2-5 Bikes for sale

Many times, a bike bought at a garage sale and brought to me for servicing has needed another $40-50 worth of work done. If you can't ride it first, you won't know if it works. Even if you can ride it first, it can still be hard to tell if it needs adjustments  or repairs.

Its tempting to go for a new, inexpensive bike sold by a big box store instead. However, these bikes often need adjustments even before they have left the store! Typically this involves brakes and gear shifters but commonly the wheel axle bearings also need loosening to prevent the wheel axle cones they revolve around from prematurely wearing down and getting chewed up. These adjustments may  add another $10-20 worth of labour.

Inexpensive big box store bikes can also have some other unpleasant features, such as gear shift controls that are stiff and brakes that are mushy. One new CCM bike I prepared in 2011 had a rear gear shifter that was so cheap and flimsy, it wouldn't work accurately no matter how it was adjusted, so I ended up replacing it altogether. It wasn't a bargain!

Buying a used bike from me is like buying a new bike, in that I built the bike from its separate components, which makes me a manufacturer. Since manufacturing has gone down the toilet in Canada--bikes are no longer mass-produced in Canada anymore--maybe its a good idea to support local production when you can. I provide a one-year warranty on parts and labour.

Have a look below for examples of bikes I have sold. If you see a type you like, find out if I have more by contacting me at davidhoffman@magma.ca or phone 613-283-7635.

Here are some bikes I have rebuilt that were sold, small to tall.

This bike was donated to me in 2015 and I rebuilt it one winter. Its a Mongoose Sting mountain bike, likely a model sold at Wal Mart. I didn’t like the heavy 3-ring steel crank set and replaced it with a lighter 2-ring 52/42 tooth alloy set.

It has alloy quick-release wheels, 26 x 1.9 tires, Shimano push-button indexed shift controls, V-brakes, a cassette type freewheel rear hub, indestructible Suntour rear derailleur, bell, wheel & pedal reflectors. The handlebars are only 20 inches wide. Sloping top tube has a 32 inch height at mid point, 34 inches at the front, seat 33-39 inches above the ground, seat-to-low-pedal 28-34 inch leg length. Fully rebuilt, cleaned & tuned. I sold it for $140.

A street bike is this 1980s Supercycle Medallist, a 10-speed originally with racing handlebars I replaced with atb bars and controls plus bar extensions. The big time-killer on this bike was extraction of the forks and handlebar stem.

When I rebuild an old bike, everything has to come off of the frame. This is to be certain all the parts are undamaged or to replace them. But sometimes the parts don’t cooperate. Resistance usually comes from extracting pedal crank axles and cups but in this case, the original handlebar stem was very stuck. Persistence was required, as was penetrating oil and some very large tools.

The bike also received brand-new tires and came equipped with anti-thorn inner tubes, chrome steel wheel rims, a full reflector suite and a bell. For gear shifting, I installed a set of grip-shift throttles, both un-indexed, from a late-90s CCM Ecco. It’s a pretty fast ride. Price was $140. 

Here are some bikes that I rebuilt and sold in 2012 through 2015.

  This youth-size Supercycle 2100 mountain bike has a  suspension fork, a steel frame, 24 x 2.1 inch tires, aluminum wheel rims, throttle-type indexed shift controls, linear-pull V-brakes, a quick-release seat post, a bottle cage and a bell. Fully refurbished--and adjusted like it should have been in the store but wasn't--it has new wheel and crank bearings. This size of bike is for riders who are 5 ft 0 in to 5 ft 6 in tall. That can also include adults! Cost: $90.

The 2100 is suitable for any surface a mountain bike can handle, including the Cataraqui Trail, but the rear wheel axle can’t take much jumping.

The bike is from a batch that was given to me early in 2012 by a dad who's kids outgrew some of them and were no longer interested in riding the others, being focused on getting drivers licences and moving out. That sounds sad but sooner or later they'll be back on a saddle again because sometimes biking feels too good to stop.

Because of its small size, the 2100 took a long time to sell. I rebuilt it in 2012 but it didn’t sell until 2015, and only for $80. It didn't need new tires, which can push up the price of a used bike by $40-60.

