Fixing up old and unloved bikes is a big part of what we do at Drosi, and is fundamentally enmeshed in our values as an organisation.
The bike industry, as well as us as consumers, has become obsessed with the new and the shiny, the latest crazy technology and the lightest of materials. Of course, bikes designed and manufactured in 2026 are a joy to ride, but we live in a period of unprecedented stresses to our environment and our finances, making refurbished bikes and repair culture likely of crucial importance to a sustainable future.
Why Second Hand Bikes Matter More Than Ever
Cycling is widely considered to be a highly environmentally conscious method of transport, especially if it is replacing the use of petrol or diesel powered vehicles. However these credentials are tainted if you factor in the number of perfectly repairable bikes being thrown away each year, which was reportedly 11,000 in the Uk in 2018, with only 1 in 10 people claiming that they try to repair broken items before throwing them out (many household items were included in this survey including furniture and toys) (North London Waste Authority).
When combined with the environmental costs of producing brand new bikes- which is upwards of 100 million new bikes globally each year (The Geography of Transport Systems) – including the mining of raw materials, the fossil fuel use of the factories and the transport of them across the globe, and the bike industry doesn’t look so wholesome after all.
The bike industry really needs a rethink; we need to start utilising more of what we’ve already got, for planet and pocket.
Why Most Bike Shops Don’t Sell Second Hand Bikes
There’s a clear problem here. Your average high street bike shop, where many folks buy bikes and seek out advice about buying and repairing bikes, simply don’t sell anything second hand. Gone are the days of your slightly grimy and somewhat chaotic looking family-run workshop; bike shops today look more like art galleries, with shiny steeds lined up in neat rows and happily adorned with quadruple-digit price tags.
Second hand bikes don’t get the floor space because they don’t get the margins. The margin on selling a new bike is typically 30-40%, and on parts it can be even better at 50% or more. Ultimately the sale of multi-thousand pound bikes is what keeps bike shops above water.
The margin on refurbished bikes is always going to be far less, depending wildly on the bike in question, its condition and how much time and money has been spent on it, as well as how it was acquired in the first place. Making any sort of mark-up here is often impossible.
The Economics of Refurbishing a Bike
Here is an example. Let’s take the popular and affordable Boardman adv 8.6 from a few years ago, an on-trend aluminium gravel bike. On the second hand market you can happily pick one of these up for £350 in well-ridden condition. By the time you’ve serviced it, likely replacing the main wear points like chain and cassette, tyres and brake pads, you’ve spent £500 (including labour time for a mechanic). Now to make the same margin as a new bike you’d need to sell this for at least £650, however this amount is encroaching on the kind of money that new entry level gravel bikes are.
The average consumer doesn’t see the value in buying used if it’s close to the monetary value of a brand new product. Unless you’re particularly environmentally conscious, the lure of a new bike, with its promise of reliability and good looks is too tempting, especially if it’s only a little more money (or the same) as its used equivalent. So in the above Boardman example, a margin of even 10% seems pretty hard to come by.
Why Refurbished Bikes Still Make Sense
It’s a crying shame that used bikes don’t get much attention in the traditional bike industry. One has to look at the alternative side of the industry, with CICs such as ourselves at Drosi and other community bike workshops to find second hand refurbished bikes being sold. It requires a passion for environmentalism, and ultimately external funding to make such projects possible. Of course there is also the online marketplace of used bikes, with passionate back-shed mechanics doing-up and selling-on old bikes for the love of the game, but equally not really making any money.
Second hand bikes are not necessarily inferior to their shiny cousins. At Drosi we cater for all types of cyclists, however our bread and butter is undoubtedly the leisurely commuter, the get-around-towner and weekend warrior. It’s the low price point bike rider looking to spend a few hundred pounds at the absolute maximum. It’s also undoubtedly the most common type of rider globally; although the performance orientated racing and technologically focussed rider gets almost all of the advertising effort, millions more riders simply use the humble bicycle to get around the place.
At this price point, refurbished makes an awful lot of sense. A £200-£300 refurbished bike from us, say a Cannondale or Specialized hybrid from 10 years ago but in good overall condition, will be a far more reliable, enjoyable and serviceable bike than anything that can be bought new in this price bracket. For a new market price of less than £400, manufacturers have to cut fairly extreme corners to produce a bike. These include using heavy steel tubing and poor quality un-branded components that result in a bike that is sketchy to ride from new, deteriorates fast and is almost unserviceable to any satisfying degree. Due to these facts such bikes are thrown away quicker, contributing to those staggering numbers quoted earlier.
Refurbished Bikes Can Help You Learn Bike Maintenance
Completely separate to price, a refurbished bike will also teach you far more, because chances are it won’t be perfect. Depending on the price-point and refurbishment level, you may need to do some tinkering with the bike yourself after a few months of riding, and thus learn some basic bike mechanics. You will also likely be more inclined to ‘have a go’ repairing a cheaper refurbished bike than if you had bought a brand new model off the peg, which is another advantage.
You may even feel compelled to modify or upgrade the components a little, experimenting as you go to make the bike suit yourself perfectly, something that again may feel a little sacrilegious on a new steed. Or finally, you will develop a relationship with you local bike shop as you take it back to them again and again, feeding off their experience and advice, and perhaps borrowing a few niche tools here and there.
Changing How We Think About Bikes
So, while refurbished second hand bikes are brilliant for cycling as a whole, making any sustainable money from them is what curbs their share of the industry. It’s my opinion that before refurbished bikes can become any kind of profitable they first need to become desirable, and that requires a bottom-up attitude change.
No bike brand is going to start re-acquiring and selling-on their old bikes or components, as it’s simply not in their financial interests to do so. Instead, we as consumers need to recognise the environmental cost of constantly pumping out new kit each year, as well as the plethora of advantages that buying used can bring.
We need to believe that keeping that 25 year old Claud Butler on the road, lovingly serviced each year despite wear and tear, means something far more than simple stubborn refusal to replace. Rather it stands for a sustainable view of our future with bikes. It stands for a closer relationship with our local bike shops, one built around repairing not selling, and greater learning as to how to fix things yourself. It stands for encouraging other to do the same.
The greater non-monetary value there can be for good refurbished bikes, the more demand there will be for them, the greater monetary value they will possess and therefore the more likelihood that shops will invest in selling them.
So consider next time; do I really neeeed a new bike?
Written by Scott, Workshop Coordinator at Drosi Bikes. Usually found in the workshop, talking about bikes, fixing bikes or thinking about bikes long after everyone else has stopped. Passionate about repair culture, practical cycling and keeping good old bikes rolling for as long as possible.