Originally Posted by Daveyates

Well here is my take on the C&V scene here.
I think most people don't put any value on old bikes and that is why they can normally be found cheap compared to prices outside of France.
It is very common to see people riding new bikes and mostly high end bikes. At the weekend you can see many peletons riding their 2000 euro carbon bikes and the off rode guys riding their 1500 euro mountain bikes.
You also get the guys who ride fixed gear bikes and are willing to spend a lot of money in that area. Some of these guys have an interest in older bikes but generally don't understand the value of certain bikes or pieces.
Generally the vintage crowd here try to keep the prices down with each other. If you were to post a bike for sale on a French forum and the members deemed the price too high then you may get jumped on from all angles lol.
So on many forums the prices for bikes for sale are regulated by other members. This can make some forums seem very unwelcoming to new members. Some French guys can be a little over enthusiastic about their hobby ;-)
You then get other enthusiasts here who know the value outside of France and are willing to pay good money for bikes.

You can get some good bikes very cheaply on French Ebay or the Leboncoin website but for the high end stuff it's more difficult. Because as soon as a high end bike comes on for sale the seller can get inundated with many offers above his selling price.
So in a nutshell many people advertise old bikes very cheaply because to them they are worthless. If the advert is written very vaguely and the photos are very bad then you get people like me that can spot certain bikes or pieces from a mile away and can get a good bike that most other people have missed. I'm sure there are many people on this forum that can do the same. Once you start looking for certain things after a while you can notice them.
So i would say if you know what you are looking for and you are very lucky then yes you can get very good bargains here.