Used Bikes
 

Is there something like Kelly Bluebook for bicycles?

I am looking at a Diamondback wildwood. Not sure of the year.

Sure. Try this link....Let me google that for you

There is a Bicycle Blue Book web site, but the validity of prices on the site is open to debate. It's pretty difficult to give bike pricing without taking locality into consideration because demand and pricing can vary widely from place to place. For example, using NY as an example since it's in your username, a bike that might sell quickly for $250 in NYC could go unsold for months in Utica at half that price.

If you really think, I didn't try google, well, figure it out... I mean you have the answer to everything.

Thank you for this sky.

What SkyDog75 says is extremely true. Not only that, the prices quoted on their webpage seem low no matter what you're looking at. You could consider looking on craigslist for what a similarly equipped bicycle is priced at. But then again, half of those people are crazy and either have no clue about the details of the bicycle shaped object they are selling or they are asking too much for it. If they were asking a fair price or too little, then the bike is sold and the ad is already gone and you won't see it.

What could you have possibly googled and not found that. You could type in "blue book for bicycles" and get the same results. Put some effort into it. Besides, this is the Mechanics section and it is not even a mechanical question.

Hi NYSteve,

In my experience the Bicycle Bluebook is useless. I've had the website bookmarked for years and it has never been helpful. It's prices skew toward the high end and the models included are woefully incomplete.

I haven't purchased a new bike since the late 1960's. All of the bikes my family has purchased since then have been used. By far, the best source for us in recent years has been eBay. But this only works if you do your "due dilligence". This means you must first educate yourself about the bike model(s) and year(s) that you are considering buying or selling. Often, a review of "completed" auctions is a great source for pricing information. And, second, you must educate yourself how to use eBay safely so as to avoid problems.

It often takes patience. I created a "search" for a 58 cm carbon Team Fuji and saved the search. I configured it so it would email me whenever a new eBay ad was posted that fit my search criteria. It took about 6 months to find the bike that I purchased. But the 2008 Team Fuji that I bought is my favorite road bike today. It was well documented with lots of close-up high-rez photos and was sold by a trustworthy seller who made sure that it was professionally boxed for shipment. It took about 5 months to find a 44 cm carbon Specialized Ruby Elite for my wife. She bought a 2008 model, also. In both cases, there were a lot of bikes to chose from but we waited until the "perfect" sale came along.

Before eBay, buying a used bike was very difficult if you have a particular model in mind (especially if it is rare) and the selection that a buyer had access to was often abysmal. But eBay changed all that. It created the biggest used bicycle market in the world. It also created the biggest bicycle parts market in the world and I've bought and sold many vintage and contemporary parts there. Most of my vintage parts purchases were NOS (new old stock) from bike shops clearing their aging inventory.

When doing research on a model, the BikePedia website can sometimes be helpful. It's been reorganized and the home page is awful now (you have to enter a bike into the search box in the upper right and click on the "Go" button before you see its extensive database of bike models which goes back to 1993. No "complete" bicycle database exists, but BikePedia has been helpful more often then not to learn what the original equipment of a bike was and (sometimes) what its retail price was.

Finally, don't forget the bike manufacturer. Some of them keep an online archive of previous models that stretch back for many years. Both Fuji and Specialized do this (although the Specialized archive is tricky to locate). Like BikePedia, the manufacturer's website won't give you prices for used bikes, but it can provide you with information about what equipment was standard when you are shopping. That way you'll be better able to spot when a used bike no longer has "original" equipment.

Kind regards, David

1/2 MSRP is usually a good starting point for bikes that are around 10-15 years old or less. If the bike is very new a slightly higher price might make sense. If it's older or in worse condition, lower.

But that seems to vary by type of bike. For road bikes, yeah, it's probably a decent enough starting point. In my experience, mountain bikes and hybrids tend to fetch less than that, though. Mountain bikes have evolved so much that the old ones aren't as desirable among mountain bike riders, and there just doesn't seem to be a strong secondary market for hybrids.

^These are are my feelings as well. Google, eBay, and CL are much better research sites..

A Diamondback Wildwood is a $100 bike if it doesn't need any work.

