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What is the market for a used (Wal-Mart) bike in Europe/Germany?

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What is the market for a used (Wal-Mart) bike in Europe/Germany?

Old 06-09-21, 11:04 PM
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EarlVanDorn
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What is the market for a used (Wal-Mart) bike in Europe/Germany?

I am planning a bike trip that will be centered around the Saar, Mosel, and Rhine for late July. My airplane tickets are actually from my nearby city, so it is possible for me to take a bike and check it with relative ease. I have a Wal-Mart "cruiser" bike that is actually a pretty decent bike. I will save money by just throwing the bike away at the end of my trip versus renting a bike. I could fly the bike back home, but not sure I can get a bike box for the return.

So my question: How hard will it be to try to sell a bike at the end of my trip, and what kind of price would someone pay for a pretty decent 7-speed bike? How would one go about selling a bike? I would obviously rather sell the bike for a decent sum than throw it away!
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Old 06-10-21, 02:09 AM
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Where are you planning to end? The Frankfurt bicycle market is different from the one in Monschau.

As with anything the quicker you want to get rid of it, the lower the price should be. Alternatively you could also donate to a local charity?
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Old 06-10-21, 04:00 AM
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bike boxes are flat, folded, rectanguloid sections of compressed paper.
interestingly, refrigerator boxes have the same definition, if not the same dimensions.
same is true for postal boxes, fruit boxes, etc.
cheap box-cutter, roll of duck tape, measuring doo-dad....done.

often less time-consuming to grab a bunch of cardboard throwaways
and patch together your own instead of calling/visiting bike stores.
easier to get a bike to fit in your custom box than midget bike store boxes.

remember to print off the airline sporting goods/oversize baggage size limits.


or.....just take an empty box!

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Old 06-10-21, 04:35 PM
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Those bikes aren't worth much to begin with and aren't going to be worth more after touring on one. Just as an FYI 7 speed came out in the late 80s and was basically done in the early 90s when 8 speed came out and the further you go along the further down the quality spectrum 7 speed will lay. If you had 7400 or 6400 or 1055 you would have some good stuff but tourney level stuff just isn't worth much and worth less on a Wally-Mart bike.

I would personally just donate the bike when you are done. You could take it back but probably for the whole cost of it you could buy a new one at another Wally-Mart.
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Old 06-11-21, 06:18 AM
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Easiest solution would be to look at some online listings for that area, might give an idea if you are capable of recognizing similar quality bikes in listings.

do be aware that this level of bike would highly benefit from getting a local mechanic to check it out (NOT Walmart) spoke tensions, hub adjustments, as it's the sort of bike banged out with little effort to quality control.

better to do this here than having to deal with finding a bike store with a German speaking mechanic and euro costs of things.

alles gute
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Old 06-11-21, 06:59 AM
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It is going to be difficult to sell in a foreign country in a hurry. The bike isn't worth much. Shipping will be more expense/hassle than it is worth, so if it were me I wouldn't worry about it. If a solution presents itself, great. If not, give it away.
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Old 06-11-21, 11:40 PM
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Instead of the hassle of transporting a cheap bike. Purchase one in Germany. Decathlon (big box sports) has decent economical bikes and depending on the store, competent mechanics. Even the supermarkets have city bikes for as low as 99 euro, you'll need to do your own tweaking

There are also numerous rental options, I see you said it's too expensive, but I see rental prices as low as 10 euro a day.
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Old 06-13-21, 08:57 AM
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Depending upon how much it is going to cost to get the bike there, this may be a better option.

Originally Posted by MarcusT
Instead of the hassle of transporting a cheap bike. Purchase one in Germany. Decathlon (big box sports) has decent economical bikes and depending on the store, competent mechanics. Even the supermarkets have city bikes for as low as 99 euro, you'll need to do your own tweaking

There are also numerous rental options, I see you said it's too expensive, but I see rental prices as low as 10 euro a day.
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Old 06-14-21, 05:55 PM
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Originally Posted by timdow
Depending upon how much it is going to cost to get the bike there, this may be a better option.
Getting the bike there is actually free. Usually I have to cobble together a trip with two airline tickets, one to NYC/ORD/BOS and the other to Europe, which makes trying to take a bike difficult. This trip I got a cheap ticket on Delta from my home city and my only cost will be a bike box, which might be free. I'm flying into Frankfurt, which has both a train station and bike trails from the airport. I'm flying back from Luxembourg, no train, poor biking to airport. Plus no box. So just figure I need to sell the bike for as much as I can.
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Old 06-14-21, 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted by veganbikes
Those bikes aren't worth much to begin with and aren't going to be worth more after touring on one. Just as an FYI 7 speed came out in the late 80s and was basically done in the early 90s when 8 speed came out and the further you go along the further down the quality spectrum 7 speed will lay. If you had 7400 or 6400 or 1055 you would have some good stuff but tourney level stuff just isn't worth much and worth less on a Wally-Mart bike.

