Besides, whether they bought or sold, they could not escape the charge of "speculation and profiteering."
It would be fine if nobody pursued it, but once someone seriously investigated, with witnesses and physical evidence both present, it would become a huge problem they could never shake off.
"There's nowhere to buy a used one, but we can buy parts and assemble one ourselves," Zhou Cheng explained unhurriedly.
As peddlers gradually began appearing in the streets and alleys, several bicycle repair stalls had also sprung up around Suzhou.
These stalls stocked just about every kind of part, large and small.
Besides that, they could occasionally dig up larger items such as bicycle frames or wheels at scrap depots.
These days, eight out of ten bicycles were 28-inch Bars, with manganese-steel frames and high crossbars. They were sturdy, durable, and not easily broken.
Even when knocked or bumped, they generally suffered no more than superficial scrapes.
Very few bicycles actually reached the point of being scrapped.
Most of the frames and parts at repair shops and scrap depots had actually been stolen, dismantled, and sold off by thieves.
After all, thieves these days did not dare sell a stolen bicycle whole.
Taking such a huge risk just to make a little more money meant that, if caught, they would lose a layer of skin at the very least.
To play it safe, thieves generally dismantled stolen bicycles and sold the parts separately.
That not only made it difficult for the owners to track them down, but also gave the thieves room to argue their way out if they were caught.
Zhou Cheng had accompanied Lin Dongzhe to scrap depots several times and had seen bicycle wheels and frames there.
Quite a few had been deliberately damaged, but plenty remained intact.
A manganese-steel