Purchasing decisions - Focused? Freeranging? Opportunistic? Egalitarian?
 

Reading about the Buyers Market in vintage bicycles makes me wonder.
Checking available buying sources reveals many purchasing opportunities in appropriate size and at a multitude of asking prices - low and high.

So I wonder - since i don't 'need' another vintage roadie - or other bike...

What drives your purchasing decisions and what type of buyer are you?
Focused - Must have a Celeste Bianchi, or something close....
Freeranging - Hey that's Nice! or Baby, that's a New Ride...
Opportunistic - Based on that fuzzy pic, it might be a classic, or decent (or not)?!?
Opportunistic II - It's only a day's drive and would cost $100 more around here!
Egalitarian - I must save them all, or many
Egalitarian II - It would be unkind if I passed on this ...(Hetchins Curly, Columbine, Sachs, DeRosa, The Pope's Colnago, etc)
Bottomfeeder - self explanatory
Component-aholic - Campy Anniversay! Full DuraQce 1st gen
Component-aholic II - But I'm missing Pat74!; i could build a better bike around that crankset!
Color freaked - But it's RED! Molteni ORANGE! Cream Panels!

Who knows your category; not that one should be of monogamous cycling buying habits.

It's Winter and a New Year - Buy On!
_______________________________
edit: Example of a Focused (but blurry) purchase. And a generous Re-purchase purchase from a BF friend.
At the time, there was no high-end Italian racer in the group. So the search was for a very nice, but not museum quality, Long&Fast Rider. Brand could have been one of several (many?!?). This one came up from a parttime bike mechanic whose family had grown, forcing a downgrade to his Mancave. Years later, Tim bought, then graciously sold it back to me. So it has multiple Decision Categories

Here's a recent - it traveled with me at 'leaf time' to Portlandia - where I always acquire a case of vintage bike fever.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bfce61adf.jpeg

I don't know what category it would be exactly but I look for nice classics that are undervalued.
I guess is be a bottom feeder opportunist.
I know undervalued is relevant to time and place but if I find a bike I know is worth at least 2x the asking in about any market I grab it.
i find 80s Japanese bikes and upper end Schwinns are easy picks around my area. SF Bay Area.
I've bought quite a few nice bikes for 100 bucks from people that have no interest in classic bikes. To them, they're just old bikes that's going to cost too much to have a bike shop fix it up or something that's been sitting in the rafters for years and has to go.
I try to keep all bikes intact and original but I have parted out several bikes too for various reasons.
Its gonna be A hell of a yard sale when I'm dead.

Not really looking to buy anymore, but you know how that goes...:innocent:

Mostly freeranging/opportunistic.

How about the United Nations approach? I've got French, American, Japanese, German, Italian, and most recently, English.

It's a big, big bike world out there! :thumb:

When I first started getting into all this "bike" stuff- I'd drool over all these wonderful pix of these beautiful, exotic bikes. Sometimes I'd ever copy the pix- just to look at them more*. I also wondered why these bikes never showed up for me. Most every bike I could find was crappy- or at least lower end bikes- the cool bikes I found were either not my size or priced WAY out of my abilities.

One day, a bike I really wanted showed up on CL- it turned out that I actually knew the seller. After that, I started finding bikes that were my size and ones that I was interested in. After I got a few of those, I got more specific- and actually looked for a very specific bike- and I found it. I paid too much for it- but I found it. Same for the next one- I found it, it was clean, it was what I wanted- I paid too much to have it.

I guess you'd say I started out as a bottom feeder and quickly moved to focused.





* I recently found some of the pix of the bikes that I'd saved pix of- bikes that I would actually daydream about- every single one of those bikes is one that I'd pass over now. Go figure. Picky and spoiled.

I’ve dabbled in all of the above...

I’m definitely more selective as the fleet has gotten larger, and the market softer. I’m really not interested in flipping at this point. No production 80s bikes, nothing I don’t think is truly special. I’m really only interested in a hand full of builders/brands.

I'd like to think I am focused but the reality is I am more opportunistic

At this point focused/opportunistic

would have to stumble across one of the following in my size:

Chris Chance - Slim Chance

Ritchey Road Logic

Carrera ELOS

As a way to limit my acquisitiveness, it was supposed to be just 1 from each major EU vintage cycle racing nation. Then Italy deserved more than one. And my favorite Austrian brand cropped up in number. But I strive to stay the course. :roflmao2:

You got me, Egalitarian, be they Rockhopper or a custom. It's only money.

Focused and Component-aholic II.

At this point, its purely planned projects only. Unless something REALLY interesting comes along (Sampson Ti frame, for instance)
In the past its been opportunity combined with some focus.
I will always have an affinity for early Treks.

What?

