johngwheeler

I'm upgrading my bike and will be selling my current one to offset the cost.

The bike is a Trek Crossrip to which I've added fenders, rack, top trunk and replaced the stock mechanical disk brakes with TRP HY/RD hybrid hydro-mechanical. I've also upgraded pedals & tires to more expensive lighter ones. All in, there is probably an additional $400-500 in upgrades.

Am I likely to get a better sale price by returning the bike to its original configuration and selling the upgrades separately, or trying to raise the price of the bike with the upgrades fitted?

My gut feeling is that I will only recoup a fraction of the price of the upgrades if I include them on the bike and would get a better return by selling them separately.

Is there a rule of thumb for how bike prices depreciate? It's less than a year old.

Thoughts?


Thanks!

manapua_man

IMHO you won't get much of a price bump with the upgrades. You can try asking for a higher price but I personally never offer much for used bikes. Look at what things are selling for in your area, and see how it goes. I've noticed some bikes have been on my local craigslist for months because the owners just want way too much for them.

FBinNY 

I'd create two separate listings, one as is and one as was, with prices appropriate to each. Then take the first acceptable offer.

deapee

If it's something I'll use, it comes off. Saddle, bag, cages, pedals. If it's custom made for that bike and there's no chance I'd use it again, I'd leave it.

Put it up for a fair price, when they try to talk you down, take the upgrades off. I don't sell a bike for profit. I try to sell a well-taken-care-of bike to someone who will appreciate it for a fair price.

Kevindale

Your gut instinct is almost certainly correct. OTOH, you will spend a lot of time selling off the upgrades separately. I would keep any upgrades you're likely to reuse, but otherwise put the bike back like it was, sell it, and sell the upgrades separately. People expect big discounts for used bikes, and are generally ignorant about the cost and value of upgrades.

GlennR

The upgrades will not increase the price, so put it back to stock and sell it.

I had a Trek Madone 4.6 with Easton carbon wheels and better saddle. i sold the bike wit the stock wheels and saddle. Sold the wheels separately and saved the saddle for the future (it's now on mt CX bike).

Gresp15C

Can you move the accessories to the new bike? I've got things that have been on every bike I've owned since the 80s.

jefnvk

If I'm buying a bike, I'm probably not paying more for addons, because I may or may not want or find value in them. Then again, if they are things I am never going to use again anyways, or something the buyer finds value in, I'd have no problem tossing them in as an addon.

In your case, I probably wouldn't bother swapping the tires unless they were really expensive or going immediately on another bike. I'd keep pedals and rack and bags and fenders, they're likely to go on another bike. Can't really say on brakes, you're not likely to recoup the purchase price, but may well recover the depreciated value.

johngwheeler

Some great advice in your answers - thank you!

I'll include items that will be of no use to me and are inexpensive or hard to sell (e.g. plastic fenders, which are also a pain to remove!).

Everything else I will remove and create separate listings for, which I'll link to from the main ad. That way any potential buyer can decide which accessories / upgrades they like the look of, and pick and choose. Anything left over can sell separately in due course.

I'm guessing pitching the price at about 2/3 of full retail price for a 1 year-old bike is about right? I can consider the depreciation as "bike rental" to make myself feel better :-)

bp2k8

I think you can keep the upgrades in a separate area and if the person is knowledgeable or seems interested show it to them otherwise sell stock. It seems to be quite common that seller swill strip an upgraded saddle and throw on a basic saddle or even one that is beat up.

BlazingPedals

Think about your target audience. People looking for a used Crossrip aren't looking for a weight-pared, blingged-out custom machine. A few upgraded components on a used bike may sway the buyer vs a more mundane competitor; but upgrades aren't going to have a major effect on the selling price.

corrado33

Don't make the mistake that most do thinking that the money you put into the bike gets added to the price of the bike. It doesn't work that way. Any upgrades, unless significant on a very expensive bike (like really... really nice Enve wheels or something) do not increase the price of the bike unless they compile a very nice "set". For example, if you took a bike and made it a very nice commuter with an IGH, nice metal fenders, good brakes, rack, handlebars, then you may get $50-$150 more for the bike, but if you just randomly added fenders to a bike, you won't get much more for it, if anything.

johngwheeler

Thanks. The overwhelming consensus seems to be that it will be best to sell the bike in its stock configuration, and only include any extras which have no resale value, or can't be used on another bike.

I'm going to include the plastic fenders & kick stand because I think these will be difficult to sell and I can't use them on my new bike (no mount points), plus the fenders will be a hassle to take off!

Barabaika

When I look for a used bicycle, I prefer the ones that have the original components.
It's possible to find bikes that were used only 10 times and stored. They are all original without scratches.

What can I say looking at a grainy photo of a bike with "upgraded" components? The frame is probably scratched and most components are worn out or were exchanged for a lesser ones.

wipekitty

+1. These are the bicycles that stay on Craigslist for months.

I suspect that potential buyers probably fall into two general groups: those new to cycling and want to start used, and cycling enthusiasts who are looking for a good deal. The former group is likely to care little about upgrades; the latter group probably has their own preferences for components like saddle, pedals, and tires.

jefnvk

As one who likes to buy old bikes for riding on CL, I agree with your evaluation of the latter. It is cool that you just upgraded the tires, the saddles, the bar tape, etc to sell, but it adds no value to me, because the second I get it home I am probably ripping it up and putting on the things that I like.

When I see those listings itemizing everything done and adding it to the base value of the bike (or worse, tacking on a LBS tuneup at full value), I don't even bother.

johngwheeler

This makes sense. I would do exactly the same myself - look for either a "garage queen" that has seen little use and has all original parts (a good sign it's not been used by an enthusiast) - or for a good deal in a stock bike with a view to upgrading the parts myself.