Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Juxtaposition: Schwinn, Miyata, Bridgestone, Schwinn

Pulling out more bikes to sort out and tune and get ready to move in case we have to, job market has totally tanked right now locally.

Bridgestone 500 I picked up awhile back (too tall for me), Miyata NineTwelve I picked up a while farther back (too tall, posted before), Schwinn LeTour 12.2 picked up recently (too tall, yeah another one), and a tiny Schwinn kids bike (too small).

Took these pics the other day just after I pulled them out of the garage and basement to get them cleaned up a bit and do some tuneup and parts replacements on them. Thought the pic looked interesting with the one in the stand and the other two in the background.

The Bridgestone had some ducttape stuffed down inside the headtube and which took a bit of effort to clean out of it, I guess some previous owner had stem slippage issues or something. Seems fine now. I've got new brake and shifter cables on it now and also new brake cable housings. Paint has a few nicks and dings but nothing too overly major, worst part is at the top of the right seatstay. I'm debating leaving it as is or using a Dremel wire brush to clean off the surface and touching it up with some generic black bicycle touchup paint. The headset cups could use replacing due to minor bearing cupping, but it felt fine on a round-the-block ride so I'll just mention it and will price out a new budget headset at the shop. I can't see putting a $60 headset onto a bike that will see a hard time selling for over $100 in the local market here. I'll be wrapping some new black handlebar tape onto the bars as soon as some budget tires that I ordered arrive.

The Miyata NineTwelve is in decent but neglected condition. I really should take my time with it and do a fine detail cleaning on it. Search for the previous thread if you want more pics, otherwise I'll add some in the next day or so.

The Schwinn 12.2 LeTour is sort of ridable for me if I slam the seatpost down deep, seems like a fairly nice bike otherwise. Should clean up fairly nicely but I haven't really looked it over in too close of detail.

And the little kids bike I'm really curious about. Most of the stickers seem to still be there. Forgive the cruddy cell phone pics. I'll post some better ones once I have some time. We're having Seattle-ish weather here north of Milwaukee today so it isn't a great day to be outside playing in the alley.

Anyway here's a couple of pics of my outside workbench and whatnot. Ya gotta to what you gotta do, and currently I'm in purge mode between looking for work and putting in hours at a parttime job. Life is like a roller coaster at times, remain seated and wear the seatbelt, just hope this current ride doesn't include a loop-de-loop :eek:

I do have a Bridgestone 400 in process that does fit me better which I hope to hang onto, but will go before some others do. And since Wares bike shop just went out of business this year this one gains some sentimental value for the locals.

Local market puts most of these in the $50-$150 range, and anything over $100 needs to either be really nice or really in demand.

And this one could possibly need it's own thread, or not. I haven't seen another one of these, could be I just missed them. I almost posted this one in the "City Bike" thread, but that thread sort of took on a life of it's own so I stayed out of it ;) .

Any input on this one would really be appreicated since I have no clue if it's just a European x-mart bike or if it's something special and unique. I've been waiting to learn more about it before I try either re-welding the rear rack brace or just removing the rear rack all together.

I think I paid a dollar or so for this one at a local rummage sale several years ago and it's been hanging like a bat in the garage ever since pending it's turn in the repair queue.

the rest of the City Bike pics.
Having a generator mount instead of just clamping the generator bracket to the seatstay made me think this might be something more than just a generic x-mart special, but I could be wrong. The whole package though implies to me that this was at least designed to be sold in a bike shop, or not. :commute:

Nothing like some cash sales to improve your mood. I would rehab one bike at a time, probably the 912 first. Get it really clean, manage your parts spending closely. Around here, I could get $200 to $250 for a nice 912. Maqybe you have family or friends in a better bike market (Madison??). I pay about $10 for a headset, not sure where the $60 is coming from, but I would shop more. I have also scrounged nice take off (used) headsets for $2 each. Just need to find the right LBS.

The Bridgestone should have good value as well. Values really require the bike to be clean and ready to ride. You might find local market is better than you think. Around here, projects go cheap. I bought a Fuji project for $40, resold it for $175 in ready to ride condition, in the same market s few weeks later. No one wanted it in the as found needed work condition.

On the touch up, for small areas, I use the rust converter paint you can buy at Walmart for $6 (sold in the auto paint area). Then touch up with testors enamel or similar.

No market around here for kids bikes. I tend to donate them if I find them.

The headset prices were based upon looking at Chris King and Phil Wood components :o, I should really save those thoughts for my keeper bikes. Oh well ..... they are nice parts though .....

I'm taking the Schwinn and a bad paint Sekai in with me to the part time job to show them to one of the managers looking to find an older lugged commuter bike to ride. I'll offer him a deal on the Schwinn and will trade for tires in swap for the Sekai. There's a local guy who I've sold a few frames to, or swapped for wheels, so I might strip down the Sekai and sell it to the frame guy for a few dollars.

I'll go check out the rust converter stuff and probably get some to try out.

I really need to clear out some space in the garage here, can't get from one side to the other without tripping over a bike or three. That's probably part of the frustration which will improve once I've got working room again.

I think I"ll throw the City Bike up on the local CL to see what happens. Got a 16" framed Diamondback MTB up there now with zero activity. Finally sold off the purple Raleigh Record to a young guy looking to get a bicycle for triathlons, his shoes he was wearing matched the bike too. :)

Once all of my too big and too small bikes are gone then I'll just focus back to fixing up bikes for myself and friends and family and indirect family. More fun and less hassle that way. I did pick up an older Schwinn Predator BMX bike last night for cheap. Plan to fix that up for myself and surprise my wife's grandkids with it one day (if I don't break any bones learning to play with it in the process).

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.