Folding Bikes - People getting just silly with Raleigh Twenty prices

Seen on the New York Craigslist: (http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/170481451.html)

Raleigh folding bikes. Matching pair 1970 - $850

"Pair of 1970 raleigh folding bikes. Three speed. Excellent condition, all original.
Call: XXX-XXX-XXXX"

He must have heard somewhere that they're all the rage now. Maybe he's just setting the price high so that he can be talked down to say, $650. Maybe they're made out of titanium? Sheesh.

At that price, he didn't even include a picture properly.... tried posting a hyperlink to his Desktop, which doesn't work of course, and also lets total strangers know more about his identity than he needs.

This must really tickle any Brits here, who seem to have Twentys available in abundance, at somewhat more (koff) reasonable prices.

People on NY craigslist think classic and vintage is worth something so they use it alot even with crummy bikes. In NY there is the general impression that if you have something a rich person wants they will meet your price. In eBay if you have no idea what you have, just describe it well and let others figure out the price.

In general I have found craigslist people exaggerate more than eBay people in their descriptions.

FWIW I got a new strida with all upgrades for $200 off craigslist. I also tracked down an iXi that was good as new with a rear wheel that needed truing. Sometimes you win / sometimes you waste 2 hours.

People on NY craigslist think classic and vintage is worth something so they use it alot even with crummy bikes. In NY there is the general impression that if you have something a rich person wants they will meet your price. In eBay if you have no idea what you have, just describe it well and let others figure out the price.

In general I have found craigslist people exaggerate more than eBay people in their descriptions.

FWIW I got a new strida with all upgrades for $200 off craigslist. I also tracked down an iXi that was good as new with a rear wheel that needed truing. Sometimes you win / sometimes you waste 2 hours.
You sonofa.....!

Haha, that was YOU that got ahold of that Strida. I was at work and couldn't get to the city in time for the guy who was selling it.... if it hadn't sold, I'd have been on the waiting list to get it the next day.

Congrats on a steal of a deal! At least it went to a fellow BikeForums member :)

The Strida turned out to be legit, even though the posted picture was a stock photo (bad sign). Once again I chase down more than a few 'deals' that turn out to be bogus. So in a sense I earned the Strida.

Just a few days ago a guy sold his Raleigh Twenty on craigslist New York for $75. On the same day, a guy listed a steel frame Swift for $200 - the hub's internal gears didn't work but it was worth it for the frame alone. BTW, I emailed the guy about the Twenty. It was available at the time of my email, but I couldn't call him back till later and he had already sold it.
Today there is a Caribike with front and rear panniers for sale on craigslist New York for $150 if anyone is interested,
Juan

It was a woman that was selling the Swift.

And yes, it was worth it. :D

The bike actually pedals, just doesn't shift. As far as I can tell, it might just need a new indicator spindle (the chain coming out from the hub), it's nowhere to be seen; the end of the control cable just dangles against the rear triangle. The part is $2.53 via Amazon. May need some oil in the hub too, it's very noisy. Are internal hubs supposed to be really noisy when freewheeling? It's like the clicking sound you hear from a regular freewheel, just much louder, a noticable "clack". I get the impression that the bike may not have seen much upkeep in the 9 years it's been in use. Good thing that the drivetrain was an old SA, they last and last. Good thing also that it's a Swift; as a more-than-$500 bike that folds, it was an indoor bike.

Her friends had advised her that the bike was old, probably not worth more than $50. It turned out after that I might have been able to talk her down more. I think we both walked away happy; she because she got more than she was valuing the bike at, and me because I got a mostly-functional Swift at about 1/3 the price that a bare frameset goes for.

Maybe it'd be worth it to start a stickied thread; "Best of Craigslist/Ebay." This way, when someone sees a good buy but doesn't have the money to spend on it themself, they can point it out here. May get smacked down by the mods though, since it's easy for something like that to be taken advantage of by someone who wants to advertise their own sales in here.

Juan, I saw that caribike too...liked the way it'd been fitted with a front carrier. Anyone have any experience with them?

Bookishboy, congrats on the Swift. It sounds like you got a good deal. It does sound like the internal hub might need some lube, but just know that internal gear hubs do make a noticable clicking noise...at least in my experience. You might be right about starting a best of Craigslist thread. I have seen several folders at a good to fair price on Craigslist that I was not at the time able to take advantage of. If I had a spare $150, the Caribike would be mine, bwahahaha!!!:)
Juan

Thanks! I was kinda bummed to have missed out on the Strida deal, but in retrospect, it was really for the best. I didn't so much as "want" a Strida, as I thought "wow, at that price, I really can't pass it up". If I'd bought it, I wouldn't have been able to afford the Swift, which I really did want. Serendipity, I guess.

See why I don't buy used now.

I missed the twenty on Craigslist in the SF Bay area by just $2 a couple of weeks ago. It was pristine and I think it sold for about $69. Only a coupleof bids

Slim