erbfarm

bikemore, I hear ya, it's true......There was a Le Tour listed in Derry, NH for $125 and it's gone now, lasted about a week. The owner was willing to let me have it for $100 but I didn't bike at that.....of course, I feel differently now after reading all the posts here. The sweet Bianchi is gone!! lasted two days at $225. Now I'm on to a 1986 Terry listed at $265....I might jump on that. Anyway, you guys have convinced me that $200-$300 is not out of the question for a road bike that is ready to ride. I've been so spoiled by those mid 80's non suspension mtn bikes with the nice components (at least Lx level) going for $50-$75.

oldroads

I own a small used bike shop in Boston (well Cambridge - a few blocks from the Boston line).

During the season, it goes like this:

- Single Speed conversions sell in a couple days (less if the paint and decals look retro)
- Road bikes and 3-speeds sell in a couple days.
- Old single speed cruisers sell in a week.
- Mountain bikes and Hybrids sit on the floor for weeks.
- True vintage stuff sits on the floor for months

miamijim

If you think about it it all makes sense. SS conversions are 'hot' right now, the market for true vintage stuff is almost non-existent and mtn./hybrids account for 85% or more of the domestic bike market.

Before you guys climb all over me about the 'vintage' comment think about it. If the market was big we wouldnt have to buy and sell on ebay to collectors around the world. We'd be able to throw it on CL and it's sell in a day. Ebay prices get out of hand because there's relatively few buyers bidding for even fewer items.


The current market is very unstable for some brands but extremely stable for others. For high quality original, clean bikes good money is there. If you have something with rust or its been modified its 'vintagness' is gone. There are alot of good bikes out there with almost no miles on them.

Whats a good price for an old bike? Thats all relative to your position in the market. Buyer? Seller? End user?

I'll pay upto $350-ish depending on condition and components. I've bought bikes on the local CL for $100-150, did my thing to them and resold them on the same CL a week later for $300-325. I've also bought bikes elsewhere for $25-40, did my thing to them and barely broke even. I have one bike I paid $35 and thought I'd be able flip real quick and make cool C-note. Nope. The only way to make money on it was to part it out.

I've done the same with Ebay. I recently acquired a bike for $210 and resold it on Ebay for $450 after doing my thing to it.

Right now certain items are bringing good money. I listed 2 bikes with the 'buy now' option, the first was an '86 Pro Miyata for $400, it sold within 30 minutes. The second was a '91-ish Klein for $450 that sold within 2 hours.

DavidW56

My two cents' worth:

I'm still relatively new to the bicycle recover/restore/resell scene, so I have no experience to relate. However, I've been more alert to what people are riding since I joined this forum. Two observations:

1) While deer hunting in a state recreation area two weekends ago, I found myself on a hiking path that was instead used by mountain bikers. About twenty of them passed me in about an hour. Most bikes looked new, and many of them were Gary Fisher.

2) The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I attended a wedding in Ann Arbor, in the center of the University of Michigan campus, so I took pains to notice all the bicycles locked at the racks while I walked from the parking structure to the Michigan Union. I saw at least 50 bikes, and of them, only two or three could have been classic or vintage (a Fuji road bike among them). The majority of the rest were mostly newer cheap mountain bikes or hybrids, such as Huffy, Schwinn, or Murray. There were a couple of Diamondbacks here and there.

Although, when I pointed out these bikes to my wife, she asked, "Would you leave a nice bike here?"

wrk101

If you want a super deal on a road bike, you have to trade time for money. Some of us that post some of our "super" finds neglect to point out the time spent on the hunt. There is really no free lunch.

Thats what makes C/L a good option. While you probably will not get the $50 score, you will get a pretty decent deal on a good bike. And you won't be spending a lot of time going to thrift store after thrift store, and garage sale after garage sale (and finding nothing 95% of the time).