On this segment of Flip that Bike, I worked on this late 80s and early 90’s hybrid bike. The branding says Fila and its good old steel. I received this bike form the LBS I used to work at. A customer didn’t want this bike any more and decided to give it to the shop. I happen to be there the right day and I asked about it, the manager said I could take it, schweet!
I wish I had taken before pics, but basically the tires were rotted out, cables were rusty, cranks were loose on the riveted chain rings, bottom bracket was completely dried out and the seat post was stuck.
After about a few hours of work, I had replaced all the cables, filed down the pads to a new layer. Replaced the gawd awful Shimano Exage Shifters and Levers with an old but newer Shimano Alivo Shifter/Brake combo. I had also replaced the saddle and installed some Ritchey CX tires. Since my garage is a mini shop, I have parts laying around. So I reused some parts from other bikes. For example, the Biopace crankset were riveted, and the rivets were coming loose. I went ahead and swapped out the set with an SR Suntour crank sent from my old Gary Fisher.
I was able to extract the seat post by using my buff arms. After I got it out, I sanded down the post, cleaned out the seat tube and applied grease to prevent it from happening again. I also upgraded the bike with an aluminum flat bar and new grips.
After tunning it and test riding the bike, I give it my final approval-This bike is ready to be sold! I currently have it listed on CL in Orange County Ca. for $175, not bad if you ask me.
Total investment: $5.00 for cable\housing set.
All other parts came from my surplus bin O’ goodies from my garage.
Total man hours: 3.
Profit: (if sold at asking price) $170
Popularity: 12% [?]
Related Posts:
Bike Commuter Essentials at PricePoint.com
5 responses so far ↓
1 Elizabeth // Aug 29, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hey… I’m always in need of a solid set of wheels here in Chicago… But knowing your profit margin… ah hem… I like the sporty red!
2 Paul // Aug 29, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Looks like an awsome bike! People in Austin have tried to flip bikes on CL too but don’t do any repairs or even try to sell the bikes in their completely unfit for riding condition for over $200! I think the old school word for that is “RIP-OFF”!
3 Arnie // Aug 29, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Good work RL. Those tires really make the bike look sharp!
4 db // Sep 2, 2008 at 7:17 am
Damn! If I lived in the area, I would buy that for $175. That’s a steal.
I have Alivio shifters on one of my bikes, and they’re great. Love the straight fork on that bike, too.
5 Franky // Sep 3, 2008 at 6:45 am
Once a year there is a townwide yardsale in one of the shore towns. Usually the rich residents just leave their unsold stuff on the curb afterwards. Then I usually drive by and collect all the bikes (usually between 5 and 15, most of them in great condition), fix’em up and sell’em. I also invested a total of $5 for new brake/gear cables and sold my last one for $100. The other benefit is that the bikes don’t end up in a landfill.
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