station on a Sunday is good but check the adverts as schools have loads on during the summer. Theres one in Rottingdean on a bank holiday, I bought a Cinelli road bike for £60 and a deore LX equipped Dawes (which I road back from the boot to Hove).

Loads and loads on...
 
Cheers for that, I guess that's where Snooper's Paradise get all their stuff.

I love a good car boot. They're all rubbish here in London.

When I lived in Wales, there would be loads. You see some random stuff though. Some gypsy looking people were selling about 100 copies of Mario Kart for the Snes, all in shrink wrap for a tenner each.

Picked up about 30 really old skate magazines a few years ago for 20p. Not one of them sold for less than a tenner on eBay.
 
if you can wander a bit further west, Emoco, there's a huge one at Ford Airfield near Littlehampton on sundays
 
last week at Pedham boot fair , just jct 3 of M25 , there was a a guy selling some Specialized and Kona for £180 each . the Spesh were Rockhopper with modern forks , disc brakes etc.... , same with the Kona .

tried to find a cop to tell then that those bikes were worth a lot more but could not find any .
 
In the Netherlands,if you want to sell your bike.you ride around with your pockets turned inside out :wink:
 
craiga":1lmkrrm3 said:
dyna-ti":1lmkrrm3 said:
In the Netherlands,if you want to sell your bike.you ride around with your pockets turned inside out :wink:

No, they've just met my wife

Er... that can be taken several ways ,especially regarding their red light district :shock: :lol: :lol:
 

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