sloar 

I think I bought all the bikes in central Indiana. I finally built a nice work shop with heat and this has been the slowest year ever. I’ve been a little more picky, but either the bikes are way over priced, or total junk. Anyone else having a slow winter?

chainwhip

..."the bottom's dropped out of the C&V market"...which it may eventually do...

You may need to shop and ship with a wider net, but stuff is out there.


Recruit the C&V Hive Mind!!...
>>>whatcha lookin' for...??

horatio 

Nothing but crap around here these days.

Hudson308 

The C&V deals are certainly fewer and farther between, but they are still out there. Just picked up this 63cm Prelude frame for $30.

There are still a number of vintage Trek deals to be had. I think the supply of quality C&V steel will continue to increase, as more boomers who bought them new will grow past the age when they can still ride them. We've already witnessed the eefects of that, with the softening of prices for what I would call the "upper mid-range" models like the one above. Lately some spectacular examples of the premium models have surfaced, as well.

norcalmike

I've seen some pretty nice bikes in the $100 range lately here.
I'm surprised they are still for sale.

Spaghetti Legs 

They've all been bought and listed for twice FMV on ebay.

Past several months it's been pretty rare for CL bikes to pop up of much interest to me. In Richmond, there are two flippers that, like clock work every three days, renew their 20 listings each of dept store bikes, so I have to wade through those. I think it is interesting how you can't sell a vintage bike for a decent price, yet you don't necessarily see the market flooded with nice bikes at low prices. I suppose it's a case of a limited buyers audience and us guys who have bikes we already like holding out for bargain prices. Everyone else I guess just buying newer stuff.

SurferRosa

Seattle CL is full of crap.

wrk101

Two problems I see. Prices on nice finished bikes are DOWN, DOWN, DOWN. Meanwhile the prices of projects at garage sales/thrift stores/etc, are UP, UP, UP.

So there is a serious margin squeeze. Bikes I used to sell for $300 now go for $150, and it takes a while. On the mid level stuff, the profit is GONE. Its gotten where the crankset, derailleurs and shifters are worth about 2X what I can get for the complete bike. I pulled two I had listed on C/L this year for that reason. Then I dismantled, sold some parts and donated the rest.

Meanwhile, parts still do well. I've got the same total margin in $$ this year as prior years. But in the past I was selling 50 to 60 bikes a year, and no parts. Now it's 5 or 6 bikes a year and a LOT of parts. Eventually the market will catch up and we will see parts drop too. NOS, top of the line, new in box, I don't see those dropping. But a nice, clean, used vintage used parts, I think those are starting to soften up.

I've already seen a drop on BMX. Stuff that would sell in an hour on ebay will now last 30 days, then get re-listed a few times before it sells. At a lower price. Again, I am not talking the super rare stuff.

Lately, my only purchases (other than bikes for parts) have been bikes that interested me, like a 1974 Raleigh Gran Sport and a 1970s Allegro. Meanwhile,I am aggressively reducing inventory as I do not know whether we have hit BOTTOM yet. Its kind of that "catching a falling knife" situation. Just when you think things can't go lower, they do. Its kind of odd. When the economy sucked, vintage bikes were valuable.

horatio 

I don't buy bikes for re-sale, but I picked up a couple cheapies this year for parts sources. I'll donate the frames to the co-op once they are stripped. The only bikes that have been of interest to me lately are a minimum three hours away, and I'm just not motivated to pursue them. However, I was fortunate enough to get a recent assist from hazetguy with a Fuji project bike. It would have been a three hour drive each way for me.

RobbieTunes

In So Indiana, everyone is Dave Kingman, swinging for the home run.

Now, if you want a 56cm....
-Teledyne Titan complete or FFHS
-Klein Performance FFHS BB Post
-Ironman redo FFHS
-Paramount FFHS
​​​​​​-Super Corsa complete OEM

-loads of Campy stuff...

None of it will be on CL. I hate the public.

francophile 

Deals are scarce these days. And I've been trying to sell at prices I think are deals - compared to what I'm seeing go quickly elsewhere, but having no luck. Likewise, 1 in 20 sales I see that I think, "damn ... that's a smoking price!" are also staying around.

