Ex Pres 

Here in B'ham the pickings have always been slim, but now there are more for sale. Unfortunately at prices that make no sense by the time you get them in (for me) ride ready shape. There is one fellow that sells refurbished gas-pipe bikes at a reasonable price, but that's not my flavor.

repechage

I just checked the Mike Kone guide, and the Sheldon Brown version from days gone by, I was surprised at how close the two were actually, some updating, not enough in the Cinelli dept, and no mention of Basso.
The problem with the guide is that many who skim it, immediately think the rusting hulk behind the garage is in guideline condition, and therefore worth mucho.

I have found SoCal craigslist vintage bike prices absurd for some time, ebay is often cheaper.

Road Fan

Here in Ann Arbor we have several expert flippers (redxj among others!!!!) who really deliver a bike that is in excellent ready to ride condition. In a college town like this the students (all ages) want a bike to get around on, and they appreciate getting a sturdy bike like a Raleigh or Schwinn, that is clean and shiny, with bearings and rims that roll right, gears and brakes that are smooth and functioning, and that will not mess up their clothes. These guys have word of mouth repeat business. The bike prices, which are worth it when you look at the near-total rebuild that gets done, are a big bargain compared to new, and the quality and service is far better than a big box bike.

OTOH, there are others just picking up complete bikes in real questionable condition, and trying to sell them at similar prices after hitting them with a garden hose. Big difference.

One thing about what redxj says, it's gonna be harder for flippers to score bikes that can be refurbished.

jet sanchEz

Toronto gets a lot of listings for old clunkers at $150 or so but I don't think they are selling all that well because they keep getting re-listed. However, I do see many "track" bikes that don't seem to last very long and the prices are usually high. A $600 conversion with deep-Vs, that sort of thing.

Road Fan

I'm not too surprised - here even with the student market, I expect to see "needs rebuilt" for $25, and "ready for a year of regular use" for $150. People who know nothing about bikes can see dirt, rust, scratches, and dings, and that doesn't move smoothly

-=(8)=-

I think it has to do somewhat with people who sell on CL and EBay
knowing buyers are seeking out vintage stuff and sort of using that
to their advantage. In Vermont, I had a basement full of fabulous
classic and vintage stuff that I dont think cost me 125.oo
altogether because it was picked up at spring yard sales for 5.00
to 15.00 from older owners who just wanted them gone at any price.
Here in s.Fl, there is a good amount of stuff to be had, but 150.00 for
a low level stovepiper is the norm. That still isnt too bad in my opinion
though. 150.00 for a nice rider still isnt that much money relatively speaking

IceNine

I put three bikes on CL in the last week and got nowhere near the response that I was getting during the summer and September. Due to the chilly weather I listed all three at prices about 10% less than what I would have done in summer. The best one found an out-of-town buyer who will pay to have it shipped at my asking price. I also listed that one in Chicago for a day since I was going there for a day trip on Friday, and that one also received no response from Chicago buyers.

riomx

Has anyone had good luck in convincing Craigslist sellers to ship? If I have to shop around in different cities to feed my addiction, I may just consider ignoring the Denver CL altogether

ebr898

It seems to be very reginal as others have said. I know that two years ago, I had a Viscount aero pro that locals were shocked at my $80 asking price. It was tuned and ready to ride, and came with an option of wheels, clencher or tubular. I craigslisted it and had several responses. One family drove about 3 hours and bought (or was given ) 5 bikes. But they knew what the were looking at.
It has been strange last week. Our craiglist has had some nice bikes cheap ( under $50). That were dusty and looked like people were cleaning out storage units.

jet sanchEz

I shipped a bike when someone contacted me and agreed to pay shipping, but only because I was selling a bike in the middle of winter that no one in Toronto seemed interested in.

I found a fork for my Ciocc in Oregon for $20 and convinced the seller to sell it to me for $50+shipping, which worked out well. He even refunded me $10 because the shipping quote he initially received was wrong.

I think this link has been posted in the past but this engine searches CL and Ebay for bicycles (and a ton of other things), which might make life easier for you. Go to "cloud" on the top right and a drop down menu of all the marquee bike names pops up and you can search the whole planet for a Ciocc fork

https://www.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi?cat=cpbike

bikemore 

Man, this is evil. It could add to many hours of wishful thinking !

Popeyecahn

^Cool linkage Jet...

As for wanting vintage, I can only say that I like not just the look of the older workmanship but of the graphics or lack thereof, what is with new bikes? They often look like crap aesthetic wise, and yeah I know looks don't make the ride but to me it is a factor in my desire of a particular bike. Same with jerseys... I can't wear stuff that looks clownish (sorry guys not to demean anyone's true abilities or lack of... lol)

If I could afford a Kona Kapu or anything new that appealed to me I'd be on it and in the streets huffin' and puffin' instead of spending what time I have looking for bargins (not that there's anything wrong with that, my time is somewhat limited though...).

radiocontrolhea

I know I wouldn't get rid of this baby for less than $500. But then again, I wouldn't sell it even if I was offered a grand. It's just an italian bred machine!
Campy Victory gruoupo. Frame has chrome stays and is chrome under the off white paint. Sorry for the terrible picture.


