vintagebicycle

I was going through some of my vintage frames and parts the other day and came across several which I suppose I should let go but haven't a clue as to what they should bring.
They are as follows:
1978 Raleigh Super Course 25.5" (Gold with super nice paint) Reynolds 513 3 tube
1977 Raleigh Super Course 25.5" (Red with badly faded paint) Reynolds 513 3 tube
1974 Motobecane Grand Jubile 25" (Silver with red trim in excellent condition) Reynolds 513 3 tube
1982? Trek 410 25" (Dark blue with good paint) Ishivatta 022

1977 Nishiki Sport 25" ( blue with paint in fair to good condition)
1970? Robin Hood Sports frame and fork 19" with bright red metallic paint.
196? Jacques Anquetil 22" frame/fork White with vintage foil decals, fair paint, but good for a French bike from this era.

There's more but these are the few that come to mind.

repechage

The super courses are big, and the 26 tpi threading is a challenge, w/o a bottom bracket not much. Missing the head set will hurt too. If they went on the market at the same time... $25.

The others really depend on condition, w/o images throw a dart.

randyjawa 

If you take the time to look through Vintage Bicycle Value, you will find that there are many things that impact vintage bicycle value, and some of them do not have anything to do with the bicycle itself. Time of year, size of bike, location of the sale and similar factors all impact value.

As for how much to ask for each frame set. Were it me, I would start at $150.00 each for the big road bike frames and be prepared to dicker. Big frames are harder to sell than smaller ones.

Hope that is a help and please keep in mind that final values fluctuate a great deal.

wrk101

Without pictures, no idea. Its all about condition. Also, where do you plan to sell these? I have found in my town, framesets sell cheap, really cheap. So I tend to only sell donor framesets locally, and accept that I am going to get $25 to $50 each for them.

The Super Courses will have some value on ebay, as will the Trek 410. Look up the GJ on the for sale thread, there's a nice one there (complete with headset, crankset and bottom bracket, so that pushes the value up).

+1 Oddball sizing on the Super Course bb, hopefully you still have them. Ditto the french bikes. Depending on the year, Motobecanes went from french bb to the dreaded Swiss threading. Hopefully yours predates the Swiss.

Nishiki Sport will have minimal value.

Really the best way to get value out of the better framesets is to build them up out of the parts bin (if you have a parts bin). I have had frames for a couple of years, where all of a sudden someone wanted a specific size, so I built it up and off it went. If you don't have a parts bin, then either post them for sale here or ebay, DEPENDING ON CONDITION. Frames with rust or other issues will have limited value.

T-Mar

I though that the Super Course, being a Reynolds 531 model, was built by the Carlton factory and used standard Britsh threading? I pretty sure that mine had the Carlton decal.

4Rings6Stars

77 / 78 Super Courses should be Carlton built and I'm pretty sure they should be standard British threading. Also...IIRC, those are some of the best years for the SC as they have forged Suntour dropouts....I miss my 77 dearly.

FastJake

Would love to see pictures, especially of this one. Where are you located? Generally framsets don't sell for much, but winter may not be the worst time to sell one if someone (like me) is looking for a winter project.

All would probably go for much less than $100 locally.

wrk101

Good to here the Super Courses missed the Raleigh specific threading. That should open up the market for them quite a bit.

vintagebicycle

The 78 SC has forged dropouts, but the 77 does not, both are BSC threaded Carlton frames.
I had a dozen or more of these over the years, the last bare frame I sold went for $150 about 10 years ago and it wasn't nearly as clean as the gold one I have here.
The gold SC is near mint with only a few small nicks or scratches here and there, the red one is well worn but not damaged in anyway.
The GJ is all French threaded, which to me is a big plus in value in that it's a very authentic French built bike, this bike was originally equipped with all French components, I believe its a 1973-74 model purchased in Europe.
The JA is an oddity, its most likely built by Gitane, I never did anything with it since its way too small for me or anyone I know. Its similar to a Gitane Gran Sport frame from what I can tell, I believe it most likely had 27" wheels with drop bars and cottered cranks.
The 410 Trek has forged dropouts and is in pretty decent condition with normal wear and some scratches, I had planned to repaint and restore it but never got around to it.
The Robin Hood was most likely a 3 speed model, I've got an offer of $100 for it from a guy in PA who wants to build it for his wife. That bike has it's BB and headset.
The SC's used standard inverted cup steel headsets. They would have also had Raleigh scripted SR cranks in those years, meaning that the BB will be determined by the crankset used when the bike is built up. Even if they had the original BB set, chances are the crank axle wouldn't work with a higher end crankset.

All of these frames have been here for decades packed away in the garage and attic.

Something that I don't get is why other than the shipping factor a large frame is harder to sell? I've always had a really hard time finding larger frames, there's a ton of smaller frames out there, but finding anything that fits a guy over 6' tall is almost impossible around here, and when you do find one, it's either trashed or priced far more than the same model in a small frame. Even back in the day when these were new it was hard to find a frame to fit.

wrk101

There may be a lot of smaller frames out there, but there are 10X as many customers for those smaller sizes as well.

Its all about supply and demand. Back in the 1970s, people were upsized on bikes, a small frame was 22 inch size, and an XL might be 26 inches (66cm) or more. So on my 1975 Peugeot, I was sized for a 24 inch frame.

Now, riders are put onto smaller frames. On top of that, there is a mini-boom of female riders, (around here, a lot of triathletes), looking for small to extra small racing bikes.

Anything over 24 inches is a tough sell. It took me a year to find a buyer for a 26 inch 1972 Schwinn Super Sport, and I discounted it significantly.

A lot of riders over 6' tall are riding 24 inch frames or even smaller.

