Let's Get Ready to JUMBLE
The best time to buy a new (old) bike in New York is this weekend at the biannual Bike Jumble. Here, some advice for first-timers.
Leg Day is a newsletter about pursuing joy as a city cyclist. If you don’t already know, we’re TWO DAYS OUT from the Leg Day launch party. Eagle-eyed observers might have noticed that, since I announced the event last week we HAVE ADDED ANOTHER SPONSOR. Thanks, Brompton! Looking forward to giving away a gift certificate that’ll cover a three-month foldable bike rental. RSVP on PARTIFUL to attend!
As I’ve become an evangelist for the church of cycling, I’ve started to field one question a lot: Where should I get a bike? After a few different experiences walking people through the flow chart I’ve built in my head to recommend something tailored to their exact riding style and aesthetic, only to have the person demur when I tell them how much it costs, I’ve come to realize I’ve been approaching most bikers wrong. The question they’re actually asking is between the lines: Where can I get a cheap bike?
Most times of the year, there’s no easy answer. Get ready to spend days scouring Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, ideally somewhere that isn’t New York where there’s so much competition for the few superb deals available. And unless you happen to find a seller with multiple bikes (not uncommon, even in Brooklyn1), you’ll probably have to choose and buy a bike without trying out another. Because though you theoretically could choose NOT to buy something from a seller after multiple rounds of emails or texts, taking the train out to wherever they’re based, and then making them let you ride it, who has the discipline?
If your hunt happens to fall in either May or September, however, you’re in luck. Your search for a holy grail should end on a closed off street in Park Slope.
The Brooklyn Bike Jumble (on IG as @nybikejumble) has been taking place in Washington Park, between the Old Stone House and MS 51 for 15 years. Actually, founder Harry Schwarzman, 47, is pretty sure it’s been longer than that, but he can’t quite remember when he started putting together the now biannual gathering of vintage bike and accessories vendors.
Harry, a resident of Downtown Brooklyn, has been riding bikes in the city since he was a kid, well before it was a mainstream activity. The genesis for the Bike Jumble was a personal tragedy. “It all started when I broke my femur riding in traffic,” he said when we spoke on the phone earlier this week. He had been looking forward to participating in a flea market in Pennsylvania with a community of other east coast vintage bike sellers, but could no longer travel. To soothe his sense of FOMO, he decided to ask his contacts whether they’d be interested in selling in Brooklyn.
Thus, New York’s only bicycle flea market was born. Harry doesn’t expect it to go away any time soon. “There’s a need for inexpensive urban transport,” he said. “It’s a universal thing.
If you make it to the Jumble this Saturday (it starts at 11 am and runs until 4 pm), you can expect to see between 80 to 100 different vendors hawking bikes and bike gear. The quality and price of these items … ranges wildly. “I’ve had guys show up with like milk crates [full of ] rusty parts and just dump them on the ground,” Harry said. The neighboring seller, however, might have set up a choice handful of 90s era carbon road bikes in a line on a patterned area rug.
Harry estimates that about 1,000 people attend each Jumble. The scene can be a bit overwhelming, as I learned last May when I went to help my friend Hannah buy her first city bike.
A big part of the reason: bikes are expensive. In interviews with bike shop owners and mechanics, I’ve learned you should expect to pay around $700 for a new bike with decent components that will last at least five years. Before you yell at me about how many sub-$200 cruisers you can find at Walmart.com, please don’t buy those. They’re often designed only to bear the weight of an American elementary school student, and have a reputation for falling apart after you’ve put 100 total miles into the pedals. (Robin Graven-Milne of Bike Plant described them to me as “bike-shaped objects.)
Trust me, once you start riding a bike, you’ll hit that number way faster than you’d expect.
You can save some money by buying used, but it’s not like there are tons of perfect bikes sitting around in people’s closets, hallways and garages that they’ll sell you for a nickel. I spent $300 for my first one and $190 for the one I ride now, but had to spend about $200 on each to get them up to a safe and rideable condition.
Best case scenario: My friend Rose spent the least amount of money on her frame as anyone I know. She found a bike on Facebook Marketplace for $70 in May of 2020. It’s owner was moving to Germany and looking to make some quick cash off something that had been sitting unused in their basement for years. That’s an insane deal, of course, until you factor in the $150 cost of a tune up and wheel replacement. Then it’s just a good deal. (“Best money I maybe ever spent,” Rose said when I texted her to confirm these financial details.)
You can, of course, pay way more than this. You can get a new bike with disc brakes, digital shifting, integrated brake cables, aerodynamic road tires. You can find yourself nodding along in agreement as an enthusiastic seller waxes on the pedigree of a particular vintage bike.
Try not to let this happen not you. I don’t say that just because actually riding the exact model bike Greg LeMond used to turn the tide in a 1989 Tour de France time trial will be supremely uncomfortable for anyone who hasn’t spent years perfecting their aero tuck. New-ish bikers (myself included) seem particularly susceptible to investing way too much money into gear that won’t really fit their riding needs and aesthetic preferences in a year. With your first bike, you should really just be looking for something that’s in your size and safe to ride. Anything further is just gravy.
A budget of $500 should be enough to cover the cost of a bike you can ride comfortably for years and years, plus one initial tune-up. If you decide you want to upgrade the saddle or add a rack in the future, you can!
The first advantage of a single-day event like the Bike Jumble over the always-open store that is the internet is that the moment you see something you like at the Jumble, you can ask its owner if you can ride it. “You don’t have to like, truck out to somewhere sketchy in the middle of the night with a bunch of cash,” said Harry. There’s a stretch of the park between the soccer field and the tennis courts with a slight incline that is a great place to test bikes out. Ride the length of it, test the shifting, and try doing a U-Turn before bringing it back to the seller.
If you’re not sure about it, it’s actually possible to walk away from a sale. Vendors are generally pretty nice about this—probably because they also didn’t have to deal with a digital back-and-forth to get you to their bike. File your thoughts on the bike away, ideally in a conversation with a pal. Then, repeat this process for any other bike that looks like it’ll work for you. In the end, if there was one that stood out, go back for it. It might have sold, but if it hadn’t, you can leave the Jumble confident that you’ve made a good choice.
Even if you’re not in the market for a new bike, I think this makes the Jumble worth attending. You learn a lot about what’s out there and how much people think it’s worth. And you also just get to soak in the energy of a bunch of elder bike enthusiasts. It’s a hoot.
As for Hannah, she ended up buying a Trek Singletrack 930 that was in super great shape for $350. She’s only ever had to spend $40 on it to replace a wheel. Good deal!!
If you’re planning to attend the event this weekend, I’d try to make sure you have a few things with you.
CASH Vendors will likely accept Venmo or other digital forms of payment, but you can probably get a better price if you’re willing to pay cash.
AN ID Which you can hand to a seller to hold while you try out one of their bikes. In a pinch, a friend or romantic partner can also serve as collateral.
A HELMET So that once you buy your new bike, you can ride away from the Jumble on it without worrying about ripping down the 5th avenue bike lane for the first time.
I’ll probably be at the Jumble sometime in the afternoon. If you want a second opinion on a bike you’re trying out, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email. I’ll try and find you. Just don’t expect me to sit pretty while you zoom off into the sunset with a stolen bike. Remember, I know your email address.
Have any of you bought your bikes from Richard in Midwood? Let me know …
thank u sir for this 🫡