10 Tips for Selling Your Bike Easily on Craigslist

I have been a Craigslist junkie for about three years now. Ever since I started biking again as an adult I have visiting the bike section daily looking for bargains. Occasionally one will come up and I will be the lucky winner. But not every prize will fit my family or myself so it will soon go back up for sale. I don't see myself as a flipper, just someone who gets unwanted bikes to their new owners (for a small finder's fee).

When I resale a bike I never have a problem getting it gone. Part of the reason is the kind of bike I like to purchase. I like lower end, name-brand mountain bikes... never bmx, never department store bikes, never expensive bikes, and almost never women's bikes.

I like to resell these bikes that target adults that are often getting back into biking. They are looking for a bike that is:
a. cheaper than buying a new bike (just in case they don't or can't stick with biking)
b. designed to be comfortable
c. a bike shop bike (they know they are better than department store bikes but don't really know why)
d. and don't know a lot about bikes in general

Here is my list of common sense tips for selling bikes on Craigslist:

1. Price it right
Used bikes are just that, used. Don't expect to get a lot for a bike, especially if it is not a high end brand. Department store bikes, even if almost new, won't fetch any more than half what you paid. Sad but it's reality.

2. Mention about the quality of a bike-shop bike vs "Walmart bike"

Many of the people I tend to sell to suspect that bike-shop bikes are better than Department store bikes but don't know why. Tell them. Bike-store bikes have better components. This means these bikes stay tuned longer, and their parts last longer before needing replacing...better reliability and less hassle. You can even go as far as to say that the resale will stay higher, easing their worries if they fear that they might not sticking with biking.

3. Price it at a pricepoint
People like to pick round numbers for what they pay. $50, $100, $150, If you price your bike just over a price point people will automatically want to knock it down. If you want $110, people will always say "I will give you a hundred." I prefer to start at $100 and not haggle. But that is just me.

4. Price it compared to others on Craigslist
If there are ten Treks at $250, yours will be lost among the others if priced the same. I like to put mine at a little less, like $225. Yes, in theory I lost $25 but I guaranteed a quicker sale.

5. Clean it up
There is no reason to try to sell a nasty bike when it takes only a few minutes to wipe off the dust. Some surface scratches can be rubbed out with Magic Eraser followed by a quick polish with car wax. And PUMP UP THE TIRES! I see hundreds of ads saying the bike needs new tires (a turn off to a potential buyer because it is an added expense) when in reality they simply need air.

6. Tune it up
If the bike just doesn't work, it will be hard to sell. Consider taking it to a bike shop or friend that is into biking. Often a few adjustments will get it running great again.

7. Size the bike in real terms
Most new-to-biking people have no idea what size bike will fit them, not to mention that many frames' sizes are somewhat arbitrary. I like to list two measurements: the standover height (the distance from the ground to the top of the tube between the handlebars and seat) and a minimum and maximum inseam measurement (from the pedal at the lowest and the top of the seat at its lowest and highest). Most people will understand a bike sized to fit someone with pants inseam from 29-35".

8. Have good photos
Would you go to the trouble to drive across town to meet a stranger based on a couple vague words? I wouldn't. Neither will most people. One way to instill confidence is to show photos.

Even if you don't know much about bikes, photos can do the talking for you. Pick a fully lit, CLEAN location to take photos. I show pix of the full bike from both sides, a view from the "driver's seat", gears, all stickers and one or two problem areas. I feel that showing any issue, people know up front what they are getting. And they will trust that I am not hiding anything.

9. Post it close to the weekend
This is just a hunch but I believe most people will search for a bike over the weekend. So I post on a Thursday or Friday so that the listing will be on the front page throughout the weekend.

10. Think safe
Call me paranoid but I don't know the person I am selling to. I alway to meet at a very visible location such as the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. You should do that too, and mention this in the ad. People will appreciate that you are also looking out for their safety.

Again call me paranoid, but I prefer to let potential buyers use the built in email in Craigslist rather than posting my phone number or email address. Only after I have talked to someone a few times and know they are serious do I give them my cell. And usually only do that to make meeting them easier "text me if you are going to be late".

I am not saying an expert about this stuff but these tips have worked wonders for my bike (and other Craigslist) sales.

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Cades Cove Bike Ride

The alarm clock rang very early Saturday morning: 5:30. The goal was to be at the Cades Cove parking lot before 8am, and we were. You see, they open the loop early to bikes and runners. We wanted to be finishing up our ride of 15+ miles before they open it up to cars at 10:00.

Roughly twenty scouts and parents headed out into the mist. A few need requirements of finding evidence of ten different animals. Some evidence was easier to find than others.

We noticed there were places where leaves covered the road under berry trees. Rangers explained that these were made by bears high in the trees. They would camp out eating the berries dropping whatever they did not eat to the road. One area proved the Rangers correct. A momma bear with two cubs were perched in a high tree having an early breakfast. We admired from a safe distance.

A bear ignored the many riders as she fed her two babies berries.

Seventeen miles later we pulled back into the parking lot comparing stories of what we had seen and laughing at the lady who chastised us for our noise hampering her "petting a bear."

The ride was great practice for the Silver Comet that the Troop will be taking soon for our 50 mile ride.

A Flat Tire in the Same Place? What are the Odds?

While unloading my bike after the last ride I noticed my rear tire had gone down on the way home. There was a chunk of orange mulch still lodged in the tire. At least it was easy to find.

After pulling the tube out I realized the new puncture was in the same place as the last one! One centimeter from the hole I received two months ago.

This got me thinking about the odds. Rather than waste brain cells doing the math of the surface area of tire and getting an actual number, I ponded on ways that these odds could have happened.

I know what you are thinking "you did not get the splinter out from the last flat!" I thought of that. But here is the evidence, you decide:

1.  If I had left the mulch in from the last flat chances are that I would have had another flat soon... I've been riding for over two months since my last flat. I suppose it is possible.

2. the mulch was the strange oranged color of the mulch on the side of the greenway I rode last. I received the first flat on a trail with no mulch.

3. I have a ritual for changing flats. I remove the original obstruction from the outside of the tire (if it is still there), then visually inspect both the outside and inside of the tire for others. Then I run my fingers around the inside of the tire hoping to feel anything my eyes didn't catch. 

I can think of only two ways this happened: 

Dumb luck (you are right... I did not get the mulch out.) And it was in the tread in a way that it was pushed in (only when coming in contact with a rock) but rebounded back out when not being pushed it in. I wouldn't have seen or felt it inside. AND dumb luck that I had not hit anything that pushed it in for over two months.

OR dumb luck... another simple flat.

Either way, dumb luck played a big part in getting these two flats so close together. Gosh, I can think of better outcomes for being this "lucky!" 

Project Underdog - Junk Bike Refurb

Whether good or bad, I have always been the kind of person that roots for underdog. When watching any sporting event and a team starts doing badly, something in the back of my brain takes over and pushes me to cheer them on, sometimes even when they are competing against "my" team. Don't know why, it just happens.

I find that I do the same for bicycles. When I see an unloved bike I just can't stand to leave it by the road sending it to its grave. This bike, that I picked up on Craigslist is a prime example. A 20" Magna. Yes, I know...

Yes, crummy brand. There is a lot of (surface) rust, yes the cables all need replacing, yes the fork is seized up. But it is solid, the wheels are straight, and I figure by throwing on a few old cables, a 1/2 hour with steel wool, some black spray paint on the handlebars/cranks, and I will have a bike that we can use to teach the neighborhood kids how to use gears. And I won't be too upset if it is treated the way kids typically treat bikes...badly.

Stay tuned to see the "after" photos to this "before."