dirtman

Over the years I've hung onto a bunch of new wheel sets I bought back in the day while I worked at a bike shop when I was still in school. My thought back then was that I'd have them for future use. Now 40 some years later I still have most of them. I've been thinking about thinning out the inventory of spare parts a bit lately.
My question is, what are they worth?
I have the following 27" wheel sets.

• Araya w/o alloy with Shimano large flange hubs, front and rear, 120mm spacing, circa 1978 or so. The rear wheels have a tag for $80.99 and the front wheels have tags marked $39.99 from back in the day. Most were stock from a shop I worked at back in the 80's that closed up when the owner passed away. I bought up most of the wheels and road bike bits rather than let them go to auction back then.
• Rigida 1320 with Miche or Campy low flange hubs, also 120mm spacing, circa 1980. These all have 1" tan skinwall tires on them that seem to have survived the years very well. (They were bagged and stored in a closet since new). These were new take offs from Trek bikes in the early 80's, they were never priced.
• Ukai rims, with Sunshine low flange hubs, 120mm circa 1979ish. These were new take offs from something, I don' recall what model.
• Rigida Chrolux steel rims with Normany high flange hubs 120mm, likely these were oem Peugeot U08 wheels.
• Weinman Concave rims with Atom or Mailard low flange hubs, 120mm, one used pair, one new pair, These were common replacement wheels back then, marked $99/set from back in the day.
• Weinman Concave rims (700C), Normandy high flange hubs, 120mm spacing, (likely were for a new Raleigh Supercourse from around 1977-78.
• Sun rims, single wall I believe, laced with stainless spokes to a Quando hubs from the late 90's, I picked these up from a bike shop a few years ago to use on a project but never used them. They're marked $159.99 as a pair.

There's likely a few more packed away over the years.

plonz 

Just one person’s opinion but I do not see much of a market for used or NOS 27” wheel sets. NOS should at least make them more desirable than a used set when competing for the same buyer but doubt they would drive much more of a premium.

Used 700c wheelsets with mid-range hubs seem to bring $80-$120 on the BF C&V marketplace.

dirtman

I don't see many 700c bikes, only a few here and there. Everything I see seems to be 27". Out of all the bikes I've owned over the years only two had 700c wheels, both were Raleigh's. Bikes came in two wheel sizes, 26" and 27", with a few oddballs having 700c wheels.
Even today, as I get back into bikes a little bit, nearly every bike I've find is 27" or 26x1 3/8".

Mad Honk 

dirtman,
In my co-op there are tons of 27" frames in need of wheels, most of what you have is of some use to folks. You will just have to match up with those that need wheels for the older frames. you should be able to sell most of that off easily. Smiles, MH

Russ Roth

Then you're missing a whole lot of bikes. Most mid to high end road bikes of the 80s to today are 700c. With the exception of gravel, road bikes have largely ditched any form of 650 standard and gone completely to 700c in the last 5 or 6 years. Gravel now cmes in 650b while some bikes used to come in 650c and I couldn't tell you when 27" road went away but when I bought my first road bike in 92 is wasn't even a discussion.

As to value, ones that were take offs might have a bit more value but you'll need to go through old catalogues to pin down years and models when they were used so someone could do a resto if they want to. Below a certain level of bike the odds of someone wanting an exact replacement for restoration becomes slim and value diminishes. You may find there's more value in the hubs depending on the model then there is in the wheel and should be prepared to break up the wheels for the parts. On that basis, unless it came from a higher end you might want to sell locally like through facebook marketplace as shipping can really reduce what people will pay. Wheel boxes can be, typically are, oversized and the cost to ship a wheel that just isn't that valuable can make them hard to sell. Personally I'd be surprised if you got more then 75.00 a set.

27inch

You couldn't build a set of wheels for $75, let alone build a proper or period correct set of 27" wheels.
Do a check on eBay, go to advanced search and search past sold wheel sets.