I think it's safe to say: The bottom has officially fallen out of the market. Would be very happy about that because it means more opportunities for good scores and plenty of time to work on project backlog, but I can't even sell what I have to make room in the shop.

sloar 

I rarely buy a bike just to sell. Every bike I buy is my size. I buy it, fix and clean it and ride it. If I like it I keep it, if I don’t I sell it. I usually break even, but I enjoy it. Here lately bikes are to high to buy and resale prices are to low.

3alarmer 

...+1. It's always something with those guys.

RobbieTunes

Ditto
Ditto

francophile 

I used to buy bikes with specific people in mind. Then I started to buy only in my general range unless it was a smoking deal and had 2x or more resale.

But what I found is, there were a couple of bikes +/- 1 or 2 cm that actually fit me quite well. This has led to me having a couple of extra 56, and at least one extra 61.

stardognine

That's kinda me too. I like to ride anything I fix up, and hate to sell things. 😁

I still seem to catch decent deals though, got my Killer V last month pretty cheap, and another parts 'dale this month, also pretty cheap. 😎

Like Joe Walsh said, I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. 😎😉

jlaw

I'm not a flipper or a major collector, but I do look at bikes listed for several nearby CL locations every day. This time of year it gets kind of boring seeing the same stuff, none of it very interesting or priced way high By March I'm about ready to give up, but then after the first nice, warm day people start to clean out their garages and CL gets much more interesting.

repechage

Think macroeconomic, there is a big diversity building in regions, some up, some employment is lagging by a large margin . Bicycles are often beyond basic transportation- a good where demand is quite elastic.
Also, age does play a roll. I think the expectation of index shifting is flowing in. it has been 30+ years since SIS really caught on, add 15-18 to that and those folk are now in their late 40's.

crank_addict

Might be regional but ebay is always at ones fingers. Crazy cheap deals as of late.

Fact is, road cycling in any recreational category is going away.

Parallels the lack of sanctioned road racing in the States. And for the few race venues, there's no spectators. Lol

The majority of whom 'might' consider road cycling will only go to spin classes. That too is quickly fading and the next wave is at home virtual / connected.

So our little sliver of vintage lightweights carrys what best it can, accumulate what you can and gift some of it. Influx the hobby, interest by recruiting others and maybe a few will bite.

This last Autumn I gave away a nice complete Trek 520 and an avg condition Bridgestone. Not worth my time selling or take into service - working on my other. Encouraged the new owners to throw a brick at the TV, and rather check into the forums, join on some rides, etc..

nlerner

Flipper filler is generally true on Boston's CL, too. Still, there are always decently priced mid-range Japanese bikes showing up on pretty much a daily basis:

This Fuji.
This Lotus.
This Bridgestone.
This Shogun.
This Miyata.

For decent transportation for less than $200 and a gateway to nicer bikes, those are all fine choices at reasonable prices.

francophile 

Sometimes the deal-to-hassle ratio just isn't worth it. I'm going through that right now with this case. Scored a wicked deal, but seller isn't having it. Seems like you're pretty safe on BIN in a lot of cases, but seems a little less common to find the bargains there, less you're local to the seller.

You pointed out a couple of other things that have helped to kill cycling in the last couple of years, too. For us, first nail in the coffin was rental bikes. Next nail in the coffin was rental scooters. Most recent seems to be the popularity of SoulCycle and Peloton, respectively. Seems like people's interest in rent-to-roll is far higher than owning and maintaining their own. I get it, but ... eh.

Kobe 

I will only buy quality bikes in my size (65-68cm) which nicely limits my buying, especially on Craigslist.

I did trash pick a Jamis Explorer mountain bike and added new cables,brakes and a chain. Even picking it up for free I'll be lucky to make $50 on it.

Rollfast

Indiana wants bikes, Lord they ain't none back there...

francophile 

And this is partially my beef. Seems like right now I basically need to find a bike for $20 or less just to break even

Doesn't matter if you sink 15 minutes or 15 hours into it. End profit is still the same.

Miele Man

The only bicycle co-op in my region has gotten pretty expensive for any halfway decent quality bicycle components. Often it's cheaper to buy something new from a bike shop than used vintage from the co-op.

I miss the fellow from outside of town that I used to get really good deals on road bike stuff from. He siad he couldn't sell that stuff as everyone wanted MTB or hybrids with wide tires. For $30.00 he gave me a Miyata Seven Ten with Shimano Uniglide 105 hubset plus brand new Serfas Seca tires still with the card around them for hanging.

Here's the bike as it appeared when I brought it home.



Cheers