A ladies' mountain bike I rebuilt in February 2014 is this 18-speed model below. I bought it at a local yard sale the previous summer and replaced both wheels plus added a pair of slick street tires. Alloy wheel rims, seat post, brakes and crank arms, Biopace oval crank chain rings, an indexed rear gear shifter and Shimano cantilevered brakes. This bike cost $150 (of which $40 was new tires and other parts).

Here's another street bike I rebuilt in August 2013.

This Precision PR 6000 mountain bike was sold by a big box retailer back in the 1990s. It was given to me by a friend's brother back in 2011. I converted it into a 12-speed by replacing the original steel 3-ring pedal crank with a 2-ring alloy set. It has upright handle bars, chrome wheel rims, non-indexed friction shift levers, steel calliper brakes, a full reflector suite, brand-new tires, a new chain, plus new wheel and crank bearings, $50 worth of new tires and parts. Fully cleaned and tuned, it rides smoothly. The frame top tube is 29 inches above the ground, the seat is 33 to 38 inches above the ground (depending on seat post height) and the seat to a lowered pedal is 31 to 36 inches.

I rebuilt this bike in 2013. The frame had plenty of scratches so they were painted over. It also took a long time to sell going in 2015 to family.

Below is a 1990s Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike I bought at REAL Deal, a local recycled products store, in 2013 and rebuilt in 2014, with replaced wheels and fork. Its original suspension fork was badly damaged. The original handle bar stem had to be cut off to extract it and the forks, which I replaced with a 2000s CCM Ecco steel hard fork. Lots of paint scratches resulted in this touch-up pattern. Equipped with Shimano and Dia Comp cantilevered brakes, a Suntour un-indexed front derailleur and a Shimano Diore XT rear derailleur run off a 6-speed Shimano SIS lever, individually removable crank chain rings, Bontrager Camino front rim and Matrix 550 rear rim, new Specialized Crossroads tires, new chain, quick-release wheels and seat post, and a full reflector suite. For roads, paths and trails. It sold for only $110 in 2015 to someone buying two bikes at once from me.

In November 2014 I rebuilt this Canadian-made Baycrest 3-speed tourer, a 1970s department store bike with chrome steel wheel rims, handle bars, handle bar stem, seat post and pedal arms. A bike like this is suitable for streets and bike paths but the tires are too slim for trails. It was donated to me locally. The internal hub gears were made by Shimano in Japan, not by Sturmey Archer in England. The fenders and chain guard were also chome-plated but the rust was pretty bad so I had to grind it all off and spray paint them. The steel frame is a 22 inch size, top tube to ground is 32 inches. The tire size is 26 x 1 3/8 inches. They and their tubes can no longer be bought at Canadian Tire stores but can still be ordered from bike shops. Another interesting feature is the wheel rims have textured side surfaces, which boosts brake pad friction. I wanted $125 for this bike. It sold for $115 and moved to Timmins. 

Right now I have more bikes and parts that can be rebuilt and sold. Turn-around time is about a week or two. Do you have a preference? Contact me! My e-mail address is davidhoffman@magma.ca

Here are some bikes that I rebuilt and sold in 2012 through 2015.

October, 2012 through July, 2014

Here are some bikes I rebuilt in 2012 through 2014 that have sold. All worn-out parts were replaced by new ones (wheel bearings, cables) or used ones, as necessary. Each bike was cleaned, adjusted and test-driven to verify it is safe, smooth and reliable to ride. I provide written receipts with each sale and a one-year guarantee on parts and labour. 

This steel-framed red Nakamura I found in a dumpster down the street in 2011, discarded by departing tenants. It originally had racing handle bars and shift levers on the frame down tube. I replaced them with upright, mountain bike-style bars, brake levers and thumb shifters for greater comfort.

  The shift levers are friction type, not indexed.

  The original wheels had hopelessly-dented rims so these were replaced with other wheels that also have alloy rims. The 27 x 1 1/4 inch class of tires it uses can still be bought today at stores like Mountain Equipment Co-op or at bike shops. Another class of tire that will fit this bike is the knobby cyclocross type, usually called 27 x 1 3/8. Mountain Equipment Co-op in Ottawa used to sell one example of this called the Tioga Bloodhound for under $20 per tire.

