I am looking to downsize my life's stuff and that includes some of my gear. Though I still plan to tour a lot, I realize I am hanging onto extra things that just sit around. Where are you finding success in selling touring bikes and touring gear, specifically in Canada, or even Ontario since shipping gets costly for distant locations?

Hi Brent,

This past summer I sold some camping equipment and two good bikes for a friend.

The camping gear I just listed on Kijiji, and it went very quickly, a couple of days.

The sale of the bikes proved to be a bit more complicated.  I advertised first among friends & within the network of the bike-recycling organization where I volunteer.  That led to a quick sale of the Trek Damone (was that the model name? I think so.) 

The second bike was a touring bike, a Klein Navigator about 20 years old, but a high-quality bike -- wheels by Peter White of New Hampshire, for example, still spinning soooo easily.  Friends recommended a Facebook group, Ottawa Bicycle Classifieds, where high-end bikes in the Ottawa area are advertised. That was a complete washout, however: the administrators removed the ad I posted, no explanation given. But, I discovered that the ad had been cross-posted automatically to Facebook Marketplace, and that generated a sale within a couple of days. (Brought to you by the Silver Linings Dep't, sez I to myself.)

I had had no prior experience with Facebook, and the shambles with OBC left me utterly uninterested in visiting that group again.  Facebook Marketplace may be a better option.

Hope that's helpful.  (I'm planning a clear-out of camping gear in the spring, so will probably try both Kijiji and FB Marketplace.)

Cheers,  John

Hi Brent,

I’ll echo John’s recommendations. We’ve moved quite a bit of outdoor gear over the last year through Kijiji and local FB marketplace (Kirsten does this, I tend to avoid FB). We live in a pretty outdoorsy town and just about everything we have put up for sale in covid times has literally been out the door in a few hours, in particular bike’s and bike gear (bidding war on a Thule hitch bike rack that started within minutes of being posted!). We did sell a very high end tandem (custom Bilenky Rohloff - was shown in the 2009 NAHBS by Steve Bilenky) through Pinkbike. This took about 6 months and we only had a few enquiries, but you only need one! Very happy dentist in Saskatoon became the new owner of a very special bike and was very happy. 

Just put your stuff up on Kijiji and FB, and you’ll probably be surprised at how quick it moves on to new and grateful owners.

Hi Lyle,

I'd be interested to hear more about your sale of your Bilenky-mit-Rohloff, if that's OK with you.

Am considering selling my Thorn Raven-mit-Rohloff touring bike later this year. Would you mind sending me an email at ? I would reply with a couple of question.  No rush, of course -- this would only happen some months from now.

Cheers,  John

I haven't sold a bike lately, but will be doing so once I decide which of my 80s bikes to keep, if either.  We have sold a fair bit of stuff lately as part of our getting ready to move, though, and here in Vancouver FB Marketplace seems the best option.  There are bike- and location-specific (and sometimes both) buy/sell groups on FB as well and it's easy to post to multiple locations.  Even for me, and I'm not a FB pro. 

If I were selling a good bike, I'd also advertise it on Pinkbike and perhaps on MEC Gear Swap.  I bought my full-suspension mtb through Pinkbike buy/sell in 2017 from a seller in Quebec.  I paid for shipping to Vancouver ($200) and it was worth it to me because I'd been looking off and on for years for such a bike small enough with no success.  It arrived boxed as one would for a flight and I had no real difficulties putting it together.

Thinking the Unthinkable?  Love the emoji, Jean-Marc!  Well-suited to the gravity of the topic 😉

Wellll, feeling a wee bit disloyal as you might guess, but:  Couple of things going on.  One, an instinct to consolidate my bikes.  Currently, I have my Raven and a light-touring ti-framed Eclipse.  Two, the availability--I just learned about this--of a Mercury Mk 3 frame & forkset, 650B.  I think that would give me one bike with the capability of the Raven for light-to-medium touring, and the dayride-to-light touring Eclipse.

This is prompted partly by the effects of the "double-A phrase" -- age'n'arthritis.  A lighter and handier bike would help.

The Raven is supremely comfortable and reliable, as you know, and is capable of a lot more than I can ask of it.  I've reached the limit of weight-reduction-by-tweaking, and I think that the Mercury in light/med touring trim would be a better fit.

(That's the short-ish explanation.) (Haven't said anything on the Thorn Forum yet, so pls don't out me 😉)

Are you watching the cricket?  Wisht we had Supersport here... 

Cheers,  John

So it is seeming FB Marketplace to be the strongest suggestion, Pinkbike (I have sold a few things there), and other odds and ends like MEC and Craigslist. Thank you everyone for the suggestions. 

Another thought - is Cycleblaze maybe too small at the moment to add on a Classified section or might it work?

Hi John,

No problem to take this conversation further through e-mail.  Send me a note at ltmcleod1 at gmail dot com and we’ll get it started. 

No rush, but note that as of Saturday I’m off-the-grid for 8 days (just so you don’t think I’m ignoring your emails!)

Not a real post … just deleted the ubiquitous ’double tap - double-post’ that proliferates here 🙄