CliffordK

They'll ship it to you for $50, but they won't guarantee that it won't come with broken pieces, gouges in the carbon fiber, perhaps even holes in the carbon fiber.

CliffordK

I absolutely cant stand the second generation Ultegra/Dura Ace 9-speed shifters.

I doubt that would be where I would be wanting to bet my fortune. Although there will be a few people with old bikes wanting to restore theirs with NOS parts.

icemilkcoffee 

I prefer the more functional Shimano 25th anniv Dura Ace groupset:

tempocyclist

I've got one of those (2002 US Postal Trek) and I doubt it's collectable to anyone else apart from me.

PeteHski

Not necessarily true. In the classic car market it is often better to pay top market rate for a perfect example of a car that you think is undervalued by the entire market. That's what I did with cars like my 1973 Porsche 911 2.4S when you could still buy a mint one for around £20k. Today mint original examples are worth hundreds of thousands (grossly over-valued in my opinion).

PeteHski

I think the only way a bike could be potentially worth "millions" is if it had a very special history. Something like a bike Eddy Merckx won the TDF on.

dedhed

Asking prices on Ebay are no reflection of selling prices.

BTinNYC 

Darn it, my sweeping generalization didn't make it through the day! Nice car and well done.

PeteHski

Cheers! Funny thing about the example I gave is that I paid £23k for that 1973 911S in 2002, which was absolutely top of the market value at that time. Another potential buyer had offered the seller £22k and refused to go any higher to make the deal. I didn't think it was worth haggling to the last thousand and was happy to pay the full asking price of £23k. It was in original condition and immaculate, while most other examples were pretty ropey - usually selling at around £15k. At the time I thought these cars were being massively undervalued in the overall market - say compared to a Ferrari Dino 246, which was already worth maybe 4x as much as its Porsche rival.

Anyway, that £1k extra I paid to get this car was just a drop in the ocean once values took off a few years later and it's the most original, immaculate examples that really make the big gains in value later on. I also have an immaculate 1982 911SC which I bought for peanuts when they were unfashionable among classic 911s. Again at the time I paid maybe 25% above the market going rate (for the very best example I could find), but it's now worth about 6x what I paid for it and rising.

Rogerogeroge

Pegoretti, Eisentraut and Bruce Gordon frames should at least hold their value over time, and plenty others can be added to this list.

70sSanO

The big difference between bikes and cars is that you can take that collector car out on the road on a nice Sunday afternoon and the world will drool over it as you cruise along.

Take that collector bike for a nice Sunday afternoon ride and someone in a Kia Sedona will tell you to get the #*%$ off the road.

John

63rickert

Most things that become collector items with more than a small following were made by persons. Persons with names and stories. If the item was used by someone well known, and especially if the original owner had personal connections to the maker, then you have something. Bikes out of factories just not the same. For a while still old Raleigh Pros and Competitions will have some value, never the value of the Raleighs from SBU Ilkeston. If you personally have any sort of connection to first owner or to builder you want that bike and aren't worried about making or losing money.

This morning met a teenager riding an 80s Tommasini. Underrated bikes, Irio Tommasini was hands on and every last frame was extraordinary. The kid's story was his friend's dad gave him the bike. He knows nothing about it. He does know it rides well and has character. How long will that bike last? Who knows.

Simple majority of all top end bikes ever were sold to collectors and never used. Which is why you can find collections of hundreds of pristine bikes. Bike collectors have lots of bikes. Too many. Many of those collections, when the collector is done with them, get recycled. Collectors mostly collect what was desirable and prized when they were young. With age and money they buy the bikes they couldn't have when they were kids. And when the collector dies no one cares or can even figure out why the collector did care.

