FAQs                                             

1 Where do we get our used bikes?

2 Do you buy bikes and how much do you pay?

3 What is your selection of used bikes? 

4 Why do you sell new bikes? 

5 When is the best time to look for a used bike? 

6 How much do your used bikes cost? 

7 Why don't you have any bikes for less than $100? 

8 Why can it take a long time to get my tune up completed when it is nice outside?

9  Can I make an appointment for service?

10 Why can it take a long time to get my special order?

 

Where do we get our used bikes? Customers just like you bring them to us for sale, trade, or consignment. We don’t buy everything brought into the store. You must be over 18 to sell us you stuff and have a valid state issued ID as well as a secondary ID. Proof of purchase eliminates the need for the secondary ID. Sorry we are unable to make exceptions to these rules.

Do you buy bikes and how much do you pay? We do buy used bikes brought into our store. We are unable to make any offers or assumptions about how much we will pay for items without seeing them in person. Items may be brought into the store during regular hours and we will not appraise your items over the phone. We do not buy everything brought into the store for appraisal; we reserve the right to say no thanks for any reason for any item. All purchased items are subject to review by the Seattle Police department. During the slower winter months we may only offer in store credit for your used items.

What is your selection of used bikes?  Well, that depends.  Unlike new bikes, we can't just place an order for, say, a used 54cm Ultegra-equipped lugged steel road bike in racing red.  We have to wait until someone brings that bike to us. Generally speaking, you'll find our selection of used bikes will be greater on a dark,cold,rainy, November night than on a bright, warm, dry July day.  Sure, we sell more used bikes in July than November, but they sell so fast that they never accumulate on the sales floor.

Why do you sell new bikes? In the early years of Recycled Cycles, before the days of Craig’s list and EBay, we only sold used bikes.  But or volume was quite a bit smaller then than it is today.  In 2009 Recycled Cycles sold about 2000 used bikes.  But the current demand for bikes exceeds that number by quite a bit.  If we still only sold used bikes, we'd have few bikes to sell during the summer.  Then we'd go broke and I'd be out of a job.  And, though one can find great value and utility in a used bike, there are some technological and design improvements that make investing in a new bike worthwhile on occasion.

When is the best time to look for a used bike?  As mentioned above, we have the best selection of used bikes during the winter months, before demand ramps up.  But there is also a weekly cycle during the spring and summer.  Our busiest days are Friday through Sunday.  Thus, if you drop by on a Sunday afternoon, you're not likely to find many used bikes because any that accumulated early in the week were sold on Friday and Saturday.  So if you want to get a jump on the competition, a Wednesday or Thursday is your best bet.

How much do your used bikes cost?   That question is rather like asking, "how much does a car cost?"  It all depends on the make, model, and condition.  But I can make a few generalizations.  For a used road or mountain bike, $150 and up; for a used kid's bike, $25 and up.  Of course, some used bikes cost quite a bit more than even our typical new bike. A new, race-ready road bike can easily cost $3000 or more.  So, if someone consigns such a bike in excellent condition with us for $1900, that's still a rather expensive bike, but it's also an exceptional value if you're looking for such a bike.

Why don't you have any bikes for less than $100?   If we bought some used department-store-quality bikes for very little money, fixed them up in little time, and sold them for $99, we might be able to make a few bucks.  But, most such bikes are made of low-quality materials, are not designed to be maintained, are heavy, and we are unable to tune these bikes to our standards.  So we generally don't buy such bikes or offer them for sale.

Why can it take a long time to get my tune up completed when it is nice outside? During the warm summer months the workshop becomes quite busy. We create promise dates in order to coordinate our workloads with our staffing. The “promise date” is the day we will return your bike to you completed and ready to roll. During the summer, these limits fill up to capacity quickly and get pushed out further. In order to avoid this you can bring your bike in during the winter when the workload is lighter.

Can I make an appointment for service? Yes, however we do not take phone appointments. In order to properly schedule your shop appointment we must know the specifics of the required repair. In order to determine these specifics we need to see the bike in person before setting the appointment. This also allows us to order and receive any parts necessary prior to servicing the bike. Simply bring the bike in, we will look it over, write up a work order and schedule it into the workload. You take your bike away with you and bring it back when instructed to do so.

Why can it take a long time to get my special order?  Our buyers work hard to ensure we are stocked with good selling, quality products. When an item is special ordered we do our best to get that product ordered and into the shop as quickly as possible. We are at the mercy of our wholesalers who run out of products frequently. We may have to use other suppliers or create relationships with new suppliers in order to get you your product. All these steps take time and can delay the process. We do our best to fulfill our special order requests. Sometimes a manufacturer simply runs out of product s to sell and we will wait until more are available.