My Dumb Luck #4: Expensive Mountain Bike For $20

The Item: Specialized Hard Rock Mountain Bike

The Retail Value: $425

The Purchase Price: $20

My Dumb Luck Discount: 95%

I’m poorly educated in the bike market.  So when I found this Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike on Craig’s List for $20, I figured it was just a bike.  It was missing the rubber handles on the ends of the handle bar, and it needed a new tube.  These were easy fixes.  But the frame and brakes were solid.  I didn’t thank anything else of it.  So I gave the seller $20, and left for my house.

But after I got it home, I did researched the actual bike, and was pretty stoked to see how good of a deal I scored.  Some of you may know this, but Specialized is a professional bike manufacturer, that manufacturers bikes for professional athletes and tri-athletes.

but Specialized is a professional bike manufacturer, that manufacturers bikes for professional athletes and tri-athletes.

And to reinforce their high-end market, some of their bikes can cost well over $1000 dollars.  Sure, they make some lower market bikes, like the one I stumbled across, which requires $425 for a brand new model.  But even at that price, a parsimonious practitioner would never consider it.  Especially when you could get a sweet Schwinn at Walmart for a fraction of that cost.

It had crossed my mind to try and sell the bike for a profit, but then I thought “If I sold it for $50, I would still be out a of a bike.”  And that’s a common dilema for flipping items that you’re actually looking for.  If i managed to sell my new Speacilized mountain bike for $50, I’d profit $30.  But, then I’d have to find another bike.  And it’s not too easy finding a bike for $20.  So, let’s say I’d have to spend all $50 to find a bike.  And if that was the case, I’d be right back to where I started: a bike and no cash.  And it wasn’t guaranteed that the $50 would get me a better bike than the Specialized.  So if you ever consider flipping your dumb-luck scores, first consider what you would actually do with the profit.

Now sure, I’m beginning to sound like a spoiled dufus that has no clue to what treasure he discovered.  But rest assured, that I enjoy biking, a lot.  I grew up with a paper route, and rode my Dyno Sonic to every house.  And after that, I would ride my Dyno Sonic to my summer jobs when I’d be home from college.

I’m certainly not an avid bike rider, but I do enjoy getting the bike out and hitting a few trails, or riding on some shoulders of some back roads.  It’s’ not very often that I do this.  But when I do get the urge to change my exercise habits, bike riding is very welcome.  Which made it easy to keep this great dumb-luck score.