craiglittlefiel

I have a Colin Laing tandem I want to sell. I have no idea what it is worth. I also don't know what the market is here in Tucson for a collector bike.Can you give me a better idea of what I have and what it is worth and how best to sell it?


Craig Littlefield

This is s special collector bike which was custom build by a well know builder in Arizona, Colin Laing. Laing was a British custom bicycle fabricator that moved to Arizona back in the 1960s and opened a shop in Phoenix. His bikes are well known to antique and classic bicycle collectors. He made this bike somewhere back in the 70’s. I have owned since about 1984. I understand that he specialized in track and racing bike. I believe he made very few tandems.

It is constructed of small tube Reynolds steel. Almost delicate looking. It is a beautiful bike.
Black with polished components.
Shimano Suntour 7GT derailleur, 15 speed
Dia Comp calipers
Campaganola shifters on the down tubes,
Rear hub is a 36 spoke ATB Special with a drum brake
Mavic 27x1.26 36 spoke rims
25 inch front and 21 inch rear frame axle to top of seat tube
Classic brooks seats
Wide flange Campaganola 36 spoke front hub
Sugino AT crank
Campagonola wheel Skewers
Campagonola rear drops
Chrsaphe Pedal clips
Kyokuto Pro Ace pedals.

merziac

Hi Craig, Welcome aboard, glad you found us.

While you are mostly correct about "special, custom, collector" bike, the market for them can be very narrow, even much more so for tandems.

I would encourage you to seek out a local tandem club as shipping kills most any deal on them.

They are often given away after taking up too much room for too long and not being ridden.

All that being said, we need pics, good ones and lots of them, to venture any opinions.

You need 5 posts X 2 days for 10 to post them here, if you try now they will go to a gallery and someone may move them here.

SoccerBallXan

Hello Craig,

Sounds like a very nice tandem, do you have any photos? Recently, one of Colin’s tandem bikes sat on Phoenix craigslist at $500 for over a year. I considered buying it, however, the stoker measured extremely small (for a child potentially). I remember it had Phil Hubs, a mishmash of Shimano components for the drivetrain, and was in fairly well kept condition. It also had the stylish Sunset paint scheme that Colin used while in Tucson.

As for value, I think it’s all in the condition and what platform you choose to sell through. Craigslist is going to be the easiest, but you’ll have to deal with the local low ballers... I might choose to sell through the Facebook Marketplace (if you are familiar). Sometimes putting a face and profile to who’s messaging you helps when selling.

Post photos to your BikeForum profile’s gallery when you have a chance. Ciao!

craiglittlefiel

Thank you both for your the information. I do have a lot of photos. However it does not sound like the bike is of serious value. I think I will just advertise it on Craigslist here in Tucson and in Phoenix.

Craig

craiglittlefiel

I got your message about my Colin Laing tandem. Can you call me at 520 307 4248? Craig Littlefield

craiglittlefiel

I am trying to get in contact with SoccerBallXan. How do I do it? Real name? email address? phone number? I am lost in this blog.

Craig Littlefield
Tucson AZ

katsup

OP posted the tandem in question to his gallery. No idea the value of the bike, but those Brooks saddles are worth $80-$100 each, if in decent shape.
https://www.bikeforums.net/g/picture/19053205
,

merziac

As I said, you need 10 posts for pics, to send and receive messages, all you have to do is comment and respond to each post.

Real names and such mostly only come from interaction after the 10 posts.

All that being said if you were within 200 mi. I would be a buyer for this, tall captain, shorter, mixte stoker and as we already know, beautiful bike although black not a favorite for this, no matter.

I just acquired an Atala of similar sizing from generous forum member bogester who passed it on to me as he was done with it.

Planning any trips to Oregon?

merziac

You also could have posted at least a couple of posts listing all the components, condition, any known history, provenance, etc.

WGB 

You have 4 posts now.
When you are new you can only add 5 in a day. This is a way of discouraging spammers, and also people joining just to list bikes for sale. Once you hit 10 posts you can load all you want. I don't know if you can email until you hit 10 posts. If you want SoccerBallXan (or anyone else) to see your post, simply enter the @ symbol followed by their name.

Add the items sought by Merziac as say, two posts (one for the components and one for the story behind the bike). There is a tandem cycling forum. Go on there and add comments to someone else's thread. Ask questions there.

Hit 5 more (might require full 6 before you can add photos) then post away (and email all you like). Emails are very simple. You click on the persons name on the left side of the screen and you are offered the opportunity to send a private email. As for phone numbers and email address and real names, many people use the BF emails as a filter. If they choose to reach out outside of BF they can choose to do that by sending you a private email.

SJX426 

@craiglittlefiel you can contact @SoccerBallXan by using his login with an @ infront of it. It will send a notification to his email like I just did.

SoccerBallXan

Thanks for tagging me. I have been in contact with Craig and have arranged to check out the tandem this weekend! Super excited, hopefully I’ll be able to add it to the collection.

Cheers everyone.