Mountain Biking - What is this bike worth?

Hi Guys,
In 2000 I brought an Iron Horse Stout, but unfortunately only got to ride it 15 times or so. Now I am in college and could really use some money. I will be too busy to do much riding again until after my studies are over in a few years, so there is no use keeping it around. I know it is 5 yrs old, but it is in excellent condition. I would really appreciate the advice. I paid close to 1200 for it, BTW

19.5" Iron Horse aluminum racing series Stout frame
Marzocchi Bomber Z-5 Air QR20, 4.0" travel
Sun Rims Rhyno Lite
26 x 2.10" Maxxis Mobster
Handlebar Titec Hell Bent DH
Crankset Shimano Deore, 22/32/44 teeth

Most of the specifications here:
http://www.epinions.com/bike-Bicycles-All-45601-Iron_Horse_Stout__2000/display_~full_specs

When I do sell it, I just want to make sure I can get fair value, since I do not know much about how bikes depreciate and how much this would be worth now.

Thanks and take care

Just a friendly remainder to everyone: this is not a for sale thread. Let's keep it that way. Thanks.

--J, a Forum Mod

Just a guestimate but probably around $250 - $300. You could get lucky and get more, ya never know. The bike has pretty low level components by todays standard. You can new bike with pretty much the same specs for $500 now. The best way to find out what a bike is worth is to do a search on ebay for completed auctions.

The best ways to sell it is ebay, mtbr.com classifieds, or pay for a membership here and sell it on the buy/sell forum.

Keep in mind that a bike loses half it's value the first year regardless of how much it is ridden.

Juha- No question I am not looking for buyers. I still haven't made up my mind to sell it, etc.

Lowcel- Thanks. Unfortunately even lower then I imagined. And I am sure the shipping would be a good amount as well, but I guess the buyer can pay that.

In your opinion, which option would I be best off going with?

E-bay
MTBR
this site

I looked on Ebay for comparable bikes, but there seems to be so many with hardly no bids on them, etc.

Thanks for the help!

Used bikes aren't like used cars. There just isn't much value in them... you can never tell how they were abused or maintained. But you maybe surprised what you can get on ebay - put it in and set a high reserve and see if it gets met. I bet if you are lucky you may get $400-$500 for it.....

I would go with ebay but with no reserve. If you use a reserve you are going to have to pay a decent amount even if the bike does not sell. I always put them on there and put the starting price at the absolute minimum I will take. This way if it gets even one bid the bike is sold. As for the shipping if you have not packed a bike up before you may be better off paying your lbs to do it for you. Give them a call and see what they will charge to pack it and ship it. Then just put that it is the buyers responsibility to pay those charges when you list it.

By the way, to sell on ebay it really helps if you have a decent feedback rating. If you have no feedback you would probably be better off selling the bike on an on-line forum.

It may be worth more in parts than as a complete. Easier to ship too.

It may be worth more in parts than as a complete. Easier to ship too.

Very true. This takes a little more patience but in this case would probably be worth it.

It may be worth more in parts than as a complete. Easier to ship too.

Id go this route too.

A 5 year old bike doesn't sound as appealing as a wheelset or forks or brakes with only 15 rides on them.

Alright..great replies.

I am rather new at this, but what parts would be worth selling?

The Fork, Frame, rims, wheels? Anything else?

Thanks a great deal

Honestly, I would do it in 3 lots if you don't have a lot of feedback on ebay. First lot, bars, stem, pedals, headset, seat, brake levers, and maybe the cassette and chain too. Good photos and an accurate, appealing description will bring you a few bucks, and some positive feedback. They're all low price, low risk items. Not too many people will hesitate to bid on a $5 stem, even if the seller doesn't have much feedback. As always, let folks know you've got more to sell, and don't forget to offer combined shipping.

Once you've gotten some feedback, list the wheels, fork, those sweet Arch Rival brakes, and the front/rear derailleurs and shifters. People will bid higher from an established seller, especially one with current positive feedback.

You can offer the grips and tires anywhere in the auctions, maybe even sell the tires with the rims, or offer to post them free if someone wins both the rims and tires. Depends on how much life is left in them.

The final auction should be the frame, in my experience. You don't want to list a lot of parts after selling a 5 year old frame. It's easy to search and see what you sold before, and for me, it's just a bad idea to let that go first. You can list all the other parts honestly, saying they only have 15 rides on them, without mentioning age. Nothing dishonest there. But the frame is old, and has limited appeal.

My last bit of unsolicited advice - prep everything for photos as much as you can. Parts should be clean, photos should be sharp and detailed. If you don't know how to resize photos, have someone do that for you. The faster they load, the better off you are. No one wants to wait all day for an image to appear. With over 1,000 all positive feedback, I know a thing or two about buying and selling on ebay. PM or email me if you have any questions you don't want to ask on an open forum.

Cheers,

Brian

[edit] Yes, I want the brakes.

In your opinion, which option would I be best off going with?


I would try http://www.craigslist.org/ if you are near one of the cities listed. Name your price and then if you don't get any takers then you can try Ebay or parting it out.

.

Alright....

Guys, what I am first going to do is take it to my local bike shop and make sure everything is in working order. The shocks might need some oil at this point in time and I just want to make sure everything is good before I sell it.

I am still trying to think about selling whole or in parts. I am leaning in parts, but just afraid that if I cannot sell something like the frame I will miss out in some $$. Thanks for the great details on selling, expatriate. I might be able to sell on someones elses name (a relative) who has great feedback on ebay. Don't know if that is illegal or not?
Also, thanks for the craigslist suggestion.
Thanks again.