randyjawa 

After being given three bikes, this summer, and purchasing another for just a few dollars, I set a new record for myself. This full Campy Marinoni, purchased today after two months of "should I or shouldn't I", I finally caved in. The bike is little ridden (an interesting story in itself) and in perfect working condition (the original pantographed fork was included in the purchase and will be installed at first chance). Anyway, that "boy did this cost a lot", got me to thinking...

Without reporting actual $$$ spent, which of your steeds, still with you or passed on for one reason or another, cost you the most in dollars and cents? Just which one cost the most the day you forked over the cash, not what you spent initially and after restoration. Anyway, this one set me back more than I have ever paid before for a vintage bicycle and I doubt that I will ever pay this much again...

merziac

@randyjawa



Excellent choice for stepping up, the 2 frames I have were absolute bargains making them all the more worthwhile, fantastic, great work getting this.

Erzulis Boat 

Colnago still sells this "vintage" frameset brand new. Ordered this around 3 years ago, took a full year (to the day!) to get. So this is my most expensive C+V (in the spirit of) singular purchase cost-wise. The second biggest singular expense was probably a Cyclart paint job (still overpriced even by today's prices, it was $900.00 twenty years ago).

Modern bikes? You don't want to know. We have it good in C+V land.

non-fixie 

Beautiful bike, Randy. I can see why you bought it.

My own most expensive acquisition was a bike I wasn't looking for, and certainly one I did not need. At all. But it is such an amazing piece of bicycle design and in such a nice condition I just had to have it.

jeirvine 

Nice idea for a thread.
The most ever up-front cost for me was for my '79 Raleight SBDU Team Pro. I was volunteering at the local co-op when it was donated. I called dibs. The co-op folks got back to me a week later saying I could take it for $400. It was complete, but it took me a while to replace some of the non-NR components. I didn't take any before pics, but it's not far off:

repechage

Not going to boast, I was happy twice where I was willing to pay and had set a huge proxy bid that was twice my final winning bid.
‘and one time where I did bid a crazy sum in a NZ auction for a Masi Special. I won in the basic time, but the competition kept bidding, two minutes had to lapse without another bid for the auction to end.
‘the price went up another $1,400 US as the other bidder just kept pinging. he won and I was happy to have lost.

Andy_K 

The most I've spent on a vintage bike was for this 1974 Masi Gran Criterium.



I had an idea that I was overpaying at the time. The seller was terminally ill and trying to settle his affairs in advance, and I had the money so I chose not to haggle on the price. I paid about the current MSRP of a Surly Disc Trucker. I have no regrets about it whatsoever.

styggno1

These were about the same amount but the Masi was as a frame only - ordered by me at the Vigorelli velodrome in 2010 and the X4 bought at a local auction last year.

nlerner

I’m afraid my memory gets erased the second after I overpay.

Sedgemop 

I'm a cheapskate. For many years, I gave myself a $300 road bike cap. Raised it to $350 a handful of years ago. This year, I took off the governor and bought a really great Merckx from a fellow BF member. Let's just say I paid many times my previous cap and leave it at that. I'm glad I did. It's sublime.

brewerkz 

acquired thru the vintage sales forum

Sedgemop 

Is that a Rivendell bag? Looks highly functional.

Roger M

This bike was on Craigslist in Sacramento for some time. Eventually the price dropped to about half of the original listing. Original owner had it built in 1979, rode it about a hundred miles and then hung it up for forty years or so.

I traveled to north Cal with my my family during covid to pick it up. It is my most expensive old bike, and the travel cost added to that. It was a welcome vacation during those months of being in lock down.

1979 Michael Johnson with a full Superbe group(rd is still in the box).

Chuck M 

For me it's a tie. I paid as much for an '81 Takara Deluxe 12 as I did for an '84 Raleigh Racing USA. The Takara was a nostalgic purchase my heart wanted and the Raleigh I just thought was pretty. Seeing as I got the Raleigh at a good price, it offset what I paid for the Takara. My area doesn't seem to turn up high end bikes like it does bike boom bikes or I would be in the group that has paid mucho dinero.

bikingshearer 

I no doubt have more into this one than anything else, although I couldn't begin t calculate exactly how much that is. Certainly into the not-insignificant four figures over well over ten years to get to this point, but I am blissfully ignorant of how not-insignificant the number to the left of the comma is.




The most I have ever paid at one time was for a 1986 De Rosa. I sold a fair number of the parts that came on it and did it up in Campy 10sp triple. Then I traded the frame & fork for the above-pictured frame only (I had a fork I could use, since replaced by the fork you see in the photo) and move the components over from the De Rosa. The De Rosa was great and I liked it a lot. I like this even better.

repechage

Four figures? Add a zero to get serious.

merziac

I have never "overpaid" for a bike, always know exactly what I was getting and get exactly what I pay for, no delusions of grandeur, no unrealistic expectations.

There is always a leap of faith factor and a tempering of expectations, skewing these correctly lessens greatly any buyers remorse.

They're have been a couple that were grossly over and or misrepresented IMO that I forged ahead on but none have been life threatening in the end.

The most expensive bike's I have were around $1500, every one of them was worth every penny.

The custom Strawberry was magnitudes over any other and is another category entirely, again IMO.

It is by far the most expensive and best value to me.

gaucho777 

Most of my projects start off as frames, and then I build slowly with a combination of parts from my bins and odds & ends gathered piecemeal. The most I paid at time of purchase was $550 for my Merlin F/F plus headset and BB. Over the next few months, I'd guess I paid another $400 for the Dura-Ace parts and consumables I didn't already have on hand. This is the bike I really wanted but couldn't afford BITD. No regrets.

repechage

Masi bikes just do not turn up with enough frequency to allow one to think twice. Go big or go home empty handed.

jdawginsc 

I’m with Gaucho. I have not bought a complete bike for me since 1987, which was $495 for my Crest Cannondale. I have paid no more than $350 including shipping for any of the frames I have procured, even from overseas.

Basically my wallet takes torture by 1,000 slices...

albrt 

I don't remember exactly how much I paid for this - bought it from a Forum member, maybe $575?

Pantah

Most I've shelled out for a vintage bike is my 1991 Klein Quantum and that was a little over 2 years ago. Definitely well worth the $400 asking price. Got it from the original owner who bought it new in San Francisco. He'd put a ton of miles on it but took extremely good care of the bike so it didn't need any major repairs. Changed a few things to suit my riding style but that's it. Stem has a reproduction Salsa sticker on it at this point. Original wheelset it back on it now too, the ones in this photo were terrible (old, high mileage and abused meant I kept breaking spokes).

El Chaba

I had an eye out for one of these-in my size and in good shape- off and on for over thirty years. When I came across this one, I paid what was asked. I never thought about whether I had overpaid; it is now in the hands of the person who values it the most. I think that standard applies to a number of my machines.

merziac

No its not, not specifically.

That is a universal, step through frame, one for all, all for one.

Many companies only made this style and "mixte" literally means universal, butcher, baker, candlestick maker, postman, highwayman, etc, etc, on and on.

Andy_K 

That's the thing with vintage bikes, isn't it? It's frequently said on this site that a bike is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it. The day I bought my Masi, it was worth exactly what I paid, possibly a bit more. There are days when I think I got a bargain. There are also days when I'm certain I couldn't get half my money back, Both are probably true at different times. It just depends on who is looking for that bike.