Cool bikes you’ve/I’ve given away

[NWisGooderest!]

Bike are fun and all but they are always best served when they are actually doing what they are doing what they are designed to do - getting sideways and loose!
Built up so many nice bikes in the past and some were not in my size (18/19”-ish).
Selling is ~”ok” but doesn’t it bring joy to one’s heart to gift them to a deserving soul?
Gifting my to small Cook Design Mt. Palomar to a pal since it’s just collecting dust and he’d actually ride the damn thing. Feels good - it’s an altruistic vibe thing perhaps.
Besides, doing a good deed only means something even cooler is going to come your way soon. Any others share this attitude?
“It’s a tool, not a trophy dammit” is the old adage said by many a professional racers trying to earn a paycheck.

 

[KayOs]

I don't normally give any of my bikes away for free but I have sold around 10 of my bikes in the last few years. I always try to find a fair price that still covers my expenses. The cost of the old bike, new tyres, drivetrain parts, cables....

After all, I want to help finance the hobby with the bikes I sell, but it's not my main source of income.

As my friends don't want old mountain bikes, there has never been a question of giving one away for free. Except for one time when it was actually a gift.

So far, I've always had interesting buyers who have planned and done a lot with the bikes. From tours through Scandinavia to work and travel in Germany to getting into mountain biking or simply the daily trip to work and the supermarket. So far, nobody has complained about anything and nobody has wanted to negotiate the price down any further.

The bikes so far were 1 road bike, 1 gravel bike, 1 trekking bike and about 7 or 8 mountain bikes from Specialized to GT, Giant, Marin and so on, mostly steel from the early 90s. I still have the pictures and I miss some all of them.

To cut a long story short, I haven't given many bikes away for free yet but I've sold many very cheaply and, yes, it feels good to bring joy to others and you get to know great people and great stories.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Conversely its my job to try to make people appreciate bikes enough to enable the Bikeworkshop staff to earn a living!
Its not that easy.

A lot of great bikes have passed through our hands in the 30 years I've been doing it, including several thousand older models.

Closest to "giving away" would be twintube titanium colnago dura-ace racers under a thousand, and early lugged carbon Looks for a few hundred. Many Bright kleins likewise, and hundreds of lovely lightweight British racers, almost worthless then, sadly not much better now after a brief rally


Absolutely fascinating, someone's you can watch a bike run right through that value curve of luxury item, to almost worthless obsolete, embarrassing thing, to cherished collectable!

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

I bought gt tequesta some years ago; it was cheap and I didn't really want it.

I put it up on here for free - some guy who will remain nameless asked for it, turned up and didn't even say thanks.

Classy.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Sadly, if you ask for nothing, that's sometimes exactly what you get!

If the new owner invests nothing in it, that can be what they think its worth.

But definitely not always.
Sometimes it's a beautiful thing, you just have to be careful.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

I bought gt tequesta some years ago; it was cheap and I didn't really want it.

I put it up on here for free - some guy who will remain nameless asked for it, turned up and didn't even say thanks.

Classy.

How rude

 

[PhillB]

I gave away a couple of my builds I had restored- a 93 Zaskar LE to my brother and a 2003 GT I Drive to my Nephew.

My nephew learned to ride on this and it got my brother back on two wheels, priceless things really…

 

[ishaw]

I helped a mate out with buying a bike. Did loads of research for him and found a decent enough Marin for £60. Somehow he got it for £20 and I said he should bring it over to me for a service.

I fully stripped the frame, gave it a good deep clean, then swapped out almost every part with new stuff I had, deore 10sp gearing, saddle, post, bars, tyres, cables etc.

I handed it back to him and he was stoked. Why did I do this? Well because I could, he'd get a nicer bike and more pleasure riding it, plus he helps me coach a grassroots football team so it was a little reward.

When I get it in for a service, I'll be upgrading the forks to something better, just because I'm nice.

Felt good to do him a turn. Building his son s bike now. I won't be giving this away, but I'll be selling it to meet his budget but he'll be getting much more bike then he pays for. Way more.

Built my kids their bikes of course, they obviously didn't pay for them. The latest turned out to be quite and expensive one. Built it for me, but it turned out to be too small. My eldest had outgrown his previous bike I built so I gave him that one. A rather nice xt 11x1 shod, with revs, crossmax etc 27.5er.

Forgot I gave another bike away. I was doing the London to Brighton off road event and my mate wanted to do it but had no bike. I built him a nice old stump jumper for the occasion. It was a nice bike, but he didn't get too far on the event before bailing out. I finished it, was a great experience but he loved the bike and rode it after failing to finish, so job done.

I am more generous than I thought.

 

[moonlite]

The one I regret was an Orange Sub5 which I'd bought used from the factory for very little. It was a 20" which I couldn't find anywhere in the shops at the time so I was very happy to get it. Over the years I changed the Manitou forks for Rockshox, added Hope Minis, fitted Crossrides, and generally upgraded most of the bits. It was a brilliant XC machine. Then I was transferred to Singapore and had to pack up the London flat in a big hurry, while also trying to re-home five bikes (the sixth was coming with me). I managed to find willing takers for most of them (although when I offered a colleague's husband my Giant TCR2 for free to replace his stolen bike, he asked, "is it carbon?" and when I said no, he said, "pass").

Somehow the Sub5 didn't seem to appeal to anyone and it got to the day of departure with no solution, so I offered it to the 'man with a van' I'd hired to help shift my furniture. He took it with alacrity although I wasn't sure if he would ever ride it or just wanted to sell it. Either way, it wasn't a fitting end for such a lovely bike and in weak moments I still wonder if I could have kept it somehow. Ah well . . .

 

[vapaamies]

Gave away this gold Park Pre to my 15 year old nephew for his birthday last year.