Free. Literally and I'm not even joking. I was fortunate enough that a former small frame builder decided to clean out his garage and he put a pile of free bikes and parts on craigslist. I was there an hour later and walked out with 3 complete bikes, two of his own personal customs, and some miscellaneous parts for pugsley's and other stuff. I no longer have those bikes, and I do miss them a lot, but life warranted I move onto something else

 

Dang that's AWESOME!

 

I lived in Seattle around 2007. I saw a Cannondale Sobe bike on craigslist for $30. No pictures. I emailed the seller, but they didn't get back with me. Then several days later they responded and I picked it up. CAAD2 rigid bike with low end components, I guess it was a promotional thing with Cannondale. It was like new. I rode it around for about a year and then when I had to move I flipped it on eBay for around $150. I'm not a fan of rigid MTBs... at least it was light.

If a deal is TOO good, I am always thinking the bike could be stolen, unless the bike is an obvious garage queen.

 

Yeah that's a good one too. My hardtail was from a guy who had it and a Scott Spark both from when his son raced. The dude obviously had money so was fine with letting it go for the price. My Scale hadn't been ridden since early 2016

 

2006 Stumpjumper FSR $275. @ years ago that would have been a pretty good deal. During the C19 bike shortage it's smoking. Same bike sold yesterday on the local Craigs List bike classifieds for $1000.

Got my '70 Hawthorne muscle bike for free

 

2006 Stumpjumper FSR $275. @ years ago that would have been a pretty good deal. During the C19 bike shortage it's smoking. Same bike sold yesterday on the local Craigs List bike classifieds for $1000.

Got my '70 Hawthorne muscle bike for free

View attachment 1916437

Sweet Hawthorn! Here is my pristine free 1969 Huffy. Rode this all around the University of Utah campus and downtown SLC in the mid 2000s.

 

Free.

Sometimes it pays to be a tall, female cyclist in an area that doesn't have a lot of those. For my wife, it was right place, right time visiting a shop in St. Louis.

Lust Advanced 1 (2016) | Liv Cycling US

www.liv-cycling.com

 

How in the world did she get this for free? I would have ridden it with no shame for a third of the price!

 

I don't have a pic, but I got a free bike at an endurance race I did years ago. They had a bunch of these cool cruiser bikes to give out for "notable finishes". I was the only person to ever do the race on a fixed gear, so they let me pick one. Pretty cool. I had no use for it and sold it, but it made me feel cool for 5 minutes.

 

After I got back into mtb, in the winter I was hauling my full suspension to ride it on the rails to trails path when freeze/thaw cycles were closing the mtb trails. I found a Nashbar road bike on CL being given away free. The guy had bought out an estate, if I remember correctly and didn't think the bike was worth messing with. I swapped out the 27s for some 700s I picked up and fixed a few other things and rode it for several years.

Picked up my Gunnar Streetdog frame/fork/crank for $40 off CL. Severely stuck seatpost took me a month to get out. Parts and a powdercoat and it's a great fixed gear.

I'm holding out a little hope at the moment on a Lemond Reno I'm second in line for that the first in line is supposed to pick up today. Low end aluminum frame but $100 on Nextdoor.

 

I used to get Giant b-stock prototype frames free from the R&D department (designs they didn’t use or mules with multiple shock mount locations, etc). Mostly NRS and AC bikes, early 00’s. One or two DH models.
it was super fun.

 

I’m part owner of a shop that sells one of the major brands. The manufacturer has an employee purchase program that has tons of training videos, and if you get to the max level you get 30% off normal cost. And as far as the IRS is concerned the shop owns the bike the first year until it’s written off. Not completely free but I can’t tell any effect on my wallet.

 

Mine would be a combination thing. Last summer I purchased a thrice ridden 2017 carbon Salsa Beargrease for $900. That was a good deal. The combination made it even better. A few weeks ago on FB I had an unsolicited offer to sell it for $2500. I accepted, of course, partly because even though that bike fit me like a glove and rode like silk, I like rotating bikes. It allowed me to buy another Beargrease, this one for my wife. Ridden half-dozen times, Whisky carbon rims, Onyx hubs, Thomson dropper and stem, XX1 drivetrain, XT brakes. The $2350 I paid was a lot, but also a steal for a legitimate $6k bike. Made my wife very happy.

 

I traded a Bianchi DISS for a quad fin Stretch surfboard. That board ripped and the bike was too small for me so it seemed like a good deal for both of us. Does this still count?
👽

 

These are all great deals! I am kinda notorious for stalking Craigslist and PB for deals all day. I've got two bikes now that I could sell collectively for over $5K I have less than $2K in both combined. @rideit I'm seriously jealous

 

I had a circa 2000 hardtail and met some guys that invited me to ride. After a couple times I was ready to quite mountain biking, especially when I saw new bikes were going for $5k on average. My wife said check Craigslist and I saw a green 2017 Raleigh Tokul 3 (below, in Sedona) in my size that looked interesting. I googled it and found it runs about $1k, then a Skills With Phil video review of it and after watching immediately contacted the seller. Met him and did a test ride in the street - perfect fit! Chatting with him, he said he had three bikes and his new fiance said he could have one (ouch!). He had the bike for only 6 months, so I was blown away when he said he wanted $550 for it. SOLD!! 6 months later I got a dropper for it for $100. Awesome deal, it's served me well, and it's also sold me on trolling Craigslist when I need something.

