Originally Posted by
ynda
It's a spreadsheet.... you can run the numbers out until the invention of the bicycle in the 1800's.
1. Figure out what replacement value to enter in the spreadsheet and enter it to generate the 10-years worth of values
2. Copy and paste the entire spreadsheet into a new spreadsheet
3. Highlight the last five years of the spreadsheet, and then drag your cursor to the right to populate the cells out to the year you need, e.g., 90, 88, 77...
4. The values will all continue to calculate depreciation in a linear fashion to whatever year you need.
Remember, the "tool" merely provides some data points, not hard and fast "values" like a Kelly Blue Book where actual sales numbers are constantly reported by dealers and wholesalers. At some point you simply need to decide what your budget is or what a bike is worth and make your best offer. Again, the real value of the tool is buried in the narrative that describes what to look for in a second hand tandem. As tandems age beyond 10 years, they simply become very hard to put a value on because of component age, upgrades, etc. But, at the same time, if a millionaire fell in love with a 1989 Santana Team tandem and finds a pristine example, they might decide that it's worth as much or more than it cost when it was new, even factored for inflation. On the other hand, someone who finds a similar bike while cleaning out their parents basement may just put it out at a garage sale for a few hundred bucks. So, that's the potential "range" of actuals for older tandems.