Too many bikes... ...or too little storage space

[rmwesley]

I've only got room for 3 or 4 bikes max. so if I want to do a new restoration it's a case of one in, one out.

There is such a surfeit of bikes available on eBay, freeads etc. I've never sold a bike for what I've spent on it doing it up. Sometimes you can't even give them away.

The bikes aren't top end or highly desirable, just run of the mill stuff and the pleasure come from working on them, so I've always happily accepted this as the cost of being in the hobby.

However, it's suddenly occurred to me I'm doing something wrong. Any advice?

 

[rwm1962]

Unless there's a big upswing in the market by the time I come to sell my collection I expect to take a loss on full bikes & maybe break even if I split.

 

[MR OX]

A man after my own heart, my personal builds always take forever & cost far more than they should.
I balance this with my other builds, the ones I never seem to post here & am probably most proud of, tip finds, mid-range neglected 20-30 year old heroes that with a bit of TLC can go on to provide another 20 years service & building this gives me so much more pleasure.
I do have the luxury of a little space & over the years have accumulated some spares from friends & the bikes that didn't make it for whatever reasons, which helps keep costs down. I ended up buying a cables in bulk as I rebuild between 5 to 10 bikes a year & now have all my friends asking me to fix theirs.
I always try to make a wheeler dealers profit, by which I mean I cover my costs (new parts not salvaged parts) & labour is gratis (I've enjoyed it) this doesn't always happen & sometimes I've sold bikes to people & seen them for sale in bits a week later which stings a bit. That said I've made a few quid on occasions which helps.
The best advice I can give you is buy your project at the right price, work out what your spend is going to be before you buy & if you know your going to lose a fair amount of money find another project. Also if the seller has had the bike a while I always send them a finished picture, I've received some really nice feedback & also had some quite heart warming stories that the seller initially never told me.
Keep up the good work!

 

[rmwesley]

A man after my own heart, my personal builds always take forever & cost far more than they should.
I balance this with my other builds, the ones I never seem to post here & am probably most proud of, tip finds, mid-range neglected 20-30 year old heroes that with a bit of TLC can go on to provide another 20 years service & building this gives me so much more pleasure.
I do have the luxury of a little space & over the years have accumulated some spares from friends & the bikes that didn't make it for whatever reasons, which helps keep costs down. I ended up buying a cables in bulk as I rebuild between 5 to 10 bikes a year & now have all my friends asking me to fix theirs.
I always try to make a wheeler dealers profit, by which I mean I cover my costs (new parts not salvaged parts) & labour is gratis (I've enjoyed it) this doesn't always happen & sometimes I've sold bikes to people & seen them for sale in bits a week later which stings a bit. That said I've made a few quid on occasions which helps.
The best advice I can give you is buy your project at the right price, work out what your spend is going to be before you buy & if you know your going to lose a fair amount of money find another project. Also if the seller has had the bike a while I always send them a finished picture, I've received some really nice feedback & also had some quite heart warming stories that the seller initially never told me.
Keep up the good work!

This has given me some real conviction, so many thanks for the reply. Funnily enough, what prompted me posting was the supply of "can you just take a look at this" bikes from friends and family has dried up a bit.

 

[nstarmore]

You are far from on you're own, I imagine a large majority of the members on this forum are the same.

I don't think I've ever made money on a bike I've built, and neither would I want to. It is a hobby to me and about the pleasure of bringing something back to life, learning skills at my own pace or just reliving some of the old days. It's supposed to be a release from the dreariness of modern life and such dullness as accumulating cash.

I have various opinions and have occasionally voiced them about those that capitalise on this little corner of the world, but my consensus is that if you are consistently making money playing with old bicycles then you're definately doing it wrong.

 

[The History Man]

At the risk of sounding flippant but not at all. It costs about £10 to sit in a cinema these days for a couple of hours. How much time and pleasure is spent with your restorations is the true measure. How much would it cost to achieve similar doing something else? My builds take me away from the issues and stresses of day-to-day life. That is immeasurable. Enjoy whatever you build. It will only be a keeper until something else seduces you. Swap parts across bikes. Sell frames on or scrap or store them elsewhere if you can. Build up a collection of reliable quality retro parts you're familiar with fitting and that you like riding............

Nothing wrong at all.