OCEAN CITY — “I got what I came for,” Scott Fife said while loading his newly purchased bicycle into the back of his car last week.
The resident of Doylestown, Pa., owns a vacation home on the island and had just taken part in Ocean City’s annual bicycle auction July 12 at the Shelter Road Recycling Center off Tennessee Avenue.
Fife said he has a big family and that a couple of extra bikes would come in handy.
Ocean City allows the public to bid on used bicycles that have been deemed abandoned or unclaimed after keeping them for at least six months. About 75 bicycles and other surplus items, such as surfboards, kayaks and scooters, were auctioned off last week.
Dorothy Lehman of Collegeville, Pa., home to Ursinus College, was at the auction with son Joey, 9, and friend Dominic DiTanna.
“Whatever he wants, he is going to get,” Lehman said of her son, noting she was looking to spend about $100.
Susan and son Trip, 15, were looking for “just a cruiser for him to explore the city.”
“We have been shopping for bikes for a while so we have a good idea of what the value is,” she said, noting she had attended other auctions in the past but never a bicycle auction.
James Urban, civilian property and evidence custodian for the Ocean City Police Department, said bicycles are found lost or abandoned around the city.
“We try to match up the ones that are reported but it is hard to always match them up,” Urban said.
The auction provides a great opportunity to purchase bikes at low cost. In a typical auction, successful bids range from $1 to $350.
“Some people buy multiple bikes and maybe they want to resell it but some of them just want parts. Sometimes we have beautiful bikes that they get for a third of the price,” Urban said, noting the condition runs the gamut from “something that’s basically ridable to something that’s beautiful.”
The event is a tremendous undertaking, but City Purchasing Agent Joe Clark said state statute requires him to determine if there’s any benefit to the taxpayer from surplus equipment and to sell it if so.
“It’s a double benefit. We are getting them back into the community and we have some people who cannot afford to buy a new bike,” he said.
It requires manpower from the OCPD or Public Works to pick up the bikes, which are then checked in, photographed and added to the running inventory list. They are stored in shipping containers on the property. The day of the auction, multiple city employees take part in organizing and running the event.
“When I tried to stop it, the mayor said ‘No, it’s become kind of an event and we want to keep it going,’” Clark said.
Auctioneering is likely not part of the job description, but Clark does it well.
Beach tag checkers helped out, rolling the bikes along the runway for the potential bidders to inspect.
The first lot was a black beach cruiser, nothing spectacular but certainly ridable with all of the necessary parts — handlebars, seat, two wheels and a chain. The opening bid was $25.
“$25, $25, do I hear $30? $30? OK, $30 over here. Do I hear $35? $35? $35 back there. $35. Do I hear $40? $40 there. Do I hear $45?” Clark yammered out.
The bike sold for $95 to Roger Plourde of Ocean City.
“I have seen it year after year and never could quite make it, so I thought today I could make it and I made it,” Plourde said of the auction. “Two people told me I got a great deal.”
The city used to have two sales each year, selling about 300 bikes total. However, fewer bikes now are being collected and more are getting returned to owners.
“It’s because of better technology. People have iPhones, they are taking pictures of the serial number. If there’s a sticker, they take a picture of that,” Clark said.
He also said there are better locks available now.
“Years ago we had those chintzy chains, today they have really good cables and stuff,” Clark said.
Those who have had a bicycle lost or stolen can contact the desk sergeant at the OCPD, who maintains a list of the inventory.
“Our first goal is to get them back to the rightful owners, and they do a fantastic job of that, and the numbers show,” Clark said.
Those looking to reclaim a bike do not necessarily need the serial number. Clark said a general description would do.
“If you have certain identifiers such as a sticker, you can’t make that stuff up. If the color matches, the make matches, the size matches and that sticker matches … ,” Clark said, recommending people photograph their bikes.
Clark is a master auctioneer, having performed the duty for the past 40 years, but someone else will have to take over after next year when Clark said he plans to retire and put down the microphone.
Through the decades he said he has seen people fight and others pass out from heat exhaustion, but those events are the exception rather than the rule.
“We try to keep it light so that everyone has a good time,” Clark said.
The recycling center shares the city-owned property with the Humane Society of Ocean City. Operations manager Phil Bellucci and shelter manager Courtney Venzie were helping keep the crowd hydrated, selling water to benefit the no-kill shelter.
Signup for the event begins an hour before the auction pre-inspection of the items is not allowed.
Potential buyers must have a driver’s license, passport or other valid ID to register. Payment is accepted in the form of cash or check with proper ID.
Those who think an item being sold may have belonged to them or a family member should inform police officers on site and they will pull it from the auction list until the matter can be resolved.
Once purchased, the items belong to the bidder who has sole responsibility to secure all items. If an item is misplaced or stolen during the sale, the bidder is still legally obligated to make payment for that item.
Clark recommends people come with a friend to help secure the property if more than one item is being purchased.
“It is imperative that people making a purchase keep the items in a centralized location or otherwise secure them to reduce the risk of theft or the possibility of items being mixed up with someone else’s purchases,” he said. According to Clark, the sale prices ranged from $1 to $400. A total of 91 items were sold, including a surfboard and three kayaks. The total revenue equaled $6,117.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff