Question for SF Paceliners

[bjf]

I have a friend in SF who would like to sell a bike, but is very skittish about any form of contact such as CL or Facebook. Anyone know of a shop that would buy it or place it on consignment? It's an older Trek, 531 tubing, with 27" wheels, a freewheel, and friction downtube shifters. She'd be happy with $400 net (maybe would go less), but doesn't want to drive far from SF proper to drop it off at a shop. ideas?

[bward1028]

https://gobikeit.com/bike-consignment/

no experience with them. I have not yet found a great SF shop for service.

$400 may be optimistic for a bike with 27" wheels and a freewheel.

[CMiller]

I'd ask Missing Link in Berkeley if they were interested

[AngryScientist]

That’s maybe a 400 dollar bike if it’s in good shape and she cleans it up and sells privately. Any shop that buys bikes is obviously in it for the profit and will offer significantly less money than that; because they have to cover their overhead and make a profit on the eventual sale. 27” wheels are dead as a door nail.

At some point one has to consider the big picture and that time is worth money too. A bike like that is a good serviceable model that could do wonders if donated to a good cause that gets solid bikes put under folks that need them for transportation and recreation.

Trying to squeeze 400 bucks out of that is going to be tough; and likely impossible through a 3rd party seller.

Not trying to be a downer; seriously. Just what I was thinking.

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

At some point one has to consider the big picture and that time is worth money too.

Good advice. My attitude with unused things gathering dust is "it's $___ more in my pocket than I would have had". So sometimes you sell at a loss, but it's out of the house--space is freed up along with piece of mind.

Did we all forget about Marie Kondo in 2020?

[CMiller]

Related, but if they decide to do a tax deductible donation then Waterside Workshops in Berkeley would absolutely take it. They work with young communities of color too.

[EB]

Sounds like a great candidate for Trips For Kids in San Rafael. You don’t get cash for your donation, but it is tax deductible and goes to a great cause, including getting disadvantaged kids on bikes.

You may want to call them to suss out what their current COVID-19 policies are - I know they’re back to at least limited operation as of 6/5.

https://tripsforkidsmarin.org/re-cyclery-bike-shop

[scoobydrew]

If they're interested in donating, they could check with the Bike Kitchen in SF, which is a non-profit bike workshop run by volunteers.

Similarly, check with Missing Link and Biketopia in Berkeley.

[cmg]

tell her to look at eBay to see what a bike similar to hers will sell for. Then have her adjust the expectations. Bike shop would need to make 3 times what they paid for it for it to be worthwhile.

[FlashUNC]

$400 for a freewheeled, friction shifting, 27" dust collector in the garage?

She needs to drastically re-adjust her expectations. She'd be lucky to get half that. 100% sounds like a Trips for Kids donation.

[Latestart]

If following the donate path, Pedal Revolution in the Mission is a great place. Like the others listed, work with at-risk youth and are nice folks. I have donated several boxes of gear and a couple of bikes to them over the years. They are doing good work.

Re CL/Facebook. If you meet in a busy public place, you are generally fine. You may want to consider 'NextDoor' app. And on FaceBook at least you can look at the person's profile.

Like the others, I am guessing $400 is steep for what is on offer.

http://pedalrevolution.org/

[Fixed]

Keep it or give it to a friend
Imho
Cheers