Somerville bicycle auction tomorrow (Sat 11/14)

[ron_newman]

from the city website:

City of Somerville Bike Auction - Saturday, November 14

The City of Somerville will hold a Bicycle Auction on Saturday, November 14, 2009 from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. at the Somerville High School Atrium, located at 81 Highland Avenue. More than 300 bicycles will be available for purchase in the auction. All interested parties may preview the bicycles from 10- 11 A.M., with the auction beginning promptly at 11 A.M. The bikes will be sold to the highest bidder. All sales are final and bikes will be sold in their existing condition. Cash or checks will be accepted (no credit cards); checks can be made payable to "City of Somerville."

View a description of the bikes by clicking here. For more information please contact 311 or Carlene Campbell, Director of Community Relations at 617-625-6600 ext. 2615 or ccampbell@somervillema.gov .

ETA: Boston.com article about the auction

Comments

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

is this an annual thing, or a first time thing? I'm wondering if there are good deals to be had, or if it's mostly junk...

[ron_newman]

First time I've heard of one in many years. The Globe article says it's the first one since Joe Curtatone became mayor in 2004.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Me too. And the "descriptions" in the PDF couldn't be more useless if they tried.

[ron_newman]

Agreed, but they really want people to show up at 10 am and look the bikes over before bidding starts at 11.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

At least they're doing it on a Saturday. Unfortunately it completely eliminates the possibility of doing any research on your purchase before you make it. Which, in turn, is likely to drive down the bidding price on potentially valuable (but non-obvious) items.

Hey, psssst...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Did you see the Ferrari model one on page 5? :)

Thanks!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I assume all bicycles are guaranteed not to be stolen.

Re: Thanks!

[ron_newman]

I'm assuming that they are stolen bicycles that the police recovered but the owners didn't claim. Check out this article at Boston.com.

But be warned - that gleaming 10-speed on the auction block could disappear in a flash, if the owner comes out of the woodwork.

"If somebody comes to the auction and says, 'Wait, that's my bike,' they will put the bike aside and try to run a trace on it," said city spokesman Tom Champion.

In addition, he said, if an owner can prove afterward that their bike was sold - by identifying distinctive features, for example - the city will hand over the proceeds from the sale.

Re: Thanks!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Oh, OK, thanks...

Re: Thanks!

[yourenotwithme.livejournal.com]

I e-mailed the city as soon as I heard about this since my bike, as many of you know, was recently stolen. I was told that all bikes have had a trace run on them. It's not a guarantee I guess, but I do think they would try to eliminate this major issue.

Re: Thanks!

[ron_newman]

I still recommend that you show up tomorrow at 10 and see if your bike is among the ones to be sold.

Re: Thanks!

[yourenotwithme.livejournal.com]

From the list they posted it does not seem to be there. I am going to try to get there though. I totally agree with your recommendation though because you never know...

[elements.livejournal.com]

Ron, are you planing to go? I've been wanting a bike and this might just be the way I could afford one, but I don't know enough about bikes to know when one is in good enough shape to buy or how much it might be worth..

[ron_newman]

I haven't yet decided if I'm going.

Wow thats a pretty bad list

[fmmodzelewski.livejournal.com]

I cant see a bike on there worth more than $50. Perhaps a couple of the frames (and I mean a couple) might be a bargain if you can build up with other parts. Do they sell off the good ones in a lot to dealers? I have sen much better clearly abandoned bikes locked up in the area that the City clearly hasn't nabbed yet.

Re: Wow thats a pretty bad list

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Noticed that too... Would it be unreasonable to assume that the good ones are taken by the cops and given to their own kids, or something like that?

[alphacygni]

I'm almost morbidly curious to go just to find out what the difference is between "poor" and "bad" condition.