Example, turn the clock back to 1972. The Schwinn Super Sport came in three sizes: 22 inch, 24 inch, and 26 inch (Varsity and Continental came in those sizes as well)..

21 inch vintage bikes are desirable, anything under 21 inch enjoys a nice premium, under 19 inch, a really nice premium. 21 to 24 inch sell for about the same prices, although a 21 inch is an easier sell. Anything over 24 inches is hard to sell.

I went to a local vintage bike shop, to put some bikes on consignment, they only wanted bikes 21 inch frame AND smaller. I asked about a 23 inch, they thought that size was huge....

Turn the clock forward to 2011. Pick a nice entry bike shop bike of today, say a Trek 1.2 (Sora/Tiagra mix). Smallest size: 43cm (17 inch), largest size: 62cm (24 1/2 inch). People buying those kind of sizes on new bikes, are not interested in a 66cm vintage bike, and are not going to find a 17 inch vintage road bike.

vintagebicycle

For what ever reason, I've never been able to sell anything smaller than a 57cm or 23" frame here. Most buyers I see aren't serious riders, just people looking for a really cheap bike to ride. Usually because they lost their car or license. I don't get buyers after quality bikes, just cheap wheels.

Buyers for parts of bare framesets are rare, buyers for road bikes are rare period in this area.

There are no local bike shops, new or used that I know of. The closest road bike shop is 25 or more miles away and they won't touch a used or vintage bike. Most local shops closed up around the time that Walmart opened up.

Most of the bikes I sell on CL are sold to buyers who come a long distance, the last few drove over 200 miles, one guy came over 600 miles to buy a bike I had listed for almost a year here on CL. He spotted a free newspaper ad I placed online. Not a single buyer has yet to be local, or closer than about 50 miles or so.

In general, road bikes don't sell well here, regardless of size, but I've had more luck with larger frames than small frames. I suppose the economy is a big part of it, but I'm not looking to sell anything if I can't get a fair price.

wrk101

We are selling to totally different markets. The DUI/Lost license folks around here buy mopeds and scooters. Its a loophole in the law, with a 50cc or less scooter, you don't need a license or insurance. That's why they call them liquorcycles here.

I typically sell to two groups:

Group 1: These buyers just went to a bike shop, want to ride a triathlon, and got shocked at what bikes cost. So they are looking for something decent, in the $200 to $300 range. Lots of new triathletes here.

Group 2: College students that like the "look" of a vintage, lugged steel bike.

During riding season, I can sell 2 to 4 bikes a week to these two groups. I really can't keep up. Once riding season is over, its totally dead.

The basic recreational rider, cheap wheel crowd go elsewhere (Walmart or used XMart bikes).

T-Mar

Mine was an much earlier, 1972 if I recall correctly and I'm pretty sure it had the Carlton decal. Now to dig up some old pics.

repechage

Houses around here in Southern California used to sell for a lot more 10 years ago too. From your comments, the local market is not one, you must go wide to get the price you want or need. Go forward and market wide.
In the upper end vintage market the tall guys get the deals, just fewer of them and or they are stingy, it happens on a regular basis.
Sell the Robin Hood if you can get the price mentioned, a good deal for you.
Your inquiries early without the location and or further details are as mentioned previously to you way to lacking in info to be answered definitively.
It really reads as if you do not need the advice actually, maybe looking for an offer instead? If so, pay your way for that.

In the early 70's there were a number of Super Course owners who had to go Phil Wood bottom brackets to get cotterless cranks, Phil made the 26 tpi rings to fit Raleigh threading, not all had the expected British threading. The head sets are not uncommon, but the stack is on the lower end, one has to shop to get a current production unit to fit, not impossible, but when one starts adding up the costs, the potential buyer must be tall and in love to spend the dough, or not thinking.

FastJake

+100

Seriously, post some pictures. You're looking for selling prices but without pictures we can't have a clue what they should bring.

kc0yef 

1982 trek 410 frame $75

vintagebicycle

There are no students around here that need bikes, no colleges, and no real place to ride a bike unless you live out in the farm areas off the path a bit. A bike is probably not good transportation there. Mopeds and scooters here need full insurance and a license, a moped can be ridden at age 15 but it has to follow all the rules and regs of a motorcycle but not go over 25mph. Scooters, if not fully street legal, (Such as those China built things from the auto parts chain or flea market), are banned and can't be ridden or licensed.
During the warm months, bikes are dead here, they won't sell at all, I won't even get a reply to any ads. I do best between mid November and mid January. The minute the weather warms its over. I've never quite figure this out. This time of the year I get many replies but no serious buyers, just tire kickers and those with no money.
I had a guy ask me for directions from a town two hours from here, he showed up four hours later than he said he'd be here, looked over the bike, which was in mint condition and asked if I had anything like that but cheaper. He then said he only had $50 to $75 to spend. The bike he replied to was listed for $300 on CL. He didn't want a $50 bike, he wanted a $300 bike for $50.
He got mad when I told him I don't sell $50 bikes and I recommended he go to Walmart and see what he could find there for $50.
I couldn't believe that someone would drive nearly 100 miles to look at a bike listed at $300 and expect to get it for $50 to $75.
His emails didn't ask if I'd take less, he only said he wanted it and that he'd be here the next day with cash in hand, then he shows up with pocket change. He wasn't a kid, probably mid to late 30's, driving a fairly new high end SUV, so I didn't get the impression he didn't know better. He just thought I'd let it go that cheap since he drove that far. He went home empty handed.
I've also had people show up with zero cash in pocket and flat out ask for a bike for free because they didn't have any money or job.
I think in general CL is losing it's validity as a place to sell lately, I must get 100 scammers and clowns for every one serious buyer.