I would personally just donate the bike when you are done. You could take it back but probably for the whole cost of it you could buy a new one at another Wally-Mart.
I'm aware that a 7-speed generally isn't the greatest touring bike. I have pretty severe exercise-induced asthma so limit my biking to flat river routes as much as possible.
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Old 06-14-21, 06:04 PM
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Originally Posted by MarcusT
Instead of the hassle of transporting a cheap bike. Purchase one in Germany. Decathlon (big box sports) has decent economical bikes and depending on the store, competent mechanics. Even the supermarkets have city bikes for as low as 99 euro, you'll need to do your own tweaking

There are also numerous rental options, I see you said it's too expensive, but I see rental prices as low as 10 euro a day.
I've paid 10 euros a day in the past. Some seem to have increased to 12 a day. I'm going to need a bike for three weeks, so that's 210 euros or $250. So I figure I will save some money, and there is a convenience factor in being able to have the bike as soon as I get off the plane. I'd just like to be able to sell it for a little something at the end of the trip.
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Old 06-14-21, 08:20 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
I'm aware that a 7-speed generally isn't the greatest touring bike. I have pretty severe exercise-induced asthma so limit my biking to flat river routes as much as possible.
You did call it a "pretty decent bike" in the first post but anywho if you want to ride a heavier bike with probably poorer gearing go for it. I would look for a slightly better bike that will be easier to ride and potentially that bike might be well worth re-selling. The rental makes more sense as you will likely get a much better bike that is probably also maintained by a mechanic. For $250 that isn't terrible. the Wally-mart special will cost around that much and with added fees of boxing the bike and oversized/overweight fees you will be over the rental fees or potentially right at them.
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Old 06-14-21, 08:32 PM
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Originally Posted by veganbikes
You did call it a "pretty decent bike" in the first post but anywho if you want to ride a heavier bike with probably poorer gearing go for it. I would look for a slightly better bike that will be easier to ride and potentially that bike might be well worth re-selling. The rental makes more sense as you will likely get a much better bike that is probably also maintained by a mechanic. For $250 that isn't terrible. the Wally-mart special will cost around that much and with added fees of boxing the bike and oversized/overweight fees you will be over the rental fees or potentially right at them.
I shouldn't have any costs in getting the bike to Europe and I don't intend for it to be overweight. So getting there is free. I just was hoping there might be a way to sell it at the end of my trip for a good dollar. And if my bike should fail me, I can always throw it in a ditch and go rent one.
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Old 06-14-21, 09:09 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
I shouldn't have any costs in getting the bike to Europe and I don't intend for it to be overweight. So getting there is free. I just was hoping there might be a way to sell it at the end of my trip for a good dollar. And if my bike should fail me, I can always throw it in a ditch and go rent one.
???

You planning to sit on a street corner saying "wanna buy a bike?" (In the local language, I guess?)

Seems like a lot of headache for little return.

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Old 06-14-21, 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
I'm aware that a 7-speed generally isn't the greatest touring bike. I have pretty severe exercise-induced asthma so limit my biking to flat river routes as much as possible.
The area you plan to ride in isn't all flat.
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Old 06-14-21, 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
I shouldn't have any costs in getting the bike to Europe and I don't intend for it to be overweight. So getting there is free. I just was hoping there might be a way to sell it at the end of my trip for a good dollar. And if my bike should fail me, I can always throw it in a ditch and go rent one.
It can take days to sell stuff.

​​​​​​Do you really think you'd find somebody in a short amount of time to buy a completely-unfamiliar branded bike for "a good dollar"?

It would make slightly more sense to buy a cheap bike your potential purchasers would know the value of in Germany.

But plan on just leaving it (since that's almost certain what will happen).

