Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Did I get a good buy?

Not really all that vintage, but I just bought a mid 90s Diamond Back Apex 21 speed for $50. I don't know the exact year, but it's in nearly mint condition. It's blackish with dark green squiggly lines all over it. It has a few scratches, and I replaced the tubes with some heavier duty ones. So now I have about $80 total in it.

I keep feeling like that's quite a bit of money for a bike I know nothing about. (Then again, I know nothing about any bike, so that doesn't really matter) It's really light and shifts like a dream though, so I can't have done too bad.

Bikepedia shows that bike should have sold new for around $700 or so. I think you did great.

http://www.bikepedia.com/Search.aspx?Q=diamond+back+apex

Post up some pictures.

I'll put up some pics tomorrow morning(if it isn't raining). I believe it to be a 94 judging by the specs of all the mid 90s apex's because it has the 7 speed rear cog and I believe 11-28 teeth. Regardless, I'm a little stunned that I actually got a good buy. Normally I end up losing money.

You should be able to tell from the date code on the SHimano bits.

Well, it could have been a $50 10 year old Magna or Huffy. On that scale he did quite well.,,,,BD

Money well spent.
Now ride it like you paid $700, and never look back....
...except for traffic.

I got ripped off a couple years ago when I was in high school. I bought a cheap Next bike from a guy for $50. I thought it was a good bike. The chain fell in half on the way home, and several of the teeth were bent. I ended up trading it for a ride home. I knew absolutely nothing about bikes then, and I still don't know much so I was worried I made the same mistake twice.

Oh and I'm almost positive it's a '93 because it has 26/36/46 teeth on the crankset and 12 - 28 teeth on the 7 speed rear cog. I didn't see any other Apex's that had that combination.

A rigid fork mountain bike will sell for around $100 around here. Yours has a very nice cranks set and good level components so if it was $100, with new tubes, it would still be a good buy. You did better than that.
BTW, don't feel bad about the Next bike, if you think we never buy a bike then say "Oh No" later when we find a problem, guess again.

A very good deal at $50.00, you don't see quality like that today in thousand dollar bikes. The full Shimano DX group with bar top thumbies points at a date no later than '92 as does the "spider web" paint. Well worth putting the money into it to keep it going, cables, brake pads even chain and cassette if neccesary.

All the cables, tires, tubes, and pads were new. He had just installed them last fall, but had only ridden it a few times. The cassette is probably the original one, but it looks very nice. He took extremely good care of this bike. I'm not sure why he didn't want more. I just saw it as a good looking mountain bike, so I bought it. The tubes didn't need replaced, but they were probably the thinnest rubber I've ever seen. There aren't always curb cutouts on my route to work, so I'm constantly taking 4 inch drops. I had to have something that could hold up.

Nice, Deore is just about my favorite component group! Whether it's LX, XT, or any other......

Stay off the sidewalk? that should save the rims and tires, and you some unneeded bodily wear and tear. Riding on the street is legal in most states. I ride on the street exclusively. I love when drivers lay on the horn. I take it as my cue to take the lane, hehe.,,,,BD

I did stay off the sidewalk when I went for a ride this evening. People sure can scream some strange things at you. But the amount of pain that my legs didn't feel more than made up for tolerating them.

Hearing advice like that would seem strange in my city. Around here like in many cities and towns in the midwest the main traffic law concerning bikes is anyone over the age of 12 must ride on the street. Sidewalks are for walking, but you still here a couple of idiots yell at you to get on the sidewalk where you belong. A friend even had a cop yell that at him once.By the way my daily back&forth to work bike is a 90's Diamondback Overide which I got at a yard sale for $65. She threw in a Trek helmet, Cateye headlight and a Trek tailight. I've rode off every penny. If I would have spent that in walmart, the bike shape object would have fallen apart twice over.

Nice, Deore is just about my favorite component group! Whether it's LX, XT, or any other......

I have to agree. Standard Deore 6/7 sp is highly underated. Everyone wants XT. Truth be known, there just isn't that much difference between the two except a few grams.

Those thumb shifters would probably make it late Eighties very early Ninties. Deore DX was already using STI by 1990. The Exage groups used thumbies much later. You don't have Exage, hence it's got to be maybe 1990 or so.

Shimano date codes all their components. Check the back of the crank arm. See if there's a very small set of 2 letters. Could start with a J,K or L. Let us know what it is. Great find and good luck riding. :)

I didn't see any of those letters. Here's a picture.

$50 is fair. I had 2 similarly equipted mtb's that I had trouble moving for $100 each.

As long as you ride it and enjoy it, any bike for any price is worth it.

I didn't see any of those letters. Here's a picture.

PC is the date code.... March, 1991. WWW.vitage-trek.com has good date code information. http://vintage-trek.com/component_dates.htm#shimano

ok thanks. I've got several other bikes I'll finally be able to find out what year they are.