USAZorro

The other factor that has cratered demand is shipping prices. Let's say someone in New York fancies your Centurion. Paying your price is not an issue, but tacking on $125+ to it really cuts down the number of opportunities.

Kabuki12

The Schwinn aerocycle is different than the high end road bikes that are most talked about here. I have no idea what those type bikes are worth or what they sell for . High end , to me , means Singer, De Rosa , Colnago , Cinelli , etc. These have not done as poorly as , say , a Motobecane Le Champion but still not what they once were. A friend recently picked up a rider grade original Schwinn Paramount P-13 with non original wheels( Mavic) for $400 . This is an example of a fairly high end bike that would normally have sold for about double. It isn't all doom and gloom though , all we need to do is look through our bins for any original Aerocycle parts!! Pedal on ...

Kabuki12

It is funny you say that! The Raleigh I sold here in Southern California went to ......NEW YORK!!!! The buyer arranged through Bike Flights, I just boxed it. I had it advertised locally but nothing , funny how this stuff works. I have no idea what it cost to ship it , I actually thought it was closer to $200.

USAZorro

It might be. Has been a couple years since I had a whole bike shipped.

SirMike1983 

No Aerocycle parts in my bin! If I had them... I'd cash out tomorrow.

FrejusFlyer

The price to ship a bike has gone way up. Now it's close to $200.00 with UPS and over $300 with FedEx.

jetboy 

It's the old saying "what would you do if you won a million dollars?". Buy and sell bicycles until it was all gone.


I had a very similar centurion semi-pro, same color and year but 60cm. I sold it for ...500? But that was some years ago and it had some very nice rando racks and fenders that alone were 200+

I do think tires matter- if they take a test ride on ***** tires then it feels dead and they think it's the bike. On the other hand, a set of good tires are the price of the bike in many cases.

Basically I just ride and think...I already got my $ value back even if I give the bike away for free.

zandoval 

Its just your AO. Drive on over to Austin Tx and sell um off the back of your pick up at the UT parking lot.

DONE!

swissycle

Although, sometimes generations become interested in stuff that predates them, like vinyl or cassettes (tapes, not gear clusters). Hard to predict, though, what’s just perceived as old and what’s seen as vintage cool.

I recently sold an 80s bike, and I was quickly disabused of the idea that one can count on breaking even (in other words, try out bikes for free). I first tried to price it that way but ended up dropping the price to about 65% of break-even, and then it sold. However, I also had fun riding it and learned something about bikes, repairs, my own riding preferences, etc., so no regrets. But I’ll also be more cautious with future purchases.

Chombi1 

The reality we are realizing is, the bikes we thought were so rare are not really that rare, after all.
The so-called grail bikes like Colnagos, De Rosa's and Eddy Mercxx's are so cherished, but frankly there's so many still out there that they seem to almost be challenging the numbers of Peugeots that exist. After seeing a lot of these bikes for sale, the attraction for some had been dampened a bit, so sellers sare pulling their prices down to catch and nudge these people in the market to buy them.

Duragrouch

I know nothing about C&V nor prices.

I agree that the frame size on the Trek 620 has less of a market, but for the right sized person, I think that would be a fine functional touring bike (forget the vintage part of that) with excellent ride quality, if modern tourers don't need the torsional rigidity of a fat-tube Cannondale aluminum or steel Surley. Are the wheels 27" or 700c? Is the rear hub freewheel or cassette? Latter on both would be best. Then advertise it in places where touring bikers would see. Also a fine commuter with that triple gearing. Just my two cents.

Any tax benefits to donating somewhere? If they don't resell it but instead pass it on to someone with the need, I think you have more flexibility on stated value. Don't know about now, but IIRC from years ago volunteering at a non-profit, donations valued below $500 don't require an appraisal. That may have changed. Also, harder to deduct things these days with larger standard deduction so less itemizing.

Andy_K 

This feels like the crux of the matter. If you're selling a $500 bike, you're either selling it for $250 or selling it locally, and locals won't pay "eBay prices."

I'd like to trim my collection a bit, but just the idea of packing a complete bike is enough to keep me from bothering with putting them up for sale. For both buying and selling, I prefer to deal in frames. Let's all agree to just keep the components we have now and just move the frames around. What do you say?

SirMike1983 

Very true. It is expensive to ship if you do it the right way. I guess one could use something like PirateShip and not insure the bike, use cheap packing, and hope for the best to save some money. But if you do it the right way, it's time to pack the box and money to ship it... Any time I reduce my collection now, I start with local sales-only and only offer shipping at actual cost if it won't sell locally. Gone are the days when I'd try to price the shipping cost into the price tag on a bike - it's too expensive to do that.