And a $40 bike if it does......

Diamond-Goose .. only the name changed owners, now like Schwinn you get them in mass merchant shops ..

If the headset is loose..zero dollars. They strip. While strippers are awesome other places, on bikes not so much.

I agree, KBB for bikes is useless.

If you go to the "Classic & Vintage: What's it worth?" subforum on this site, post pictures and as much info as you have, the people there can probably help you out. Here is a link.

Not really a fair comparison. Diamondback isn't sold in places like Walmart and still sells a lot of rather highend road and mtn bikes. They are sold in places like Performance and Sports Authority. If anything they have really stepped up over the last few years.

eh...sorta. they often occupy the murky area between big box retail and bike shops. Dicks, Sports Authority, Performance, REI, Scheels, etc. Furthermore, they are at actual bike shops(Performance being one, even if its a chain). REI carrys on their site more than any LBS in my area has in stock, but is less stocked in the store. With that said, they are as legitimate a retail shop as any other in my eyes.

DB has a full line of road, fitness, hybrid, mountain, and kids bikes. The costs are all over the spectrum and they are spec'd as well as most comparables but at a lower price point.

The Diamondback brand was pretty decently regarded by kids on BMX bikes in the early '80s -- sort of an affordable but respectable alternative to Hutch, Skyway, PK Ripper, etc. Centurion, the other brand name owned by Western States Imports, occupied a similar niche for road bikes.

As so often happens with brand names, the Diamondback name fell from popularity and was sold (a few times) to companies who valued the name recognition. The various owners of the Diamondback name have put the brand on bikes of varying quality, some of which you might find at mass market retailers. It happens with all sorts of goods. Look around at the clothing brands in big box stores and you're bound to see at least a few names that used to be popular but have fallen from grace.

In recent years, it seems the owners of the Diamondback name are putting it on decent bikes again. I've got a Diamondback Steilacoom CCX, an entry-level cyclocross bike I use for gravel trails. Shimano Sora drivetrain, Easton CF fork... it's not high end, but it's on par with a lot of bikes at my local bike shop. And DB has a number of better CX and road models than mine.

All of this makes the value of used Diamondbacks kind of a tricky thing... If we're discussing a DB on the used market, is it a good one or one of the cheaper ones? Even if it's one of the better Diamondbacks, the bike's value will likely be hurt by name association with cheap bikes, but by how much? And of course, name isn't the only factor when looking at a used bike. Old hybrids and most old rigid mountain bikes don't command high prices anyway, so the "Diamondback discount" could knock some dollars off an already low value. (Good for bargain hunters looking for a cheap ride. Bad for sellers.)

Which is one of the reasons I love my 2011 diamonback sortie 29er that I bought used for a steal :). Even over the last few years since I bought mine they have really expanded their higherend lineup. They have a lot of really nice road, gravel, and mtn bikes now. DB is owned by Accell which also owns Raleigh. Still way better than being owned by Dorel Industries like say Cannondale ;).

I get where you're comin' from. I bought my 2011 Diamondback Steilacoom CCX new but in a damaged shipping carton for about $300 on eBay. My wallet appreciated that I wasn't bidding against people looking for a 'tier 1' name.

If you are paying 1/2 for a 10-15 year old bike, you are paying way too much.
I bought my new Orbea at the end of the season for 1/2 price.

I bought my Giant when it was 6 years old for 17% of (not off) the MSRP.

You're not going to find good prices on 98% of what you see, imo.

It took me 6 months to find a 2013 @ $600 used that was msrp new of $1550. That is just about the only decent deal I have seen.

Although near me now there's a Scott CR1 Pro thats a bit older and is $1000 asking when it was a $3000 msrp bike.

Best thing you can do is find a year or two old $2000-$2500 msrp bike and then when it's priced at $1700 or $1800 offer the buyer $1400-$1500 for it and hope you come out on top with a win. That is basically my next strategy / what I plan on doing if I'm shopping for what the bike that I have now does not have (carbon, ultegra).

:) It seems like a good idea to have strippers involved (for a bachelor party or whatever) much more often than it actually ends up being a good idea.