mazdaspeed

1989 prelude in my size. Told my friend to pick it up so we can flip it. I told him to buy it as long as it was in clean shape, so he did for the $140. I go to pick it up after work, and it turns out that it's in terrible shape! LOL. Surface rust inside the tubes, paint is shot, freewheel has rust and barely spins, rear rim is misaligned where it meets so there is a half mm edge that catches on the brake pad. It has a full edge group that's in ok shape.

I can keep it if I pay him back, and Powder coat the frame and fix it up, or attempt to flip it, which will take a lot of labor and not make much profit.

I used to have a super sport with the same frame and loved the ride, but I have two solid vintage bikes and wanted to buy a modern bike for racing next year. I could build this up with 10 speed and brifters, but it wouldn't be especially economical to do so unless I wanted to make a point about competing on a vintage frame.

Thoughts?

wrk101

Not many attractive options. I would treat the rust, clean it up really well, and attempt to get out in one piece. If you repaint it, you will be way upside down on it.

Around here, $140 for a Prelude to flip is too high. Won't pass the $100 margin after parts test.

I rarely pay $140 for a bike to flip. When I do, it is either a brifter bike or something really special.

mazdaspeed

I can have it powder coated for like 50 bucks, and I do want the frame. That's the only thing making this hard. All in all it might be cheaper to upgrade this than to buy a modern racing bike.

On the other hand it might be a waste of money.

mazdaspeed

If all it needed was tires and cables I could have made good money

mazdaspeed

So do you guys think the rim can be fixed?

auchencrow

If there is a .020" step where the rim was joined it was either a manufacturing defect or damaged in some way. More than likely the latter, so I would not trust it.
I don't think you are going to make any money on this flip. Sell what you can and cut your losses.

mazdaspeed

Don't think I should n+1 it? I realize I won't be able to profit from it at this point so i'm leaning towards making it my next project.

auchencrow

A Prelude is a worthy project. You may (will) go upside down on the repaint but the bike is inherently a wonderful ride and if you get satisfaction in bringing a bike back to life, it will reward you.

mazdaspeed

Now my friend says if I pay him for it he will have it powder coated.

wrk101

+1 Rim is toast. On keeping it, it is all about fit and what other bikes you have in your fleet. Myself, I have enough bikes in the fleet already. So when I want to keep another bike, I just push one out of the fleet.

Realize once you powder coat it, the value of the bike goes down. Bike is only original once. It would have to be pretty rough for me to consider powder coating. And then, personally, I would not be interested in keeping it. I only want to keep vintage bikes that have all the original frame details: paint, decals, headbadge, etc. I don't mind upgraded components that make the bike more ride-able. But the frame needs to be really sweet.

I would clean it up, get my money back out of it, and keep hunting.

rumrunn6

leave it on a street corner