WaveyGravey

I covet the older Colnago, Bianchi, Litespeed and Klein bikes. Own a few. Although I am not as familiar with the market as so many posting here, I don't see such a drop off in prices. Agree with someone above who mentioned that the high end bikes are not dropping like the others.

scozim 

The last one I shipped went to the east coast from Washington state and it was almost $200 via Bike Flights. Had it been a frame it would have been less. I decided then I would just take less on a sale then deal with shipping.

jeirvine 

Mid-range bikes I sell locally to city dwellers who want to ride them to get around on. They don't care so much about originality, but just want a solid, well-built functional bike, and a $250 Trek is way cheaper than a new bike. So it will need good tires, a decent seat, and possibly upright bars or brifters.

genejockey 

Hmmmmm.....

If you look at the classic and vintage car market, it doesn't reflect the numbers that originally sold. There were a lot more full size sedans and station wagons sold in the 60s than pony cars, but what you see is Mustangs, not Galaxies. Camaros, not Impalas. It's what people preserved, not what people bought.

It's the same thing in watches. Elgin produced more good quality jeweled watches than any other company in the world, but people collect Hamiltons. When I started getting into old bikes, I realized that EVERYBODY was going for Italian frames with Campy components, so I decided not to bother. There were other good bikes and components.

konakai

Ive collected old wood wheel racers and a few interesting 50s road bikes for years. A few i got great deals on, most i overpaid just because I wanted that particular bike. As im aging out i realize ill be lucky to get 50 percent of what i paid or what i think their worth. I know you have to find that buyer who appreciates and and percieves the value on these old bikes...I was that guy. As stated above alot of the older collectors who were buyers are now sellers. I believe in the next 10, 15 years their will be some fantastic deals for younger collectors if their even interested

zandoval 

Yep... Wish I had one. But I would be executed with extreme prejudice if I took on another project.


Net Pic - 64 Chevy Impala SS

What is really good about classic and vintage bicycles of today in their life span. Years from now I think they will still be around and still valued. Not so for many makes of modern bicycles or e-bikes thats for sure...

icemilkcoffee 

The key to shipping bikes, is knowing the size cutoffs. The shippers go by something called the "Length + Girth", ie. the Length (longest dimension) plus the circumference of the remaining two dimensions. In other words, L + 2H + 2W, where L, H and W stand for length, height and width. There are two size limits that concerns us: 105" and 130". If your length+girth is <=105", the Bikeflights shipping rate from Northern California to NYC is only $55. If you even go 1" beyond this cutoff, the shipping rate goes up something like $25. So for shipping a frame, cut the box down to something like 41"X 24" X8". For the 130" box size, the shipping rate is $96. If you go 1" beyond that 130" box size, the shipping rate balloons to $200!! So for shipping complete bikes, you need to cut the box down to around 60"X25"x10" to keep it within the 130" size

chain_whipped

Certainly the demand has weakened though the real prime bikes are holding steady. Past few months have sold a few classics $1800 to $2400 range. Unless you're desperate to sell, firmly hold your price and have the free ebay listing continue. If unique, no one can shop it or compete. Either buy it or walk, fella.

Next, shipping. Use Pirate Ship. For oversize LTL needs, NEVER waste your time with Uship bullechit app or services. Insane quotes. You can get an excellent commerce rate using a company in your neighborhood or area that's on board with FedEx LTL. Pack it yourself with free cartons from a bike shop.

Recent example- I had a fully rigged loaded touring bike with racks, mudguards, extras+ and would've involved significant dismantle to pack into a conventional road bike carton. So, I used a larger box for e-bike. Basically rotatated the handlbar, removed the saddle and pedals. Front wheel and fenders left on. Into the box with typical protective packing. Fedex, UPS and third party shippers wouldn't take it due size restrictions. Then I shopped Uship for lowest LTL bids. North to south CONUS. Laughably quotes poured in $850 to $1300. Waste of time with that. Simply took the oversized shipment to a local business in metal fabrication that has a discount account FedEx LTL. Paid $225.

Kabuki12

I did this with my frame that I sent to Franklin Frame in Ohio. I took a Trek box and trimmed it down ( still have the box , Jack sent it back after the respray) It cut the cost by a bunch!!

merziac

Pics plz?

I may be going down this road soon.

Kabuki12

I will get pics tomorrow when I get to my shop.

merziac

Tx!

I haven't shipped many on my dime for quite awhile, packed a few but they were ones that needed good packing for someone else.

Way back some of the frames shipped on efbay for $30 and completes were $60-70, ahh the good old days.