I recently got into bikes after I walked into the shed and saw this beauty just sitting there. I've never been interested in it until I actually saw the quality of the machine, rode it and couldn't believe how much fun these bikes were. Now I'm working on building a fixed gear. I'm upset I didn't see this gem earlier.

Popeyecahn

^Sweeeeet!

perichbrothers

We went "window" shopping to see whats out there.
It is really tough to look at a bike for $1000-8000 and wonder if its worth replacing a quality old bike.

Some of those new ones don't look like they'll last 5 years under normal conditions,
the ones that a 20-35 year old bike have already gone through and still go!

Most of us know that not much has changed geometry wise since the 70's,
-only maybe adding 6 gears and losing 5 lbs.
Seriously a wheelset costs $400 now!

A higher end older road bike for $200-400 is really a deal compared to the new stuff,
regardless if the "finder" has cleaned it up for a profit.

Anyway I love my old road bike and it will go circles around most money bikes!

TP

wrk101

I am not seeing a marked difference in C/L pricing around here.

+1 Prices peaked during the late summer, interest is down now.

Dr.Deltron

You want a vintage bike wake-up, here are some no-name calipers!

https://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Campagnolo-...d=p3286.c0.m14

I'll be watching those.

unprintable

Curse you for posting that, now everyone will have the same advantage I have. I love that search engine. Except I wish you could search for components too.

As for Craigslist shipping, I've found it's very unlikely. The whole reason sellers use Craigslist is because it's easier for them than eBay. The thing that happens is that if you ask they'll only ship if nobody local wants to pick it up.

soderbiker

3 years ago , you could have a nice older 70's-80's-90's bike , Columbus/ Reynolds or whatever almost for nothing , no body wanted them .
Just after the "fixie" booom hit here in Sweden everything has gone out of sight . not only are the decent columbus / reynolds frames going for double or tripple the price they were even a year ago the old junk bikes have risen as well .its totaly crazy to see a junker starting at say $400 ..

T

jet sanchEz

Heh, I thought about not posting it but it really came in handy for me in the past (scored my Concorde this way plus the aforementioned Ciocc fork) so figured it would be good karma to pass it along. I like how I can search the whole province because the Toronto market is pretty bloated.

longbeachgary

I think in general people are stupid about what items are worth whether it's a bicycle, car or motorcycle. But I see buyers pay some ridiculous prices for things. With the invention of ebay and Craigslist, sellers have a wider audiance for selling junk --- junk that in years past would have been donated, trashed or sold cheaply at a garage sale.

redxj

Here is an example of a buy bike/repost on CL for more. This Centurion was up the other day for $10 (shown in CL heads up thread) and now is up for $100 with the same exact picture in a different city.

https://detroit.craigslist.org/bik/884220417.html

bigwoo

I've been flipping in Denver/Boulder for 5 years and have noticed it too.

Lately I am finding much better deals on ebay...... Don't forget that many of these bikes are way overpriced and the college kids aren't falling for it. I am tracking nearly 30 bikes on Denver CL that have been posted a minimum of 6 times this month. Some of them are nice people, some *ssholes, some trying to supplement their income, some clueless.....

I just spoke w/ a CL employee on Fri...Rumor has it that CL is going to lower the threshold for flagging so as to eliminate the "dealers" and "flippers". Which will mean you either list under "services" or go out of business if you are doing this as a hobby/business....

jgedwa

You have a source, and I do not, but this seems highly unlikely to me. If they make it easier to flag, I would suspect that there will be a rash of people flagging everything else to make their own post stand out more. They need a somewhat high threshold for it. Moreover, it seems like it would not be consistent with their business model to start making decisions about who is selling their stuff and who is selling stuff that they bought to sell.

jim

bigwoo

I agree with you Jim,

This lady, an employee from CA, says that they are seeing way too many sellers violating the rules of CL....Apparently, some people are complaining that the spirit of CL is lost on flippers and they are requesting some new "auto flag" button HTML which allows you to instantly delete posts from "known flippers" and would also enable CL servers to "ghost" your post based on the IP address, something that they are considering doing more of.
I'm kind of worried that big changes are coming to CL.....But I guess that it was only a matter of time.

I asked what the "limit" is for selling bikes per week, and she said that what I asked was the whole problem.... "You are not supposed to be selling bikes every week, that is a violation of the rules.."

She said that "too many people are running a home business and are not listing it under the SERVICES category, which is a violation.... They must be listed under SERVICES...." And then she got kind of huffy

She just about blew a gasket when I told her that CL has been a valuable selling tool for me for years....