jarombra

Here's the link - no nibbles yet. I really want to sell it if I can get at least $500 for it, but otherwise maybe I'll just keep it. I don't want to rip anyone off though, so I am curious how much these are worth right now.

TREK OCLV 58cm year 2000



Thanks for your input forum cyclists!

tmh657

You may want to check this out.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...uidelines.html

Bianchigirll 

Looks like it could use a good cleaning. Has the chain been replaced at regular intervals or is it original? If the chain is very stretched the new owner may have to not only replace it but replace the cassette as well.

This is an appraisal forum it is sort of against the rules to post your link here. Post your pics and info on the bike directly here.

jarombra

Ah sorry for posting the sale link, wont do it next time. Thanks for the tips - unfortunately I think the shifters are more than sticky as I tried the WD40 trick to no avail. My local cyclist shop recommend to not worry about it because "chance are someone will want to put new shifters on it anyway". Who knows - at the very least I should adjust the price to take into account potentially busted shifters.

FastJake

Cleaning it will help. No one likes to buy a dirty bike. If the bike was fully functional your price would be fine, but...

The biggest red flag is the shifters. People know these are expensive to replace. If they're not working, expect to sell it for significantly less. Or fix it and try getting full market value for it.

miamijim

That's actually a 2000 year model... MSRP'd for $2620

My general rule of thumb for bikes of that vintage is 25% of MSRP so that puts it around $650. They've mostly fully depreciated and fall into technological purgatory. Monocoque carbon frames? ehhh.. 9speed? ehhh...

9 speed levers dont always bounce back like 8 & 10's. WD40 is a....IDK what it is. Spray the F out of them with automotive brake cleaner (dont get it on anything) and then drown them in very light chain oil like Tri-Flow. The oil will need time to work in.

jarombra

Thanks miamijim, $650 sounds like a reasonable price, I agree.

I drowned the F out of them for sure, and some little washers came out, which leads me to believe something has actually broken on in the inside. Perhaps the washer came from somewhere else, but I'm near certain it came out of my shifters - not a good sign.

tmh657

If you want to sell it complete- ready to ride consider some 9 speed Tiagra. Just a thought.

Shimano Tiagra St 4500 9 Speed STI Shifters Double 2x9 | eBay

RoadGuy

I think you'll have a problem, or be waiting a long time to sell in at $650, considering the current condition (shifters, dirty, and non-matching tires). On Craiglist, I don't think it will sell, even at $500 (without a long wait for the right Buyer).

You best bet is to clean it up, put on a set of new, matching tires, and fix the brifters. Know that if you replace them with something other than the same type of brifters (Tiagra is several steps below what came on the bike originally), that some people will lower the offering price due to missing original parts. List at $600-$650, (plus shipping) on eBay and see what happens. The odds are that it will still be a long wait. Be aware that eBay and PayPal will take at least 13%, and you will have to pay for the shipping out of your own pocket, while you are waiting for the funds to be released (assuming that eBay and PayPal may consider to be a High Risk New Seller), that 14-30 days after you ship the bike. Balance the risk and wait against advertising and selling it on Craigslist, where you may get less money, but you get it right away. If you get $500 from a Craigslist Buyer As-Is without putting any money in, that's work out to be more money than you end up with if you fix the bike and selling it on eBay (without the delays and risks of selling on eBay).

I buy, sell, and trade camping equipment in the summer on eBay. I used to buy broken or incomplete tents, recondition them, or complete them, and then list them for sale on eBay. I've found that while in some cases it takes longer to sell on Craigslist, the selling price is generally the same as eBay on a complete, ready to go tent. I can also sell the good parts from broken or incomplete tents for the same profit (or more) on eBay, than I would have gotten selling the complete tent. Needless to say, I no-longer spend a lot of time and effort trying to complete or repair a incomplete or broken tent. I list the parts for sale, while I continue to scan for more tents or pieces of tents. If I find what I need to complete a broken or incomplete tent, fine. If someone buys the parts that I listed for sale before I find the parts to complete it, or fix it, that's fine too.

jarombra

Oh great, thanks tmh657.

jarombra

Thanks RoadGuy - so what would you suggest, get the Tiagra shifters and make sure it's road-ready spic and span? Or just hold onto it and keep it for old-tyme's sake? Do you think this frame has any vintage value down the road (in a few decades)?

curbtender

Washer are probably from the brake stops. It is a pin that the brake cable passes through and has rubber and small washers holding it into a slot and receives the cable end. I had a Shimano techdoc that showed it but the link is gone. If you have all the pieces it's not too hard to put back in. Same on both sides...

jarombra

Wow thanks for the information - so the washers are not integral to the shifter itself, suggesting that perhaps I do need to just degrease the shifters more than I had previously; keep at it? I do have them, kept them on a piece of cellotape.

bargainguy

Before you give up on the original shifters entirely, try this.

