Commuting - Putting a price on used bike

Bonjour groupe.

I need some advice from someone who nows better.

How do you determine the fair value of a used bike ?
Is there a rule of thumb I could use ?

Reason I am asking is that I am having a look at a 2004 Giant Pegasus tonight.
The seller says he bough it for 1,100cad$ (that's around 900$usd).
Asking price: 700$. How do I figure if it's a fair offer ?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thks.

Go out and look at E-bay completed auctions...fair market value there. Print a couple of the cheap ones to show him and wave less cash in front of his face...make him drool...

Doh!
Great idea, thanks!
I'll try that right now...

Well a good rule of thumb for most bikes would be a one half of the original price, maybe a tad more IF bike is in immaculate shape, things are slighly different for custom/vintage setups.

Having said that offer $550 & be prepared to haggle up to $600 should you really like it. $700 is not a *good* price imo

I usually go by 1/2 for a bike that is a couple years old, unless the bike was obviously not ridden much at all, in which case, it might be worth more. If there are any problems that might indicate excessive wear, I'd go lower. If it is more than a couple years old, I'd also go lower just based on technology changes.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/cn/030.000.000/030.000.000.asp?year=2004&model=10072

$700 might be too high, but it depends on what you're comparing it to and what kind of shape it's in. If it's in primo condition, and you haven't found anything else that's better for the same money, try and talk him down to $600 or so. A 50% discount after 2 years is a little steep, IMHO. Could you get anything new for anywhere close to that? There's been no technology changes in the components, so...