wrk101

OK, so maybe my market sucks. But folks, prices have really fallen. And bikes I could have sold for $250 in one day now can take weeks to sell for $150. I see appraisals here far in excess of what I have been getting for properly prepared and presented bikes.


Here are two recent examples:

#1 : 1987 Trek 400, 700c wheel size. Look at the rims, ZERO wear. This was a garage queen. Sold for $150:

1987 Trek 400 by wrk101, on Flickr


#2 : 1990 Trek 1200, full Shimano 105. Sold for $150:

1990 Trek 1200 150 by wrk101, on Flickr


I also sold a similar Cannondale, Shimano 105 bike as well, for, you guessed it, $150. Don't have a picture handy right now.

wrk101

In the never could sell category, here's two:

1. Full Shimano XT bike, 700C wheels, little to no use, garage queen. Priced to sell for about what the crankset and pedals were worth. No nibbles, finally parted it out. Note, this picture is "as found" before cleanup, tires, and an overall refresh. All the efforts went down the drain.....

1991 Ground Breaker by bill, on Flickr


2. 1980 Raleigh Touring: Upgraded with 700C wheels, triple crankset, Suntour bar end shifters. Similar situation. Hard to disassemble. Crankset + bar end shifters = my asking price. No sale. Same thing, the effort to refresh were totally wasted. Nice Specialized cartridge bearing wheel set too!

00o0o_deauar1pqJ9_600x450 by bill, on Flickr

garryg

These are a few of the bikes i serviced and sold this spring. The first bikes i ever sold. All pretty entry level.Apollos for$120, Norco $220, Kuahara $180, Falcon $180 Fixed gear $90 Proctor $220

wrk101

Adjusted for currency and coastal BC market strength, your prices are down from what I used to see. Are you able to deliver to Vancouver area? Did a motorcycle trip to Courtenay, BC. Loved that area!!

dailycommute

Those seem like pretty good seller side sale prices actually. It has been almost 2 years since I flipped anything but it was sub 200 back then for nice vintage riders that had been overhauled.....last projects were sold at break even or given away at loss, just not worth it. Still sitting on 6 keepers that just could not part with, but for future market probably similar to antiques, down about 70% from peak with zero sign it will ever recover due to lack of buyer interest and high level of inventory from aging sellers, similar to CV bikes imo.

Cyclist3098765

Bridgestone RB-1
Sold $350


Clunker challenge Schwinn Super Sport
Sold $200



Motobecane Le Champion
Parted out $450


Unfortunately all were too small for me, fortunately I doubled (+) my investment on each.

ThermionicScott 

I didn't sell any bikes this year. As long as I don't, I can tell myself they didn't lose value.

dweenk

I used to sell 5 or 6 a year, and donate another 3 or 4. This year I have listed 3 and have received 1 ridiculous offer on one of them. Total sold = 0.

wrk101

On the XT Shogun I got offered less than what the crankset and XT pedals selll for. Pretty ridiculous. So I sold the wheels, dérailleurs, crank and pedals (combined for a lot more) and donated the rest.

plonz 

There’s a blue Elance 400 like yours for sale up here for $50. Needs a clean and overhaul which would have been a bargain just a couple of years ago. Not so anymore. Good value as a keeper but not so much from a resale standpoint.

Although I didn’t sell anything this year, I did buy a Davidson Impulse with nice tricolor brifter group on CL. It fell into the C&V phenomenon being discussed. I watched it sit forever at $400 and then proceed to drop in $50 increments. Just when it went away and I thought it had sold, it would pop up again at a lower price. This went on for 4+ months and when it hit $250, I snagged it. I felt like it was a really good deal but I’m not sure I could even get $200 if I popped it back up on CL.

SurferRosa

A '77 Dawes Galaxy for $320 in Seattle. It was fully overhauled with new Paselas:



Also, a '79 Moto Le Champion frame with bb and headset to a local guy for $75, and it had three dings and missing decals.

A bunch of vintage campy parts (normally priced), and a $120 vintage Ultegra wheelset as well.

Will try to sell a full bike or two this spring...

xiaoman1 

Yeah the times they are a changing!
Maybe a Colnago, Tommasini or De Rosa are in my future.
Ben

Kabuki12

I tried to sell a 1974 P13 Paramount for a friend , the best offer I got was $350. I told my friend to hold on to the bike. Yes , it needed some work but a nice rider that I asked $600 for. It was almost entirely Campagnolo NR , no dings and a decent repaint with original color and decals . On the other side I picked up a BEAUTIFUL Medici Pro Strada in very good condition for $335. After I bought it the guy who sold it to me called me and said he had a set of Campy NR brakes with a spare caliper and a Campy flat Record skewer and a spare freewheel all for $30! I was going to put them on the bike, but the Gran Comp brakes with Modolo pads stop really well

1982 or so Medici with very little use

Gran Compe (Campy copy) brakes

Insidious C. 