Go to an auto parts (O'Reilly's has it) or hardware store and get CRC PowerLube in the red can. Stuff has PTFE in it - much better lube than WD40, which is only a solvent.

Spray inside the innards of the shifter, let it drain, work the shifter in both directions, repeat. I've never had a pair of STI shifters that didn't respond to this technique, although sometimes it takes quite awhile. You'll know it's starting to work when you can finally shift one gear back and forth, and eventually you'll get the entire range.

curbtender

SHIMANO Dealer's Manual / User's Manual

The piece I was referring to is called a "cable hook"

Steve Whitlatch 

I recently acquired a bike that came with brifters that did not work. I could tell that the bike had not been ridden in ages and was left outside in the elements. I sprayed WD 40 in them. I opened them up a bit to get it inside. I put chain oil in. Nothing worked. I gave up. Two days later I picked up the bars and tried the levers one last time. Bingo. They work great. Give it some time.

FastJake

I doubt it. It's not the first carbon frame ever made and it certainly won't be the last. I imagine it being blindingly obsolete in a few decades. My bet is that the retro-grouches of the future (myself included) will still be riding steel.

Plus, even the most expensive vintage bikes of today aren't going to make you rich like a $5 million Hemi Barracuda. You could probably sell the bike for $300 today, invest the money, and have a lot more 20 years from now than the bike will be worth then.

awfulwaffle 

My riding buddy picked up a 1999 Trek 5000 OCLV, with upgraded Dura Ace RD and Ultegra FD and crank for $625 about a week ago, and I think he overpaid a little bit. Had quite a few paint chips, but no signs of carbon damage. Seems like if you get yours cleaned up and everything working, $500-$600 ought to be a reasonable price.

RoadGuy

I don't think the bike will ever be a hot vintage collector item. As someone else already said, if you are looking for an investment, you'd be better off selling the bike for cash now, and investing the money somewhere.

What I would probably do is clean the bike up, and see if I could get the original brifters working correctly. If you can, I'd try advertising it on CL at $600, and be willing to take $500 cash. You would clear more money that way, than if you bought the Tiagra brifters, and advertised the bike on eBay. Want to try eBay anyway? Fix the original brifters, and advertise it on eBay with a Starting/Opening bid of $600, a BIN or $700. If someone likes the bike, they can always make any offer they want while the auction is running. And you have the right to refuse any offer.

Be ware that if you buy the Tiagra brifters, there is not guarantee that after you install them they will work properly, or that they will raise the price you can get for the bike.

Many times you are better off letting the bike go for less, and getting rid of it instead of spending a ton of money on it to try to make it more valuable. There are always people looking to buy bikes that are planning on customizing them anyway, and price is more important to them.

CliffordK

Interesting bike.

The value would greatly depend on the market. There are virtually not CF bikes for sale here. But, I don't know how many are looking either. But, $500 would seem reasonable enough of a price.

The Postal Service is a double edged sword. Armstrong is perhaps the most well known cyclist in the USA, but has become massively unpopular among cyclists. So, any connection with him could be a curiosity, or POISON.

The bike is also pretty old.

As others have said, fix the shifters if you want to get top dollar for the bike. And, with mostly Ultegra, I would track down some quality Ultegra parts.

Here are some notes on Ultegra shifter rebuild.
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...-teardown.html
https://lwrnc.org/stiteardown/

I haven't tried it yet. It appears as if it is not for the faint of heart.

Anyway, 100% working, and $500 sounds reasonable, at least in some markets.

Oh, and I would not downgrade the shifters. If you don't repair them, then spend the time to hunt down the correct shifters on E-Bay.

Parting out the bike and throwing pieces up onto E-Bay is also a possibility.

curbtender

Trek 5200 carbon road bike (med)
Trek 5200 56cm carbon
Both of these advertised with new shifters in SF bay market...

oddjob2

$375 +/- 10% with issues.
$475 +/- 10% without issues.

miamijim

To a certain extent dumping money into a bike to get it road worthy is fine. But you need to look at the ROI (return on investment). Tires and bar tape? Yes. Anything more than that and things get iffy. I wouldn't buy new shifters, the cost to acquire them and have then installed may cost more than the return.

miamijim

I think those gear cables are way too short....to properly work on the levers you need to disconnect it from the RD, remove the housing and work the levers by hand, pull on the wire with one hand and work the lever with the other...

repechage

With the U.S. Postal and Lance effect.... This bike may be the Medici of the future.