paketa

Hello! I am not sure if this is the right place to post this but I was hoping someone would be able to help me identify a bike I was gifted. It is an EXTREMELY light frame, and has the label Paketa and Magnesium. It is blue and yellow. It won’t allow me to post a picture until I have made more posts.

I have called every bike store in my area, nobody has heard of this brand. I know it’s older, and he only rode it once, which is why he gave it to me. I appreciate any help I can get!

bargainguy

Welcome. They're still around:

https://paketabike.com/

If you go to the Intro forum and say hello to nine of your new friends in their posts, you can post pix, and we can see what you have.

Value - not much on the used market to go by. If the frame is in good shape, 50% of new is a good starting point.

TugaDude

Not so sure. Yes, there is a website with some info, but I also found some messages, including some here on Bike Forums which indicate they closed shop. The owner of the bike can try to message them. Maybe they will respond.

In any event, I find it interesting how much they talk about corrosion on their website as though it is a big issue with new bikes. Even with old bikes, a little care goes a long way and I have yet to buy a vintage bike that had anything other than minor surface rust. I'm sure there are horror stories out there, and maybe I've just had good luck.

paketa

The frame I have says Paketa, and Magnesium, but it also says “paketa.com” on the (I don’t know the terms) fork that connects to the back wheel. That website no longer exists.

paketa

I am just glad you found an updated website. This bike has been ridden twice since it was purchased. The back (fork?) that connects to the wheel says “paketa.com” which no longer exists. I know nothing about bikes, and it’s a little too small for me. Do you know what it might be worth? Or is it mainly a collectors item? It literally looks brand new.

Paul J

They were also made tandems where they were in direct competition with the carbon fiber builders like Calfee. Magnesium has very unique properties which are susceptible to some form of corrosion. They were beautiful frames but probably do not have a significant value now in the resale used market. This is a post from the tandem forum. https://www.bikeforums.net/tandem-cy...a-no-more.html

machinist42

TugaDude

I had never heard of the brand, but don't take that as a negative as there are probably a number of brands out there I've never heard of. Certainly it wasn't a "mainstream" bike. Have you tried looking on ebay for completed sales? That is a possible source of more information.

Edit: Found this mountain bike on Pink Bike...

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1272468/

Edit: I did a quick search and found a tandem that sold for $3,300.00. It had some premium components on it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Paketa-V2r-race-tandem-bicycle-/224203776486?
hash=item34339621e6%3Ag%3An%7EYAAOSwqYBfkKyH&nma=true&si=i810mie3%252BrNfmpoiy99nE5BvdSg%253D&orig_c vip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

AeroGut

The magnesium frame is a novelty, but not unique. A number of makers have used it over the years, and it never really caught on. But it means that there are others out there on the market. There was a company called Litech that made some (and I think also went out of business?), and Pinarello has offered a magnesium Dogma. That's both good and bad. The right person might be willing to pay a lot for it, but especially with the brand being not very well known, most people are going to avoid it. I can't tell what the components on it are, but assume they are fairly high end? My ballpark (and fairly uneducated) guess would be that something around $2000-2500 is a good price, but you may have to be very patient waiting for the right person to come along. You might consider stripping the parts off and selling them separately from the frame, then leave the frame up on eBay and other sale sites with a high starting bid and see if you get any bites.

On a side note, this is almost certainly a newer bike than what would be considered "vintage", so you might get more info on a different forum.

bargainguy

https://www.handbuiltbicyclenews.com...next-big-thing

According to this article, Paketa found out that corrosion could occur under a powdercoat.

Apparently Allite got around this with their plasma electrolytic oxidation treatment on their Super Magnesium frame.

paketa

Thank you for your help! I have been unable to find and similar bikes for sale or sold. Thank you for hunting down this info.

paketa

That is extremely interesting thanks for the info! I think there would have to be a niche buyer for this. It is definitely not a bike you see every day, and Magnesium as a material seems niche as well.

paketa

Thank you so much for your advice and sharing your knowledge. The components feel and look high end. My friend who gave it to me is the kind of guy that thinks the most expensive option is the best option, and he always has to have the best. I didn’t think it was exactly “vintage” but the company doesn’t exist anymore. Can I call the company vintage? Haha thanks again for your help!

jon c. 

Hard to price a novel bike like that, but my uneducated guess is you'd be lucky to get $1,000. It's unique, but it's still just an 'other than top name brand' road bike. I can't see the Mg frame being that much of a draw.

If there is a niche market for these, you'll probably need to cast a wide net to find it. Which may mean eBay if you're not in a major metro area. Good luck.

pyeyo

I realigned one of these a few years ago, unlike aluminum they can be cold set, the frame I worked on had a lot of toe overlap but might be the wrong fork etc. The doctor who owned it said it was worth around 2800USD with Ultegra. If you take the groupo and nice wheels off it would be around $800-900, I would message Leonard Zinn, he has or had some exposure to magnesium bikes. (Leonard is also the cat that told me magnesium can be coldset.) After I finished it hung around in the shop until the doc could get back from overseas to pick it up so I took it on a couple of 50mi + rides, it did ride very well, completely opposite a large tube aluminum bike. Sorry for the late reply, Covid issues.

repechage

magnesium and aluminum... corrosion
known well to V tail Bonanza owners