  I also replaced the forks which were white and rusty with a chrome-plated set, plus the seat post and seat. Also, the red frame had all kinds of scratches and scrapes, so I spot-brushed on some red anti-rust paint bought at the Canadian Tire.

  This bike is suitable for any surface a road bike can handle, like an urban street but not bumpier places like the Cataraqui Trail. A trail with hardened dirt is okay.

  The top tube is 32.5 inches above the ground. The seat is not less than 33 inches and not more than 37 inches above a lowered pedal, depending on the adjusted seat post height.

  I wanted $125 for this bike which reflects most of the hours I spent refurbishing it and the cost of bought replacement parts.

Next is this woman's Raleigh street bike.

  This steel-framed Raleigh Rapide 10-speed bike was given to me by an elderly family friend. Like the Nakamura above, it had racing handle bars that I replaced with mountain bike bars and brake levers, but this time I kept the original dual friction shift levers mounted on the handle bar stem instead of adding handle bar-mounted thumb shifters.

  There's lots of chrome steel going on here; 1970s Suntour derailleurs, 27 x 1 1/4 inch class steel wheel rims and a steel pedal crank with cotter pins holding the pedal arms in place. When I overhauled the chrome steel crank the cotter pins didn't have to be hammered out because I own a genuine cotter pin extraction tool. Cotter pins don't always cooperate but these ones did. The parts were all in very good shape so I didn't have to discard them. Normally this is an opportunity to replace a cotter pin crank with a modern cotterless type. 

  The bike has a full reflector set, a bell, kick stand and a carrier rack. The  calliper brakes are aluminum and the tires are brand new. Seat 35-39" above ground, 31-36" above pedal, depending on the adjusted height of the seat post. 

  This bike is called a woman's bike because the lower top tubes of the bike's frame suggests that a rider can wear a long skirt. It is also called a 'step-through' frame style, since you can get your leg over the frame more easily. In fact, the official name of the bike frame style of this Raleigh bike is 'mixte' because it is a step-through frame with dual top tubes that run from the handlebars straight all the way down to the rear wheel axle. Mixte is a french abbreviation of 'mixed gender' or 'unisex'.

  This bike is suitable for surfaces a road bike can handle including hard-packed dirt trails but not rougher places like the Cataraqui Trail. I wanted $125 for it because even though it is not as light as the Nakamura above, I spent $30 on its brand-new tires.

Below, here is a ladies' mountain bike I rebuilt in early 2013. It was donated to me when the local Katimavik branch shut down in 2012. About the only part that didn't need replacement was the frame. The brand is Protour, which is a house brand of one or another big box store. What's interesting is the model name: Cougar 18. What lady wouldn't want a bike called that!

The bike has a steel frame, 26 inch chrome steel wheel rims, a single 6-speed thumb shifter, calliper hand brakes, a chrome steel crank set, a full reflector set and a kick stand. This bike can handle trails but is meant to be an ordinary runabout.

Dimensions are seat-to-ground height 32-35 inches, 28-31 inches seat to lowered pedal. Those ranges  are dependent on the height of the seat post.

Fully refurbished, cleaned and tuned, I wanted $90 for it. Yes, the lady who bought it loved that it was called a Cougar.

Below is the second bike I rebuilt in 2013, and the first one sold. Its a ladies' Vagabond RX-500 10-speed, once again with the racing drop handle bars replaced with upright bars with shift levers located next to the handle bar grips. It is intended as a fast street bike, not suitable for rocky trails like the Cataraqui. Vagabond is an in-house brand of Home Hardware. This bike seems to date from the 1980s. I replaced both chrome-rimmed wheels, along with the pedals, seat post and seat and of course all wheel and crank axle bearings. I should point out that some of the chrome on the forks flaked off, so I covered those areas with smooth muffler tape. I asked $120 for this bike because I also installed brand new tires. The buyer was an Ottawa customer of mine who I have been serving for many years. He wouldn't have been in the market for a bike except that during a home renovation the contractor took his older bike to the dump and it was too much trouble to get it back.

