wrk101

I've been buying early to mid 1980s MTBs for several years. Other than a handful of models, they have been on the thrifty price side. Ones I like have a nice triple crankset (a lot of Suginos), thumb friction shifters, often bull moose bars. Anyway, those have been very affordable, and make GREAT recreational riders!

Meanwhile, I also look for road bikes from the same era. I'm looking for butted cromoly frame, downtube friction shifters, nice Sugino cranksets.

So what has flipped? Those vintage MTBs have been going up in price, and the road bikes have been dropping in price. Right now, deals on the better rigid frame thumb shifter MTBs are on the rare side, deals on DT shifter road bikes are plentiful.

Many of the vintage MTB parts have had very good value for years: pedals, triple cranksets, thumb shifters, long cage RDs, stems, some seat posts and some wheels.

Of course, there is over priced stuff in every segment. But I am finding more road bike deals, and fewer MTB deals.

Are you seeing something similar?

bargainguy

Vintage 26ers probably represent the next price explosion, just like the BMX market did years back. People reaching a certain age with disposable income wanting 26ers from their past, and not being shy about it.

On the other hand, I went to a swap earlier this year sponsored by a MTB nonprofit group. Here I was with all my 26er stuff, in a sea of 29er stuff. No one was interested in the 26er stuff, they had all moved on long ago.

So there's a divide between what people are using for MTB now vs. what they wanted way back when. My guess is that high-bling products, like anodized components, will help define the 26er boom.

zukahn1 

While the market is thin were I'm at in nowhere Fairplay Colorado I have seen a similar shift in prices. Nicer Vintage steel MTB prices are going up and the market for lugged framed DT shifter road bikes has become close to non extinct almost no buyers and no sellers with prices all over the place nicer stuff going super high, mid level stuff selling cheap and lesser stuff even if nice just no selling . In my area the bargains seem to be in 90's OS hard frame cromo or alloy MTB's and road bikes with some real nice stuff going for next to nothing picked up two of my current riders for free as trash finds a Raliegh MT-200 and Schwinn Mesa GSX,. a lot of these had some not so great cost concession components like pedal, seat posts, bars, tires and cranksets that if you have a good selection of stuff in parts bins can be changed out to let you get a great rider or possible seller for next to nothing

albrt 

Rigid 26ers with a recognizable name have been doing very well for us as commuter conversions. Sometimes all you have to do is put on 1.5 inch street tires. Other times you need to get rid of the intentionally obsolescent rapid fire shifters and put on something simple and durable. Or bring the handlebars up and back to get rid of the "superman" riding posture.

wrk101

Yes, I have been converting them myself for years, but all of a sudden, prices are UP and supply is DOWN. Heading out on a road trip next week, tried to round up some candidates to purchase along the way. Identified nine so far. None are 26'rs. Meanwhile, vintage candidates with Campy or Dura Ace drivetrains are popping up.

John E

My mountain bike has become my grocery shopper and commuter, particularly with clip-on panniers.
I differ on the handlebars -- I really like my extensions on regular Ritchey MTB bars. So far the 1.95" knobby tires haven't been too big an impediment (and they are good exercise ), and since this is also my only mountain bike, I am not inclined to go to 1.5".


CycleAware mirror on my Giro XEN helmet.

albrt 

[QUOTE=John E;22379239]My mountain bike has become my grocery shopper and commuter, particularly with clip-on panniers.
I differ on the handlebars -- I really like my extensions on regular Ritchey MTB bars. So far the 1.95" knobby tires haven't been too big an impediment (and they are good exercise ), and since this is also my only mountain bike, I am not inclined to go to 1.5".

I have never been a mountain biker, but I have two: a 1983 Stumpjumper with a near-original setup, and a mid 1990's Hard Rock drop bar conversion with 1.5" Paselas. The Stumpjumper is fun, but the Hard Rock is currently my favorite bike to ride bar none.

John E

I bought my elder son a 1992 Hard Rock as his first adult-sized bicycle, and it has served him well over the ensuing years.

SurferRosa

It's just more of a flop. There are a couple vintage road projects listed on Seattle Craigs under $200, but most of the nicer road bikes seem to be $350+.

If the sellers are getting that in January, then good for them.

27inch

Older Mountain bikes seem to have peaked and gone away here. 10 years ago they were catching on well but it was short lived, now if nothing vintage seems to sell. CL and FB have the same bikes listed for years. The buying public seems to want department store bikes not good quality classics here.
If I list a Huffy or Murray or anything from Walmart I get dozens of buyers, list a vintage Raleigh or Schwinn and it just sits
The vintage buying crowd here now doesn't seem to remember anything but chinese bikes.

merziac

@wrk101

All road and gravel bikes are by our own definition drop bar MTB's, just modern, fancier, dedicated, very expensive, disc brake and yes much better nicer versions.

I think the old ones are being rebooted for the new tide of all this that is rolling along at a furious clip for a while now.

Not sure I've seen it here in PDX, our bikes are overpriced for the most part most of the time anytime.