Phil's video:

 

About a month ago I bought a 2018 Felt Doctrine 6 carbon fiber, paid 400 for it. I saw two guys on pinkbike selling the exact same thing. One guy ones 1400 and the other a little under 1200. The guy claimed he needed to fix his truck and he wanted to get into fat bikes. I have seen junk go for 400. I wanted to upgrade, other bikes I saw before this keep selling quickly. I was getting very frustrated. Then this came along, almost to good to be true, messaged the guy and told him I would give him his asking price if he would hold it till I got there.

 

This will Impress nobody but but I got a 2021 Trance X 29 2 for $2000 on CL. The kicker is the seller upgraded to Shimano XTR, now I’m too spoiled to own anything with Deore or SRAM.

I was fully prepared to buy that bike new with the crappier stock sram gears, it would’ve cost over $2600 with tax. I value the XTR at about $800 so I think I got a $3200 bike for 2k. Main thing is I love the bike, won’t need another until I’m much better or I go CF.

 

$400 for a brand new, never built, XXL scandium Kona Four frame. Got it for my son. Great bike in its day and difficult size to find.

 

2018 carbon sc hightower, reserve wheels, magura brakes, rockshox monarch plus shock, lyrik fork, renthal bars, wolftooth dropper, with extra parts bought it over a year ago for $3500 and still riding it.

 

on another not I gave my giant fathom 2018 with rockshox pike, spank wheelset, magura brakes, renthal carbon bar, shimano slx to a friend after he was hit by a truck on his bike and was without.

 

Almost the same as yours, actually. 2013 Scott Spark 930 (FS, carbon), upgraded with Factory 32 SC fork, M1700 wheels, Bonty Team tires, and a Thompson dropper for $600. Everything was in great shape.

Gent who sold it greeted me at the guest house next to the pool. Getting top dollar for his old ride (the replacement was also there; a high four-figure Ibis) did not seem to be a priority.

 

Lots of deals over the years. Got a free Chris King hub once when I ordered two on a pro-form but they sent 3 hubs. I even called and said to charge me for the extra and I'd keep it and they never did. Got a Townie brand new for about half off once. It was mislabeled and my wife paid for it and didn't know! The best deals are free though right?! My wife's work bought all their employees new ebikes to commute with as part of some green house gas reduction program. We got a new RadWagon with rear seat and cargo bags. I think the thing goes 24 mph without pedaling. Kinda nuts. Funny thing, she's been working from home since March 2019 so can't commute on it til Corona is over! I worked in shops for years so deals were always floating around as well as the usual pro-forms.

 

Craigslist - Got a Redline Monocog 29er that was so new it still had the rubber molding on the tires. Owner said he got transferred from east coast to west coast and could only take what he could fit in his car. He was asking $125 and I eagerly paid.

Sadly I felt guilty about it wondering if it was stolen. Ironically, it was stolen from me.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

$2900 shipped for a barely used 2019 Norco Aurum HSP frame with both a fox DHX2 and Rockshox super deluxe with springs, barely used Fox 49 and barely used cranks/BB/seatpost/seat.

Bought off Pinkbike from the other side of the country, , and when I opened the box I could not even tell it had been ridden - not even dust in the crevices.

That guy did me a solid. I've got over a dozen days on that bike (so no hidden flaws after the fact !)

 

Malvern Star (classic Aussie brand) MTB for free that someone was giving away cos it had a flat tyre, broken brake and gear cables. And the red paint faded on one side from being left in the sun.
Specialized Sirrus Expert carbon flat bar road bike (2014 model) with Italian-made Formula C1 disc brakes for AU$700 (US$543), was US$2250 when new. Cheap tyre on the front, found a new pair of Specialized Espoir Sport tyres (which it was originally fitted with) that someone had taken off his new bike, AU$25 (US$20) for the pair!

 

I found a 1985 Stumpjumper at the dump. They have a store there for people to drop stuff off that's not quite trash, Another Man's Treasure. I always drop in when there. The SJ was complete, in great condition but the tires were rotted and it was covered in dust. I got it for ten bucks. Since it was only the second year for the SJ, the first production mountain bike, it sold quick and I got $500 for it which funded a trip up to Oregon to race an enduro.

Then there was the time I picked up a Litespeed Vortex roadbike for $200 at a garage sale. This wasn't just any run of the mill 3AL/2.5V titanium frame but a 6AL/4V, hand formed and shaped tubing. It was also equipped with full Dura Ace. That went for $1400. It was a 56cm frame and a perfect fit, but I don't ride road.

 

In the '90s I had 2 Univegas in a row that broke. I was having trouble getting warranty coverage on the 2nd one (in as many months), so someone, a sales rep maybe, sent me a sort of pro-rated refund check for the frame, probably figuring he'd get reimbursed from Univega. At the exact same time, Univega decided to replace the broken frame with a lower model, which showed up a couple days later. All in all, it might have been a wash, but I sold the frame and took my refund and bought a 1996 Specialized M2 and some King hubs. The M2 eventually broke 8 years on and was warrantied by the Big S with a 2004 SJ M4, which I still have and use for road rides. So I kinda got 3 bikes for free.

-F

 

Won this Brand New bike with a bid of $200 Shipped!!