Originally Posted by
hyhuu
Maybe it's because generally bikes don't age the same way wines or cars do. That is their values don't increase over times just because it's limited production.
That's just the market, though, and is a chicken-and-egg thing, meaning, would bikes have more value if we knew one was a first edition, or 1 of 50, or made on a specific date and by whom?
My primary concern is not residual value, however, just the ability to indulge the "collector impulse" in the bike world. If the collector market develops, prices will go where they may, and has been noted upthread, that may be nowhere.
Relatedly, I represent a young, premium corkscrew producer, Code 38 (
www.code38.com), which are arguably the finest corkscrews made. Jeff started out producing these in his shop, assembling them just as quickly as he could by hand. As his product spread, he began to hear that his clients wanted to know how many had been made, and where theirs fell in the model development. This has lead to serialization of the corkscrew, because the collector market-- the type of people who'd spend $200-$400 on a corkscrew-- was interested and involved in the product at such a level.
If it happens in watches, art, wine, and even corkscrews, I'm really puzzled as to why it's largely absent in the bike world.