Originally Posted by
vintagebicycle
I was originally going to build this CL find as a three speed.
The plan was to build up a set of 700c rims and use a set of fenders painted to match to complete the look.
At first I thought about doing it over in original red, but figured black would look the part better. I even found a set of red fenders in the original red off a Sprite 27 but aluminum fenders made more sense. The problem I ran into was that I stumbled on a lesser model done just that way which I bought, but found the 25.5" frame was too big for me as I get older.
I put the brakes on the idea until I find a 23" model instead.
Most of these I see these days are faded much the same way. Those built after these tend to fair a bit better but not by much. This one is from 1977, the last year with stamped dropouts, which made it a good choice for the three speed swap.
About 20 years ago that frame would be a fairly hot item but lately it seems no one wants the better bikes around here. I can get more for a 40 year old Huffy or Murray than I can any shop bike.
As a whole bike, taller sells faster here. anything under 60cm is a tough sell, but parts don't sell, nor do bare frames. The buyer that I seem to find can't even put air in their own tires let alone build a bike from the ground up.
The problem is anything over 23" needs a box that falls well into the oversize category of any shipper making it nearly impossible to ship since the cost of shipping will be more than the bike is worth.
Worse yet, I sold a super clean Motobecane Grand Jubilee assembled new in the box last fall, it was listed for five years, I finally get a response on it, and a guy shows up with a dump truck full of firewood, with cash. He looked the bike over, handed over the cash and wheels the bike over to the truck, and proceeds to toss it on top of the pile like a bag of trash. As he drove away, it slid down the pile finally stopping as it wedged at the bottom of the pile of wood against the tail gate. I was sure it was going to bounce onto the road as I watched. The same day I sell a rusty 80's Columbia 10 speed for $80, the guy shows up with a mini van with a dozen blankets for it and carefully packs it in the van. It was listed for only four hours when it sold. The guy said he was going to restore it back to new condition.
I used to rebuild or at least service old bikes for resale but after 2020, the demand is gone. $20 seems to be the magic number, any more and no one even looks at it, and there's no money selling $20 bikes, nor do I want a garage full of them.