septacycles

I have a customer who want to buy my Univega Tandem...

It a cool tandem but for a taller front rider than myself. Its in good shape but need new tires... which depending on the offer price I may provide and install.

here are some pictures... sorry I know they are not great but you'll get the idea

Der_Kruscher

I'd guess about $350 tops.

randyjawa 

Tandems are difficult to sell for a couple of reasons. Market size is very small, since the tandem style is not all that sought after. Secondly, unless selling locally and offering local pick-up opportunity, then the cost to ship the bicycle will be very high, once again limiting the number of potential buyers.

The suggesteed price of $350.00 seems low to me, considering what the bicycle is actually worth, but my guess is that the quote is pretty darn close to what you can expect, unless you run across an uninformed buyer or someone who really wants exactly what you have.

That said, decide what you think you want, for the bicycle, and list the bike at double that number, leaving plenty of room to negotiate. If the first person, to walk through the door, purchases the bicycle for asking price, then you will know that the price was too low, but at least you will have received two times what you thought the bike was worth to you. If you can't find a buyer at that price, you can always come down, but keep this in mind...

In many parts of North America, this is the best time of year to sell a bicycle. Right now, there are lots of people with Spring Fever, all waiting to spring into action, and perhaps buy a bicycle in the process. Act now and plan your "bike for sale" campaign to last about six weeks. If no sale by then, you will have to lower your price a lot, or be prepared to be patient and play the "waiting for the right buyer" game.

"Waiting for the right buyer" game is the one that will help you get the most value for the bicycle, in my opinion.

wrk101

I would guess $350 as well. Tandems are a deal as a buyer, not so great for a seller. You have a nice one for sure. Very, very, limited market. And a brand like Univega does not get the respect it deserves. If I had it, I would be doing a full rehab on it, installing drop bars for the captain, and riding it. Front bars and stem are hideous to me, they would have to go (easy fix). Add barcons, and you have a sweet tandem there. But that is as a keeper. As a flip, a lot of riders prefer those hideous upright bars over drops, and thumb shifters over barcons.

septacycles

I would be happy with $350 and that about what I was thinking. It a good quality tandem... compared to the cheap mountain bike tandems I see all over the place. I had someone looking at it to ride from WY to WA... I told them I could build it up as a touring tandem but in its current state its more for cursing around town and leisurely road rides. Thanks for the input.

wrk101

I think it would make a pretty good touring tandem. Add barcons, and either smaller chain rings on the rear, or perhaps a triple, and it is good. Its kind of a cheap crankset on there anyway. (Not sure how involved it would be to add a triple on the rear on the drive side). Looks like a Long cage RD on there.

You've got pretty good brakes on this bike, cantis front and rear, plus a second center pull on the rear. And for $350? Buyer would have to spend a lot more than that to get something much better.

himespau 

I'd say see what he wants to offer as you already have a potential buyer. To me $350 seems a pretty good deal if it fit (though I'd be swapping out the bars in a hurry).

Miyata110

Not sure about the value, but that looks like a dangerous way to transport that bike with the rear tire sticking out so far from the car! Is this how all tandems are transported?

Der_Kruscher

Are they planning on doing this loaded (the bike, not drunk) or supported? My guess is that this bike will be too flexy (narrow diameter tubing & no diagonal tube) if loaded with bags and it doesn't appear to have all of the necessary braze-ons. If it were me, and my customer wanted the bike for such a use I'd steer them elsewhere (no matter how much I wanted to sell the bike) and suggest that they spend more to find a more suitable bike for such a serious undertaking. Again, that's just me.

bgross

We transport our tandems in a *similar* fashion, which is to say on a rack on the back of our Odyssey -- but NOT sticking out that far!
Our '84 Santana has a shorter stocker cockpit (and therefore shorter overall length) than our '96 Cannondale, but bungie-cording the handlebars with the front wheel perpendicular to the bike keeps the wheels from sticking out much farther than the Odyssey's side mirrors.
If we were going to travel any distance, we'd just pop off the front wheel altogether.

As far as how "all tandems" are transported, we have several friends who carry their tandems inside of the mini-van, or in the bed of their pickup trucks. If the inside of our van wasn't 'owned' by dog crates, that's the way we'd go.

YMMV

septacycles

I just saw a guy put it on a rack up side down... that way you can center it on the rack easier. I'll do that next time.