RiddleOfSteel

From what I can see, the market is a touch high for the normal stuff. The selling-too-high sellers are still there, just like before. And there are still deals that slip in there, too. For tall and super tall bikes, the market is essentially the same. Dura-Ace is maybe a little higher than before, as far as parts go. I don't know, but there's a lot that is still fairly unchanged. The stuff I've sold I've asked normal market prices--no gouging desired or acted upon on my end.

FWIW, I've seen the "viewing" numbers on the C&V sub-forum drop by 100 from what it was a couple of weeks ago.

If the demand crash/supply increase/bike value equation goes up/up/down, I have a pretty strong feeling that 65-68cm bikes/frames will still be hard to come by, though still reasonably priced. If anyone knows anyone selling a 65cm (CTC) '83-85 Specialized Expedition outside of the NW and eBay, you know who to call.

kross57

Here in north NJ, used bike sales went cray-cray from May to August. It worked fine for my flipping - pay more, get more. Now, sales are dropping of sharply. I imagine this is due to the weather becoming coolish, but a steeper drop than other years. I still have a couple bikes passing through my shop, but I have been careful to keep the number low, so if the bubble breaks I won't get stuck too badly. We'll see what happens in the spring.

There are still bargains out there, especially for bikes needing work. People looking for exercise want "road ready". And there are more bargains in the last couple weeks.

J.Higgins 

I bought a VERY SWEET Specialized Dolce (see what I did there? ). Gave it to my daughter, who has been seriously into MTB. Now she wants to get on the road. The Dolce flies, but she has to walk it down the length of her dirt driveway, which is exactly 7/10ths of a mile long. She took a couple faceplants on it when she got the 23mm tires stuck in loose sand, so now she walks it. They have a John Deere Gator, and I told her to put a bike rack on it and drive it out to the road when she wants to ride! Anyway - sorry for the verbosity - the Dolce was procured for less than HALF of what everyone is selling a Dolce up here, and was simply in pristine nearly-unridden shape. I guess I am bragging a little about it. It was a sweet *cough* NICE bike for short money.

I've been blessed with loads of mechanical work, but not much in the way of buying/selling bike transactions. I've been doing loads of wheelwork, despite frustrations with my wheel products suppliers (its hard for me to call them distributors). Take spokes for instance. I'd be up schitts creek if I didnt buy my Morizumi right before the pandemic.

sykerocker 

Keep in mind, this is the current fad. Which will end. Shortly. With a vengeance. I really remember all those good years at the Adams bike shop, 71-into early 74, then suddenly, bang, nobody wanted a bicycle anymore. And all those people who were ready to kill for 10-speeds suddenly found them uncomfortable as hell (yes, my boss was right, you should have bought a Raleigh Sports) and didn't want to ride anymore.

I have no doubt that this current run will be just the same, although possibly shorter. Today, we get bored a lot more easily.

My big surprised is that the motorcycle shops were running the identical business, as long as you weren't talking street bikes. Motocross, ATV's side by sides, personal watercraft, you just couldn't keep them in stock. One of the reasons I haven't been on this board much over the summer is that I went back to work at the Honda/Yamaha/Can-Am/Sea Doo dealership I retired from last April. My boss in the office was so backlogged on work, she asked me to come back for a couple of months.

sheddle

I have a feeling ebikes will continue to be big here, especially locally, with transit becoming less reliable due to funding cuts.

sykerocker 

OK, here I'm one of the skeptics. The prices I'm seeing on e-bikes are absolutely flooring me, in a lot of cases I can buy a perfectly good - and fast - motorcycle for less money than they'e asking for an e-bike. Maybe I'm just out of touch, but when e-bikes prices start climbing into the real four figures, I start thinking, "Has anyone failed to notice these things are just bicycles."

Then again, I'm absolutely horrified what a good carbon fiber road bike costs nowadays. I sometimes think my main reason I'm so dedicated to C&V is that I absolutely refuse to pay in four figures for anything called a bicycle.

Mad Honk 

Syke,
How about updating the grudge fire thread and show us what it became. Smiles, MH

ryansu

sheddle I have some mismatched SPDs a bit scurffy yours for the picking up (West Seattle) message if interested

gugie 

The frame mod/custom rack business has been busy as ever. Just when I think I only have one or two jobs to finish before I can start building one of the three frames for I want for myself, another couple of people contact me wanting a bucket of Gugificazione done to a vintage frame.

Only a couple more years to retirement and the time to do both...

sheddle

Appreciate the offer, but I've got a set of Deore XT SPD pedals I'm guarding like precious jewels just in case.

AKHIker

I do refurbs as a sideline. We're an isolated town and have 2 bike shops where cheapest starting was $600 this year if they could get bikes. Otherwise we've had me, Fred's with a few Dynacrap (adult full suspension is $200 here with tax) and Costco had a small handful of bikes then nothing. Even most Amazon bikes won't ship here or do so at a $20 premium on top of prime "free" shipping.


We usually get a load of seasonal workers for summer tourism who are eager to buy the cheapest thing that will get them back and forth to work for 3 months. They usually snap up those that fix up mechanically well but have a little rust or some ugliness. Only a small handful of them but they were less than half my business anyway.


Most bought from me before. Almost all of them understood the economic realities of martial law lockdowns and no industry. Had a few try telling me I was charging too much because they "could get the same thing new online for $150" or some nonsense. (If places aside from Amazon will ship here the min shipping is around $85-so $150 is at least $235 and they do all labor.) My answer is "Have a nice day" and I waste no more time with people like that.


I ended up buying a lot of parts through companies in Europe this year. Availability much more difficult and far more spendy to try to buy in the US. Ebay is so flooded with China junk and knockoffs it's a waste. You also see the China junk flooding all aspects of US markets - like pure China company Hiland bikes from Amazon starting around $330. Same thing with appliances and lots of products.


Been seeing people trying to sell their old crap for $$$ here too. With end of season in the rain forest that's eased up a little but still loads of scammers. Someone bought a Kalkhoff ebike that the owner sold for $100 because it needed a good mechanic overhaul, new tires and had less than half battery life left. He tried reselling it an hour later for $500.


On the plus side, we have no paid or free steel recycling and aluminum must be completely stripped so bikes people will dump are usually available. Our dump does NOT allow salvage but I pick up for free and offer $ if it's worth it so I also offer the best deal to get rid of bikes.


Our LBS's are pretty spendy too so it helps keep a little of the refurb bike supply flowing. Surprising mix in the refurb bike supply here too