Once at my local bike shop I heard someone ask if they sold used bikes. The salesperson said no and that no one did, because they would have no good way of verifying they weren't stolen. They then discouraged the customer from using Craigslist unless they "really knew what they were doing." It sounded like good advice, but I also wondered if they were just trying to make a sale.
Of course you can find used bikes at Phoenix bikes and Bike and Roll has a sale once a year. Adam Voiland writes about another option - Eastern Market.
Max, who describes himself as a “bike enthusiast” on his business card,
arrives most weeks via a big white box truck packed with used bikes.
His loot runs the gamut from junk to decent, but for casual riders the
price is unquestionably right. The bikes, Max says, usually run between
$90 and $300 dollars.
Photo by Adam Voiland
The market is two blocks from my house, and I have to say that I was disappointed with the selection of bikes on hand there. If you're gonna talk about used bikes, you should mention Bike Club in Falls Church, VA. It's a great shop, they don't trade in low-end department store bikes, and you can still get a good deal on a used bike.
www.bikeclubva.com
Posted by: Shawn | April 15, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Papillon Cycles in Arlington's Columbia Pike corridor also sells reconditioned, "pre-owned" bikes. I'm probably going to go there at some point to "upgrade"... my experience with service there has been great.
Posted by: Scott | April 15, 2009 at 05:16 PM
Any business selling used bikes in DC technically must have a pawn shop license. A well knows shop was 'busted' for this several years ago. Not sure how this guy Max gets around that, but maybe being a 'bike enthusiast' and not actually running a shop helps.
Posted by: ontarioroader | April 15, 2009 at 08:53 PM
College Park Bikes has been known to sell used bikes.
Posted by: kenf | April 15, 2009 at 10:55 PM
College Park lists all their used bikes in an online database. At the moment the results include 2,843 records - and it's sortable by many catagories!
http://bike123.com/used_bikes/used_bikeslist.php
Posted by: lwatkins | April 16, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Irrational fear. Not buying a used bike because it COULD be stolen would be like not buying a used ANYTHING because it could be stolen. TV, microwave, CAR! Anything on craigslist or ebay...
Posted by: Fixed Gear | April 22, 2009 at 06:27 PM