The most interesting bike I worked on in 2013 was this lady's street bike.

This was another steel-framed Katimavik donated bike. It started out as a 10-speed with drop-down racing handle bars and didn't come with a front wheel. The brand is Cyclor Orban and the model is La Reine Vervietoise. It came with French Simplex gear shift derailleurs but had an English-made pedal crank axle. I had never heard of this brand and did not notice right away the frame sticker that proclaimed "Made in Zaire". 

I found out that the manufacturer originated in Belgium and had a branch plant in Zaire. The bike seems to have been built in the 1960s or 1970s for the Western export market so its a very colonial product. Zaire had a socialist revolution that later went sour. The manufacturer still exists but today builds very sturdy, heavy and even more archaic bikes for the local market. So this was the first African-made bike I've ever worked on. The major changes were replacing the drop-down racing handle bars and both wheels and tires.

The Ordan bike was quickly scooped up by an Ottawa customer who found out I was rebuilding it.

Here is a lady's street bike I rebuilt in February 2013. 

Its a mountain bike, discarded by the now-closed local Katimavik group. I think its an early 1990s Supercycle Ascent, originally a metallic light blue but sprayed burgundy, likely before Katimavik got hold of it. The re-spray was well done. This 12-speed bike has chrome steel 26 inch wheel rims, brand new street tires, unindexed friction shift levers, calliper brakes, a kick stand and a full reflector suite. The seat is 35.5 to 39 inches above the ground and 29.5 to 33 inches above a lowered pedal. Price was $125, of which $35 was for the new tires.  

Next, also built in February 2013 is this men's Raleigh Rocky II mountain bike.

Below is a Supercycle 70th Anniversary comfort bike I rebuilt in March 2014. Its one of four bikes I bought at a local yard sale and has a seat tube angled back almost 45 degrees. It has a single speed and a pedal-backward coaster brake. I installed new teflon-bead low-drag 26 x 1.9 inch tires and added a bell. Seat height above ground is at least 30 inches and up to 36 inches, seat height above low pedal is 27 to 34 inches. With the new tires ($50) this bike had a sale price of $110. It went to a local resident as part of their limb physiotherapy.

This bike I rebuilt in September 2013 is a men's 3-speed but, despite the familiar colour and frame geometry, its not a Raleigh.

That British company introduced riders to indexed gear shifting a hundred years ago, featuring all the gear mechanisms inside the rear wheel hub. This bike, however, is a Canadian-made CCM with a Japanese internal gear hub, built sometime in the 1970s. Raleigh 3-speed bikes used the Sturmey-Archer rear hub gears, but this bike uses a Shimano equivalent. Each relies on moving a spring-loaded steel pin through the wheel axle to change gears. The difference is that Sturmey-Archer pulls the pin with a chain while Shimano pushes it with a pivoting actuator. 

The other main difference between this bike and a classic Raleigh 3-speed is the use of a one-piece pedal crank axle rather than a three-piece crank axle with pedal arm cotter pins. Since cotter pins can be destroyed during removal, I prefer the less-efficient 1-piece crank. All of these parts can be replaced with widely-available modern compatible versions.

Otherwise, the bike has a steel frame with steeper fork rake for upright cruising, full painted steel fenders and chain guard, chrome steel wheel rims, side-pull calliper brakes and a sprung saddle. 

Bought at a yard sale, this Canadian-made tourer was in pretty good shape to begin with, except that it needed new 26 x 1 3/8-inch tires and tubes, mainly. The sale price was $160 ($35 for the new tires), which also reflected what I paid for it at the yard sale. It went to a gentleman who enjoyed riding this type of bike in his younger years.

Rebuilding an old bike is a time-consuming job that normally takes me ten to fifteen hours, especially because of the cleaning involved. Sometimes I discover that a bike can't be rebuilt because the frame is damaged or too rusty so then it ends up as scrap metal, but most of the time I have been successful. You can see more bikes I have rebuilt and sold by returning to the first page of this blog and scrolling down.