Current production made by faceless factory workers will never have much value. Good enough to use.

dmanders

I bought a Masi GC new in 1976 for 700 (with Clement silks!). I sold it in 2019 for 2000. Rode the hell out of it. Would have made more in equity markets but would only have rode them figuratively. Now if I had just bought a Confente or a Wizard ...

georges1

Anything made in steel for road bikes from the 80's to late 90's from Tommasini,Eddy Merckx, Bianchi, Colnago, Massi, Basso, Moser, Ciocc, Pinarello, Bottechia, Battaglin, Richard Sachs, Paramount Waterford TrueTemper OS and 753 framesets, Raleigh 531, 653 and 753, Mercian 708/753/731/853/953 Framesets, the Specialized 853 Limited 40th anniversary Allez (one of them is just the frameset alone specialized allez 40thanniversary is for sale at 5699$), let's not forget true temper made GTs andReynolds 853 made GTs including the 1998 us cycling team gt made of reynolds 853,Bob Jackson Reynolds framesets whether in 708/753/731/853/953, 1995-2000 Peugot Teamline Road frames made from columbus genius, neuron and brain, add to this from the MTB world the fat chances, the 90's Kona in steel but more especially the 1997/1998 model years with the Explosif in 853 and the Kilaeua in 631, Jamis Dragon from 1998 in 853 ,the GT Psyclone from 1998 in 853 often sold as frameset only, french made Motobecane columbus genius MTB from 1994, 1995-2000 Peugeot Teamline MTB frame made from columbus genius and columbus cyber, the Bianchi MTBs with the columbus genus and Dedacciai tubing as well as the Sunn MTBs whether in fuji and in columbus tubing are quite collectible , wecan add also the breezer from the 90's early 00's, the Voodoo bizango made in 853 and the Lapierre from the early 90's to early 00's made in fuji stout light. Some aluminium frames are already collectors such as Kleins, US made Cannondales, Specialized S works from the mid 90's early 00's in M2 and M4, Kona MTBs made from late 90's to early 00's with easton elite tubing, GT Zaskars made in 6061 and then 7005 tubing, there might be others as well .For titaniums Lite Speed, Merlin, Moots, Kona, Bianchi, GT (yes the edge was available in titanium and so was the Zaskar) ,Peugeot with its Teamline high end line of products from 1995-2000 had a road titanium columbus hyperion frame and a titanum mtb frame, Lynskeys are not to be forgotten. My list is not complete but there might be plenty other lot of bikes that will become collectible if they were built in small numbers with high grade tubing and rare.

CliffordK

Different generations of bikes have good and bad features.

Earlier Peugeot PX-10 or similar frames from the late 50's, through 60's or 70's have some of the prettiest lugs for the Peugeot line.

My Colnago Super from around 1968/1969 has a certain amount of vintage appeal, being the first 2 years of their mass production period. At least it would have if it was in pristine condition. Yet I do like some of the later 1980's and 1990's Colnago Master frames.

Merckx changed manufacturers, and it is mostly the later ones that are considered collectable.

Schwinn Paramount... probably the older ones have the most appeal. 1950's, 1960's, etc. Although the earliest ones had some unique designs that would not really work with modern 10-speed components.

One thing to keep in mind is that there was rapid evolution of the bikes through the 1950's. So, it would be the late 50's or early 60's where the modern derailleur works on the bikes. Then small incremental improvement since then.

Oh, and recognize the difference between road bikes and JUNK.

Huffy made an Aerowind bike which is unique, but not a lot of actual racing appeal.

Also consider shifters of your choice. The early brifters came out in the late 80's and early 90's. That might be appealing to some, but not to others.

For downtube and bar end shifters went through an evolution from pure friction to a retrofriction giving some ratcheting to indexed.

All appealing to different groups of riders.

freeranger

The way trends seem to be headed, it might be any "fully mechanical" bike, i.e. cable actuated rim brakes, cable actuated derailleur(s), external cable routing, no tubeless or tlr rims. You get the idea. I kid of course, maybe?