Dylansbob 

I'll just echo SurferRosa's obervation on the greater Seattle market. 70s road bikes are stagnating to the point of deals. I used to sell mid-low end 26" mtbs for $100-150 as basic transportation. Last year, I bumped them up to $200-250 and they sold within a couple weeks for asking.
At this point, I feel like vintage road bikes are best sold online and mtbs will sell locally.

zukahn1 

Does this one have a actual nice working undermounted roller cam rear brake.

mstateglfr 

The market around me is littered with low end kids bikes, low end big box adult bikes, overpriced low end old bikes, and high priced modern bikes($500 and higher for 8sp and higher STI).

Quality older road or mtb bikes at decent(subjective) pricing is very rare. As rare as I have seen over the last 10 years.

VtwinVince

Here in western Canada finding anything cool from that era has become increasingly difficult. I only have one early MTB, an '82 RM Sherpa which I got for a fairly good price, but that was the exception.

curbtender

Put a halt on buying, but the free stuff keeps knocking at the door. Since it's a hobby, I'm happy working on bikes of friends. I've got one post out for bait but the rest can sit in the shed. Good thing is my riding time is up...

gugie 

Scanned throught the responses, surprised that no one has mentioned COVID.

Supply of new bikes is hurt by supply chain issues, and just like used cars, used bikes of all kinds are selling for higher than a few years ago.

Simple supply and demand analysis.

squirtdad

looks like a little local 4th of july parade actions..... great stuff

John E

No, just the front, which does work superbly. I have never seen a RollerCam in an under-chainstay application -- mine has its OEM Shimano U-brake.

What's weird about my KOM-10 is that the 1988 catalog and all other KOM-10/20 framesets I have seen have cantilever (below-the-rim) bosses on the fork. Mine is apparently very rare in taking either a RollerCam or U-brake up front. They all do take U-brakes under the chainstays.
Side note: I have very mixed feelings about the under-the-chainstay rear brake mounting, but it has objectively never caused any problems for me. I do like the uncluttered / cable-free top tube for over-the-shoulder carrying. The disadvantage is that if I wanted to do double crossover routing of my shift cables, the under-the-downtube brake cable might interfere a bit.

John E

Yup -- that one was 2 years ago in my elder son's neighborhood. One of his neighbors, a veteran, organizes an all-day celebration, including the parade, a picnic, and patriotic music concert. A few hours after that one I showed up for a similar parade in my own neighborhood, and one of the bystanders yelled, "A red, white, and blue bike!"

Grandpa had trouble keeping up with Grandson #1 on his bike and Grandson #2 on his mommy-powered Mini.

zukahn1 

The under U-Brakes work fine but have a lot less total clearance and can pull wrong inward against the tire rim if everything is not set up just right they can eat a tire and maybe even a wheel. The one bike I have with a under U-brake has eaten one tire and a wheel. With stock size 26 x1,95 the is only a couple mm clearance which is way two little so if you keep riding this bike stick semi slick tough 1.5 or 1.75 ties.

cycleheimer

2020 was a crazy time to look for a used bike. Things then quieted down around me. I did, however, stumble on a deal on a classic top-of-the-line first year early '80s MTB with a large frame a month or so before the market went nuts in 2020. I had been looking for one for about 10 years. I had the models below it, but not the top model. I really like it. It was even touted as a bike for touring back then. I have some bikes we upgraded from that I hope to sell this year, since we need the space back. I just hope there is a market for them. Most of the bikes I see for sale just don't sell.

PugRider

At the co-op I volunteer at, we are awash in old road bikes. As others have said, people who aren't fully immersed in cycling and just want something to ride want 26-ers (we really haven't reached the era 29ers or 27.5 at the co-op) and hybrids. It hurts my heart, but in my experience people are intimidated by 1.) drop bars, even though they offer in many cases more comfort and hand positions 2.) skinny tires, even though on pavement, once you get going it makes no difference how skinny your tires are 3.)downtube and/or friction shifting, even though friction is just so easy and hassle-free to set up and learn--you just use your ears!

I do think that as others have also said there is something happening similar to the gonzo prices for 80s BMX stuff. Combine that with the weird supply chain stuff going on, and the bike boomlet of COVID, and you have a crazy market. And particularly with fully rigid 26-inch MTBs, they are still really nice, comfortable bikes to ride, and often have all the braze-on rack and fender mounts you could ask for, since they still had a foot in the touring bike design vocabulary at that point. And despite what modern MTB riders will say ad nauseam about these old bikes' trail worthiness, they are still super fun to mess around with in the woods.

Catnap 

Along with the nostalgia factor for now middle-aged MTB fans, I think the rigid MTB boom is also being driven by the "gravel bike" craze. While the big brands are all pushing modern carbon gravel bikes, we should remember that Grant Petersen, Jan Heine, and the Velo Orange guy were all pushing this concept ten years ago. That's led to a significant portion of bike enthusiasts to turn to vintage rigid MTBs instead of the (comparatively) much more expensive modern options.

John E

As pictured in this thread, I get a lot of use out of my classic steel rigid mountain bike, which is my go-to machine for transportation, gravel, multitrack trails, foul weather, poorly-maintained roads, and, of course, national holidays. For me, the handlebar extensions, which give me a somewhat drops-like hand position, are essential. It is also fun to commute and otherwise train on the 28lb (including Blackburn Mtn Rack), fat-tired mountain bike and then feel like Superman on one of my road bikes.