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Old 06-14-21, 09:26 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
I shouldn't have any costs in getting the bike to Europe and I don't intend for it to be overweight. So getting there is free. I just was hoping there might be a way to sell it at the end of my trip for a good dollar. And if my bike should fail me, I can always throw it in a ditch and go rent one.
How do you not intend for it to be overweight? It is a Wally-mart bike it is heavy from the get go plus adding the needed packaging and box will add weight as well and some airlines will charge an oversize fee or a fee for bikes. Typically I think most airlines are less than 50 pounds and within certain size requirements and some charge fees right off the bat. Plus if I don't know how to build and maintain a bike I will need to get someone to put it back together from the box and that costs money as well. Even if I did have some knowledge I would need to bring tools I wouldn't normally carry on a bike tour and find a place to put it together.

The bike isn't really worth much so maybe you can get lucky and sell it for A dollar but it is a low dollar bike to begin with and will be thrashed around on an airline and then toured on for a while, making it less valuable than it already is. I don't really see the want to tour on a heavy bike that costs the same as renting a better quality bike especially when I have issues when cycling where a heavier clunkier bike would make my issues worse?

I get people can theoretically tour on anything but I would rather rent a bike and no hassle and a lot of benefits then deal with all of that. You do you I guess but I like a nice easy button. If I had a nice touring bike I had built up then I would travel with that but a BSO is not worth the effort.
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Old 06-14-21, 09:52 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
I've paid 10 euros a day in the past. Some seem to have increased to 12 a day. I'm going to need a bike for three weeks, so that's 210 euros or $250. So I figure I will save some money, and there is a convenience factor in being able to have the bike as soon as I get off the plane. I'd just like to be able to sell it for a little something at the end of the trip.
Maybe, the best you can do is hang a sign on it outside of your lodging asking 40 euro, maybe you'll get a few bites.
Have a fun trip
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Old 06-14-21, 10:08 PM
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It would seem to me that rental agencies would get a little nervous if you tell them that you are planning a one-way trip out of the country. One could probably put the bike on a train and send it back, but that would be an added expense if renting.
.
As far as a donation, it doesn't look like Uncle Sam would recognize the donation, unless perhaps you donated it to a multinational organization.

Still, you might make someone very happy
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Old 06-14-21, 10:40 PM
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Originally Posted by EarlVanDorn
....I have pretty severe exercise-induced asthma so limit my biking to flat river routes as much as possible.
interesting thing about riding along a river..........the water level is generally
pretty flat, but the roads alongside?

from riding mosel and rhein long ago, many of the accommodations are located
up up up super steep and fairly long narrow roads..........to get up to the
top of the hills or cliffs with the great views.

plan your route accordingly, and expect to occasionally be met with a hard climb
at the end of the touring day.
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Old 06-15-21, 12:59 AM
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Getting a bike box shouldn't be too hard. Any DIY store or Decathlon could probably give you a fitting box for free.

Keep in mind that Luxembourg is one of the richer countries in Europe but also fairly hilly. So I expect there to be a decent market with higher-end bikes for low prices or imported from the surrounding countries. It's fairly noticeable when you ride around that most cars are the more luxurious kind and often not all that old either.
My expectation is that you might at best get €25 for it but then again I live in the Netherlands where the bike market has lots of second-hand options so prices are low.
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Old 06-15-21, 10:29 AM
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What did you do on your 2018 along the Mosel?
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Old 06-15-21, 11:59 AM
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Depending on your trip plans, you wouldn't have to ride in Luxembourg. There are extremely good train and bus systems in Europe, so you could drop the bike in a different country, and catch the train to Luxembourg.

It has been a while since I was there. I believe the main train station is in city center, with a shuttle train to the airport. Hmmm... apparently they are working on a new track to the airport. It has been a while since I was there. Still, there are buses and taxis.
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Old 06-15-21, 12:18 PM
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If you like this bike so much, you'll have to factor in the cost of purchasing a new version of it when you return to the states. That's got to push things up almost to rental fee prices and when you rent you don't have any of the hassles of transporting it, trying to sell it, maintaining it after being banged around in a plane's cargo hold...
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Old 06-15-21, 03:59 PM
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Would it not be minimum cost and effort to buy a department store bike on arrival and leave it unlocked at a bike rack on departure?
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