Portland OR vacinity. Prices may seem low, but they are what I consider fair. I didn't lose money on any of these five bikes. All but one were subsequently flipped. The Sekine is listed on CL right now for $285.

'83 Bianchi Sport SS $100
'79 Peugeot uo10 $80
'75 Sekine SHS $65


'80 Univega Sportour $80 No pics but it was a pretty bike and a nice rider.
'81 Raleigh Grand Sport $60

SurferRosa

Oh, yeah! On the flip side for me, I picked up this early '80s columbus SL Bertoni. It sat on Seattle CL in late summer for a few weeks at $450. When it dropped to $350, I met the owner, who accepted $300. Bought all new consumables, including the Rustines and Sunrace freewheel. I removed its campy record pedals/calipers to part-out. From my bin, I added pedals, dura ace calipers and switched out the Cinelli stem/bars. Also replaced the headset with a well used but free Chorus model from a local shop (maybe 'cause I tip 'em a bit of herb from time to time). And the co-op provided the sweet $15 Turbo saddle.

Drillium Dude 

I am vaguely remembering this bike - did you end up doing a detailed thread on it? Because it's a beauty and deserves one

DD

kross57

I have sold quite a few bikes in the last year. On average I doubled my money over the cost (purchase price plus needed items).If you figure in my time, its not really worth it. But, I really enjoy working on them and learned a lot. I also acquired several bike for my own use, for my wife and for friends. Fun stuff!

kross57

A few more. My area is northwest NJ. If I was closer to NY city, I could double these prices.

TugaDude

Bill, I know that you often travel and are able to find deals. Too bad it isn't as practical to travel to hotter markets to sell. I guess you could, but talk about a lot of coordination and communication, trust, etc.
Obviously you can list complete bikes on eBay but then you have the shipping and as you are so quick to point out, any issue goes in favor of the buyer and it can be a losing proposition in the end for the seller.
Is this a blip? Or is it the "new normal"? I know prices have been sliding for awhile, but will the eventual scarcity drive them back up? Or is interest waning? Maybe it isn't as cool as it used to be to own a vintage steed.

wrk101

"Bill, I know that you often travel and are able to find deals. Too bad it isn't as practical to travel to hotter markets to sell. I guess you could, but talk about a lot of coordination and communication, trust, etc.
Obviously you can list complete bikes on eBay but then you have the shipping and as you are so quick to point out, any issue goes in favor of the buyer and it can be a losing proposition in the end for the seller.
Is this a blip? Or is it the "new normal"? I know prices have been sliding for awhile, but will the eventual scarcity drive them back up? Or is interest waning? Maybe it isn't as cool as it used to be to own a vintage steed."


I grew up collecting antiques. I saw the same thing happen there. Prices have waned in the last ten years. And IMHO, they aren't coming back. Now if I could predict the future, I'd be gambling in the stock market, where the rewards (and risks) are HUGE. I just don't think the next generation (post baby boomer) has as much interest in the older bikes. I have learned trends have a tendency to continue. Many of us, me included, did not appreciate what the classic steel FG/SS conversion market was really supporting the entire vintage road bike market. The conversions tended to use up the lower to middle level steel bikes, putting upward pressure on everything vintage steel. When they moved on, the market began the downward trend.

Right now, the ONLY exception I am seeing on bicycles is the BMX category. Early 1980s higher end MTBs have also firmed up.

I have had my best year ever, selling high end/desirable parts. Eventually, I would expect parts to go down too. Right now they have plateaued (no longer going up in value). But buyers are still looking for that one vintage part to get their old bike back on the road. I can "help".


My "concern" is that some of the valuations here reflect the past, and not the present. The vintage XL Trek with 27 inch wheels is an example, with valuations as high as $275. It's a lower end model, missing decals, so so components. And to be fair to that estimate, perhaps that is still reality in that person's area.

SurferRosa

I noticed there wasn't a dedicated Bertoni thread, so I used it to start one.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...a-bertoni.html

WGB 

Nishiki Landau Tri-A sold two months ago




Fuji Allegre




Raleigh Super GP (sigh!) kept the Brooks seat and racks and tools




Miyata 912




Takara Grand touring (new owner hit in fail to remain so needed a bike)

AlmostTrick

1968 Schwinn Orange Krate. Sold in one week last October for $1400 on CL. Do I win?

I bought it (in very rough condition) for $20. Put maybe $300 into reproduction parts and restoration, 20+ years ago.

Mad Honk 

I'm not sure you won, cause those are going for much more around here, but you did a good flip on it. Smiles, MH

AlmostTrick

Thanks, MH. They're listed for much more around here too, and you can watch 'em languish on CL for months, maybe years! I had no interest in doing that. I had my fun with the bike (20 years!) and consider the price fair. The market on these has peaked a while ago, I'd say. My bike also did not have original paint, and not all original parts, like the higher dollar bikes should have... although it did look better than many of them! No one who saw it in person believed it was Chevy rattle can engine enamel!