Classic & Vintage - Best/Worst classic/vintage markets....

Inspired by the various CL/ebay lookout threads and related stories.

It appears some parts of the country are definitely good markets for classic and vintage road bikes....in my context, mainly race bikes from the 60s/70s/80s and early 90s, when steel ruled.

Most of the Northern metro areas, espescially Boston, come to mind. Likewise Chicago, and the Left Coast cities.

Bad markets seem to be more common to small and medium sized metro areas in the Plains and the South. If I didn't know better I'd say I live in the worst one of all, but that might be giving my redneck neighbors a little too much credit.

What say you folks?


Tom

winnipeg sucks...been looking for a nice bike for a ss/fg conversion and nothin....gonna hit the thrift shops next week...maybe pawn shops but theyre crooks

Wow, this is a tough generalization to make. For every "the Northwest is great for vintage bike geeks!" there will be an equal supposition that "there's far too many interested riders with lots of cash and no flippers to be found that aren't rusty". I might lean more towards the later.

Rain + smaller population in the "golden age of steel" + traditionally lower income levels + exploding population of people (lots who happen to be interested in bicycling and vintage) = screwage.

I could also blame the fixie trend for lack of inventory. But i'm not sure its that easy.

it's not san diego so don't bother looking here...:innocent:

By "good" markets do you mean for buying or selling?

RVA, the prototypical smaller Southern city, with more statues of dead Confederate luminaries than any other place in the entire solar system, used to be an undepriced market; within the last five years it's an overpriced one. Good for sellers, bad for buyers.

Yeah, echoing the above. Portland CL is pretty ridiculous; I tend to not even scroll down on the bike listings page since anything good is usually scooped up within a half hour or so. LOTS of flippers and people jumping on the fixed gear bandwagon. I'm very jealous of the people in the midwest picking up high end vintage bikes at the thrift stores for $20. That just doesn't happen here.

I'm having some decent luck here in Phoenix, with Craigs List.
Just picked up an early '90s Schwinn PDG 684 with a complete Shimano 105 7 speed SIS gruppo for $20 this morning. Of course, I had to drive about a hundred miles out into the desert to pick the sucker up!!! I'm going to end up parting the thing out, though. (need the money...)

Buffalo is give or take, Ive already seen 2 70's Paramounts that some ******bag hipsters have turned into fixies, but there are a lot more than that. Otherwise its a decent buyers market, last Sunday i picked up a 1985 Miyata 7-10 for 180 in perfect condition, and i was practically given a 1970 Paramount P-15. A lot of people here dont know what they have because they bought it years ago and put it in the attic for a winter and then its in a garage sale in practically brand new condition. Its great if youve got the time to investigate but before you can some hipster has raped it and thrown campy ferailleurs in the trash...

I have been doing okay here in Chicago. My best "gem" to date is my 60's Dawes Realmrider that I got for $40 off CL.

Now that I have spent a month cleaning every single square millimeter and overhauling anything that moves, purchased new quality rims/spokes/tires/tubes/cables/and a derailleur... it is now a $200.00 find. Someone please help me define best market for quality roadbikes for a great price?!?

Bottom line, yeah... Chicago is not bad. The Realmrider now moves like butter over toast. My new favourite ride.

I second the hipsterfixie sentiment. It saddens me to see a quality bike turned into a fad at the cost of it's future. Imagine in 50 years when these bikes will be super rare in any condition, and grampa will tell the grand kids about all of the nice 70's bikes he tore down for a fad that lasted five years. People in the future who love vintage and antique will NEVER get it. :eek:

I've been in the Bay Area most of the last 35 years. I have no idea what its like anywhere else!

My town (Quincy IL) is a place where all bikes are under $100, but there's rarely a "steal," ie most of it's junk. Somebody did get a Cannondale 3.0 complete at a garage sale for $50, but not much worth restoring here.

I've been in the Bay Area most of the last 35 years. I have no idea what its like anywhere else!

Most other places are a lot less expensive. :p :thumb: