stanman816

I am having to move out of the country and sell my beloved bike. It is a 1990 Trek 990 Singletrack. All original parts. The Shimano Deore XT and DX parts are well maintained and function properly. It has the Trek DS2 front suspension fork. The paint has some flaws but overall is still in pretty good shape. I know there is a market for these bikes so can anyone tell me how to price it? I'm in Kansas City.

I guess I can not include pictures as a new member

katsup

OP's Photo Album
https://www.bikeforums.net/g/user/553325

You have the red 1992 model, even though your photo makes it look pink. These bikes are highly sought after, but the suspension fork (even though original) does hurt the value.

If you post a good ad, with good photos (your 1 photo is horrible), I'd say $250-$300 in my market. This assumes the bike is tuned up and ride ready. More if you are patience waiting for the person looking for that bike.

Depending on where you are moving, you may consider shipping it and taking it with you. You may be hard pressed to find a good bike at the new location.

stanman816

Thank you for your response and for linking my photos. My tablet doesn't take good low light photos. I would take much better ones for a sales listing.

It would cost me too much too ship it overseas so it's time to let it go. Plus, I don't ride it they way it should anymore.

I was hoping it was worth more but after almost 30 years that price seems fair. Although, I was hoping being mostly original it was worth more.

katsup

Depending how patience you are to find a buyer, you can try listing it higher and drop every so often. There maybe someone in your market looking for that exact bike.

For comparison, if it had a rigid fork, I'd say it would be closer to $350-$400 (SoCal market). These bikes are mostly used as all arounders (city, gravel, bike path, etc ..) vs actual mountain biking now a days.

bikemig 

+ 1. Everything else being equal, old school MTBs are worth more with rigid forks than with suspension forks to most potential buyers.

Darth Lefty 

It's a tough one for a couple of reasons. To get that price you need an informed buyer who knows what it is and that's what he wants. For that guy it's special because it's the peak of steel bikes just before aluminum took over, especially because it's made with lugs and not welds, made in Wisconsin and not Taiwan. And another guy almost like that might turn up his nose because it wasn't the top of the line, it was late steel and not early carbon, XT/LX and not XTR, or because it's a Trek and not a Yeti or Fat Chance. For an average Craigslist scrounger it's just an old mountain bike, a good one, not a Walmart pile. That puts it in the couple-hundred column, it's a really solid platform for riding around town forever with no drama. But it has a suspension fork which from that era are chancy because the spongy bumpers they used to use tend to turn to goo if they haven't turned to stone. Anyone who wants to go Mountain Biking as a hobby is probably shopping with ten times that money and buying something from 2017+

cb400bill

Pic Assist

wrk101

To me, a vintage MTB with a suspension fork is a value killer. Is that fork original? OK, I think it's a 1992, which did come with a suspension fork.

Agree, this goes to the recreational rider. MTB technology has changed dramatically since then, so to the serious MTB'r, its essentially obsolete. My favorite bikes for friends, family and myself continues to be old school rigid frame MTBs.

There really isn't much of a market for these, at least in many non-coastal markets, it competes against a long list of older MTBs. They are plentiful. Collectors are attracted to the Yeti, Fat Chance, and similar niche brands. I still routinely find nicer rigid frame MTBs for $100 or less.

stanman816

thanks for all the information. you are all very helpful