Driving a long distance for a bicycle?

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clerkkent

clerkkent

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Today I had someone drive over 2 hours each way to buy a bicycle from me.. a decent fixed up older women's Sears flightliner frame style cruiser bike (no tank or fenders).. nothing rare or super special, and it was less than $80. It was surprising that someone travel so far for an 'okay' bike. My personal best for acquiring a bike was 75 minutes each way.


What's the farthest you have traveled for a bike / had some travel to get your bike?
 
drove two hours each way for a eleven cent ebay buy of a ladies 63 Huffy Eldorado because I was redoing it and using it as a Christmas gift.
and drove a hour and half each way for a ninety-nine cent 60's Worksman Folder that I still ride around

but to be fair I live in rural Ohio.. and the barn finds are getting further and further away/apart :cry:

I still enjoy road trips with my wife, it wouldn't be anything for us to go a state or two over and make a trip out of it just to get a bike, or a dollhouse for her.

my ebay search area for bikes spans nearly 300 miles, Craigslist I stick very local...

had a gentleman drive up from Virginia, on his way to Indianapolis, to pick up the above mentioned Huffy (the girl I gifted it too never cared for the feel of it.) but he emailed me before hand to see what else I had to make it worth his while.. ended up grabbing three bikes total that day from me.. unfortunately I missed him as I was at work.
 
I went my house in Auburndale Fl to a cool guy in Plant City Fl whose Grandfather Went by (Bicycle Bill) years ago who owned one of the Largest Schwinn bike shop many years ago that I got the 96 Murray Santa Cruz I had and my dad's 90's Western Flyer then a month later I got my Spaceliner Klunker, he also at the time had a Grey Ghost Repop Krate I believe for $599 but I didn't have the money for that.


From a CL sale I also sold my Tyler to a guy from Orlando that had a Family member in Winter Haven not far from me but he had Polish ancestry so that is part of why he got it for his daughter, I hope they enjoyed the bike since I haven't heard from him again so it must be ok.
 
Funny you should ask. Two years ago I drove 1 hour 45 minutes to, and 2 hours 20 minutes from (rush hour on the Baltimore beltway) for my 55ish Rollfast "Springer". I scour CraigsList all the time looking for what I want and have not seen anything close to me...until last month. I checked out CraigsList in South Jersey for finds in the hopes that I would happen upon something while visiting my daughter at Rowan University...3 1/2 hours away. Lo And Behold...I found my most recent prize, a 1940ish TruSport from Philadelphia PA. The first one I went a long way for...for the bike alone. The second one was a gift horse. I just happened to be there at the right time.
 
I have driven 60, 80, 90, and 100 miles for bikes in the past year, 60 to trade a Schwinn road bike for 2 cruisers, 80 for my '56 JC Higgins men's tank bike, 90 for a cheap 80's Mongoose BMX, and 100 for a cheap King Sting.

2 people have driven 80-100 miles to come to my house for free bikes. I'm starting to run out of the good stuff.

The only way I will get good stuff around here is by getting good stuff from somewhere else. haha
 
I once rode my bike 15 miles each way to do some bike swapping with a fellow member here. Other than that I have had people drive from Bloomington to buy bikes before.
 
I drove 2 hours each way for a FREE Columbia 3 Star Deluxe :mrgreen:
 
Does it count if you use your werk truck? someone had some parts in Va and I took a run going near there. It was 7 hours one way
 
jwm said:
This touches on a fantasy I have. Finances willing, I hope to score my next pair of classics at great distance from my home here in Southern California- say, the girl's bike in North Carolina, and the boy's in Iowa, or something. Then I want to plan a road trip around picking up the two bikes. Someday...

JWM
Click to expand...

I have a similar fantasy about buying a car, a great bargain, and flying out to get it and driving it home. I came really close many years ago when my father-in-law was shopping for a diesel Ford Excursion and found one in Texas and was ready to buy it and send me out to drive it home. He ended up getting a better deal local.