My local bike shop wanted $180 to order a set of chinese 27" wheels with single wall rims, they had a big chunky seam in the rim, and unbranded q/r hubs. They do come with stainless spokes. For $129 they can order you steel rims with steel nutted hubs and galvanized spokes, again from china.

It took me a year to find a set of chrome steel Araya 27" rims to lace to a set of new old stock Normandy hubs I've been saving. The spokes cost me $70 online, none of the local shops sell or order spokes. I almost just polished up the original spokes and reused them but really didn't want used spokes with new hubs and new rims.

I rarely run across any road bikes with 700c wheels, nearly every road bike I've ever had any interest in came with 27" wheels. I draw the line at 1982, and most I've owned were older than 1978. 14 of my bikes are still sealed in their original boxes, never built or assembled.

I would think that a new old stock or new take off wheelset from the 70's or early 80's would be worth at least what they get for a cheap chinese set these days, more if its got original tires too. I would also think that any 120mm spaced 27" wheelset would be pretty universal back then. I had an original set of early Motobecane Grand Jubile' wheels here that were removed by me when the bike was brand new. They were Weinman dimpled single wall rims with Normandy hubs. I had sold the bike several years ago and still had the wheels. I listed them for $300 on CL, it took a while but I finally got a guy who needed them and we settled on $225. They still had their original skinwall tires from 1974 that looked good as new. The guy also bought the original red cable housing bits I still had from that bike. He drove quite a distance get them too, he was from somewhere around Boston, a good 5 hour ride or more each way.

Here's a few examples I found just looking real quick:
Looks like they only have one new 27" Weinmann concave rim:
https://store.bicycleczar.com/product-p/11180123.htm

A used set on fleabay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Specialized...-/254661259215

It appears that the latter set sold with BIN.

bikemig 

This. Shipping will drive down the value of these wheelsets to everyone other than the local market. This may limit the pool of potential buyers. Local CL and FB buyers generally demand a discount before buying old stock.

The steel wheels the OP has aren't worth much. The 27 inch wheels have a small market. The 700c/120 OLD wheels also have a small market but at least some of those wheels have valuable hubs which will help. The wheels with campy hubs have a real value even if those rigida 1320 are not that great.

Russ Roth

What a shop can get and what someone selling their random stuff can get are two different things, people are going to the shop to buy things and pay what the shop charges. I did say that people doing a resto will pay more and sure enough the person posted the make and model those wheels would restore for a better price. Sometimes getting the desired price means letting something sit on eBay for months till the right person finds it. 27" isn't all that common now except on either nicely maintained and cared for antiques or on old clunkers. The clunkers aren't going to pay high dollar, the rest might if they see it need it and buy it.
As to your interests limiting your sight that's your issue. There are a few old bikes from the 80s/70s I'd like, none are 27", and mostly I prefer much newer. The old bikes can be very nice but mostly they're just old and I like new stuff better.

Mad Honk 

dirtman,
I have expressed an interest in some of these, please check your PM's, smiles, MH

dirtman

I am not 'limiting' my sights at all, I have zero interest in newer bikes and even less in Chinese bikes.
My main interest in bikes has always been single speed cruisers and three speeds, and I tinkered with road bikes here and there and kept a few for transportation.

I do agree that shipping is a big issue with wheelsets, they're likely to cost as much as a whole bike to ship.
What always amazed me is how I can buy large items from overseas all the time, including rims or tires, and the shipping is a tiny fraction of what it costs to ship something 50 miles here. I just ordered tires for a three speed overseas, they were half the price with shipping than they were at any local shop or buying them online in the US. The bulk of the price is the shipping here.

ups

As others have said, there is a market but I don't think it is large. It seems the OP isn't in a rush, it would be easier to get a fair price. While I would not ride 40 year-old tires no matter how good they looked, there very well may be buyers who are looking for wall hangers and Quality Tires. I'm glad to hear somebody has a few of the New Old Stock items.