Almost all of my purchases in the past two years have been undervalued classics or oddities that I’ve stumbled across. A 1964 Bianchi Specialissima, 1965 Frejus Tour de France, 1971 Lazzaretti ( Galmozzi), and most recently a 1953 Follis. All needed help, none were particularly expensive. I enjoy the refurbishing process, and learning about the different marquees and components.
So, I guess I’d have to say opportunistic and completely unfocussed

I know this will make me the pariah of the thread, but I'm finished buying bikes. I've finally got all the bikes (and then some) I want. I'll sell two this year, and probably a third in 2021. I intend to get it down to 4 riders, two sentimental holds and a zero bike. After all these years in this "thing" I am finally content :)

DD

I guess I am opportunistic. Just picked this one up off of Facebook. Low price, decent condition with very nice components. I really was not looking, just browsing.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e51c152bd6.jpg

Wheel-centric. Polished Velocity A23, Aileron or Quill clincher rims built up more often than not into vintage Dura Ace 7400 7 cassette freehub or 7403 8,9, 10 speed cassette freehub. Triple STI or bar-end shift or SunTour Command paddle shift set-ups. Imagining which front & rear derailleurs and triple crankset I will utilize.

Oversized aluminum frames in my size size are on my radar. The whole history of Cannondale leaves many great buys on clean CAAD series frames in a variety of sizes, colors, levels of condition. Complete bikes that folks are getting rid of can account for some really great opportunities. Repainting or powder coating a desirable frameset that is priced right can be a fun project. This way you can start new and build up a really clean classic.

Vintage Trek hybrid frames seem really plentiful and just happen to be configurable for road or gravel bike conversions.

I do do enjoy having at least a couple of the older 126 mm touring bikes in my stable. The 7 speed freewheels or cassettes, combined with a triple crank can enable great versatility in gearing.

In addition to repaints, I would think that taking a steel frame with a so-so fork and upgrading to a 1” threadless steerer and whatever funky stem makes me happy. To this I would go premium on a headset. I’ve got a beautiful Cane Creek 1” headset with a high polish silver anodized for threadless that would be super premium combined with something like a Columbus Minimal 1” threadless fork.

I guess my point here here is that thinking of selecting a vintage steed for it’s fit and adaptability for a bit of re-configuring for modern sensibilities. Off brands that are high quality like my Saint Tropez build up great. Using Shimano mountain rear derailleurs seem like cool set-ups for builds and worth seeking out.

In this crap market, I can no longer buy, overhaul, and sell 'em for a $100+ profit. So if I find one with something I want for myself, like a Super Record rear derailleur, I may buy if I think I can easily part out the rest for a small profit. This gets me my wrenching/polishing/truing fix and something sweet for one of my keepers.

So, bottom feeder, I guess.

I'm in the same boat.

At this point, it would take a vintage frameset from Marnati to show up.

I have two Campy groupsets sitting here that are super nice. Two or three wheelsets that would be appropriate as well.

Also, I wouldn't mind a Richard Sachs cross frameset. A friend has one available that's been raced and nearly beat to death.

A quality refinish and a nice alloy Chorus 10 speed groupset would get it right back in the game, yet I certainly don't "need" it.

My days of flipping are over.

I have quite a few items to clear out over the course of 2020 that I am certain others will enjoy, but my motivation will be house cleaning versus profit.

I’ve been a semi-focused collector. I’ve been able to restore and ride about two dozen bikes in the last 15 years. The oldest is a 1971 Peugeot PX10. All of the bikes are lightweight race-ready models. Most are top-of-line models from internationally famous builders featuring Reynolds 531 or Columbus SLX tubing. I built all of them up for my personal use. I like to keep sunk costs at a moderate level but I don’t flip bikes. I’m also decluttering at this point. I have more than a dozen bikes currently and I want to cut that number in half.

This De Rosa with 2x9 Campagnolo Chorus is a good example of what I like to ride.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c8557397.jpeg

Since there's not a Frugal or Obsessed category I'll take Focused.
I've got my favorite Ironman color scheme from each year '86 through '89.... However I'm missing '85.:(
The hunt continues....

Same here. Not actively looking for more bikes. Something extraordinany would have to pop up to justify another purchase.

I have 4 riders (which I need to make rideable). My critera is bikes that fit and parts that work.

Sort of a bottom feeder, atleast a daily scrapyard lurker.... But mostly a collector of projects that sing to my weakness for potential, ie good bones, bad paint.

All of the above...

Bruce Gordon, pre-80s De Rosa, Umberto Marnati, Tom Ritchey, Bill Boston, jp weigle...

Those are about the only things I’m especially interested in. If something amazing came along at a can’t miss price, maybe.

Maybe a y-77.

Is irrational one of the choices?