Careful what you dream for though. When I was selling my 1999.5 Audi A4 Quattro Avant 1.8t 5 speed (modified), a guy from Buffalo NY just had to have it. He sent me a deposit and flew down. I picked him up at the airport in Raleigh, he new the car had issues (it was an Audi, duh), but he drove it home... well, part of the way, when the turbo went out took out the engine in the middle of the night the rest of the trip was walking, being towed, a taxi ride, and bus. I felt horrible and sent him a couple hundred (maybe $300) to help with the tow bill, he never responded to that gesture. I heart ached about it for a long time, but finally let it go, I was up front about everything and went above and beyond in the end.

Anyway, good luck to you! :lol:
 
Drove 90 mi's each way for the base of my Audrey Hepburn tribute bike. (a '47 Schwinn New World)
Paid $25 for it. Bike was a train wreck, but worth every second and every dollar for the gas. Plus the guy was real happy that it was going to a good home. He had stored it for nearly 40 years after finding it in the trash.
 
A couple of hours. It was a Dyno in mint condition, and about half the price of what I'd consider 'market value' for them here in Australia. I took the day off and we went down the coast, had lunch in a nice cafe and picked up the bike on the way back home, to coincide with when the guy got home from work. We've driven a couple of hours for some chairs we got on ebay once too. Work covers petrol, and I'm usually struggling to make the minimum mileage I'm supposed to make, so we don't mind a drive. :wink: You do get weird looks when you tell people where you've come from though :lol: :lol:
 
i just did a 4 hour round trip for these, drive time(yessterday 4/21), over all trip with lunch and tootling around about 6 hours!! i would do it again today if something else popped up!!!!!
2012-04-21_21-05-13_275.jpg


here is the rest of the family,going back to get more family members soon.(the wifes van can only haul so much!)
IMG956133.jpg

crappy pic but thats is just a 1/4 of whats there!
 
509clunk said:
i just did a 4 hour round trip for these, drive time(yessterday 4/21), over all trip with lunch and tootling around about 6 hours!! i would do it again today if something else popped up!!!!!
2012-04-21_21-05-13_275.jpg


here is the rest of the family,going back to get more family members soon.(the wifes van can only haul so much!)
IMG956133.jpg

crappy pic but thats is just a 1/4 of whats there!
Click to expand...
I probably would drive a few hours for cantilever frame bikes since I cant seem to find them close around me, sweet score.
 
yoothgeye said:
jwm said:
This touches on a fantasy I have. Finances willing, I hope to score my next pair of classics at great distance from my home here in Southern California- say, the girl's bike in North Carolina, and the boy's in Iowa, or something. Then I want to plan a road trip around picking up the two bikes. Someday...

JWM
Click to expand...

I have a similar fantasy about buying a car, a great bargain, and flying out to get it and driving it home. I came really close many years ago when my father-in-law was shopping for a diesel Ford Excursion and found one in Texas and was ready to buy it and send me out to drive it home. He ended up getting a better deal local.

Careful what you dream for though. When I was selling my 1999.5 Audi A4 Quattro Avant 1.8t 5 speed (modified), a guy from Buffalo NY just had to have it. He sent me a deposit and flew down. I picked him up at the airport in Raleigh, he new the car had issues (it was an Audi, duh), but he drove it home... well, part of the way, when the turbo went out took out the engine in the middle of the night the rest of the trip was walking, being towed, a taxi ride, and bus. I felt horrible and sent him a couple hundred (maybe $300) to help with the tow bill, he never responded to that gesture. I heart ached about it for a long time, but finally let it go, I was up front about everything and went above and beyond in the end.

Anyway, good luck to you! :lol:
Click to expand...

A couple of years ago my wife, dogs and I drove 15 hours to pick up my 1974 Constructam Comet. We then took 4 days to get home taking only scenic highways and stopping at several parks and historic sites. We never ate at a chain resturant and stopped in evey little town along the way to look for bicycles and other cool stuff. Imagine what I could have done if I knew then what I know now about Craigslist and search widgets.
IMG00102-20100522-1718-1.jpg
 
I drove 6 hours both ways from Indianapolis to Madison, Wisconsin to purchase a brand new 1998 Roadmaster Luxury Liner repop for $300. That was about the average selling price at that time based on ebay auctions. The value and price of these have gone up some since then - I see them listed now on ebay for $1,000. It was also my first purchase getting back into the hobby (addiction?). 12 hours of driving in the middle of the summer with no AC makes for a tiring day - you gotta want it! Robert
 

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