Auction funds future bicycle racks

One hundred and seventy-five bikes were auctioned off at the IU Parking Operations’ annual spring auction Saturday. Abandoned, stolen or illegally parked, the bikes are taken from campus every year and resold to IU and Bloomington community members.

Money from the auction is used to install bike racks around campus, Parking Operations director Doug Porter said. The auction generally brings in between $5,000 and $6,000 in sales, enough to install one bike rack.

First up in the auction were bikes which generally sell between $100 and $200. After those bikes are gone and the crowd has dwindled, Porter said bikes that are missing parts or are in poorer conditions go for $30 or $40, and sometimes bikes are sold as cheap as $5, depending on who is left to bid on them.

“If we get down to the end and they only want to spend $5, we’ll sell it to them for $5,” Porter said. “That’s the nice thing about an auction instead of a garage sale. People will see the price on it and think they don’t want to spend that much.”

On a fenced-off stage, auctioneers Larry May and Richard Rush announced brands and prices to a crowd of around 150 people. Each bike was wheeled on stage one at a time for Rush to hold before the audience.

Bloomington resident Braden Archer attended the auction looking for a mountain bike. After the first 30 minutes, two of the eight bikes he wanted to bid on had already been sold.

“The mountain bike I have right now is showing its age,” Archer said. “It’s about 15 years old.”

But the pricing at the auction wasn’t in his range. As a bike left the stage — sold for $180 — Archer laughed.

“I think most of the people here have more money than brains,” he said. “Some of the bikes are going for more than their retail price.”

Archer said he would wait around for the bikes at the end in hopes of salvaging parts from one to fix his own bike.

“My family was a huge biking family,” he said.

Recent graduate Travis Stevens, however, left happy with a road bike he bought for $105. He had budgeted $100 and wasn’t planning to go much over.

“I’m trying to bike to work this summer,” he said. “I’m happy with the price.”