MarcusT

I believe there is some confusion between a vintage bike and a collectible bike. Vintage usually means older than 25 yrs, which at this point means a bike made in the 80s. Then there are collectibles. As mentioned above, the bike was ridden by "X" or was used by this team, a prototype. Something historical.
A normal vintage bike IMO will start to gain value once it hits the 50 yr mark, and only if in pristine condition. Once we get at the century mark, then poor condition will sell.
I don't see collectibles largely increasing in value, unless by some fluke of nature like a death, an endorsement, so not an investment.
To wait for a vintage to gain value, a bond would earn more.
Anyway, that's the way I see it.

LarrySellerz

I expect Spinergy rev x wheels to continue to go up in value, I lost a bid on ebay for a new in box set that someone found in a warehouse, I think it went for like 1.3 grand

Leinster

This. A LBS here has a 1980s TdF stage winning bike hanging on the wall. Cost them a couple grand, with letters of authenticity etc. They have gravel bikes on the floor that cost more.

joesch

Agree and "seriously collectible" does not mean investment.

63rickert

That story is perfect. Spinergy Rev X were always trash. They have been recalled. They are flat dangerous. Super well promoted and eye-catching. Not attractive or good looking or fit for purpose, but eye-catching. I have noticed they continue to sell. When a buyer and seller agree on a price that is value on the market. The practical value of that wheel is less than zero.

When that product was new all reasonably well informed consumers knew there was nothing there but marketing.

Reminds me of the Original Plastic Bicycle from 1972 and 1973. There was no such thing. Anyone who could read the photos knew that they were looking at a non-working and incomplete prototype. Or just a mockup. A mockup that was not even camera ready. If you worked in a bike shop in the 1970s you answered phone calls from consumers wanting to buy an Original Plastic Bicycle. The phone calls continued for years after the promoter gave up the project.

Spinergy RevX has no more intrinsic value than OPB. I've read multiple stories of winning bidders who thought they had purchased an OPB. Does not matter what they bought.

rosefarts

There are a few things worth a lot and a whole lot more worth less than I’d expect.

A pre WW1 bike in any condition has a certain level of collectiblity. It’s old, it’s a throwback to a different era, and a lot were melted down for steel during the war effort. But still, this probably tops out at $10k, not millions.

An exquisite bike raced by a major pro in the pre-mass production days should fetch a lot. But not millions.

80’s BMX bikes in excellent condition are worth so much more than I’d expect. I think I’ve seen them for as much as 5k. That’s probably the greatest appreciation in the industry.

There is a certain market for 90’s mountain bikes but they have to be higher end models with some renown, fully equipped with the brightest anodized colors of the best components. Oftentimes the parts are worth more off the bike than on.

Some things are surprisingly low priced.

For example, my Spectrum is nearly showroom quality. Less than 1000 miles in its nearly 40 years. It cost the original owner $2200 in 1985. If I was to put it for sale, I’d be lucky to get $2000 (I’ve decided that I’ll never sell that bike though). A pretty steep loss considering inflation. Again, not for sale, just an example.

My garage full of other high end bikes from other generations are only worth a depreciated amount based on their components and how useful they are as transportation or exercise equipment.

I think rare Pokémon and Magic cards are worth more than bikes. So there is that.

bblair

I have friends whose retirement plan was old sports cars and baseball cards. Ha, ha....

What I really want is that old Campy tool set in the wood case.

And what I really, really want is one of those Campy wine bottle cork screws.

rosefarts

These are readily available almost anywhere you look. Even Amazon.

$250 is an awful lot of money for something that doesn’t work better or differently than many $15-20 models.

I prefer beer anyway.

LarrySellerz

This is a feature, not a bug, to that niche market these days. Its a fashion statement more than anything now, heck the pair that I was outbid on last week went for 1.3k and the bike shop that I trust the most told me not to get spinergies because the owner knows someone who had part of his ear severed. I doubt he would work them if I brought them in. People who want those wheels know what they are buying, and its because of their reputation, not despite, that they command such a high price. I doubt people are buying them to ride hard, I was going to keep them in the box as a store of value or put them on a townie bike as a weird flex.