vintagerando

Well, I picked up what I thought was a good deal. Maybe it is.
My intentions were open when I bought this bike: flip or maybe keep.
The frame is in fairly good condition. All the parts original. Mafac brakes, nice Maillard pedal with Christophe clips. Rigida Chromux wheels. Cables and housing replaced recently.
Replacement Vetta seat. Well, as it often happens, you get a bike home, and well, it has more problems than you observed when you first bought it. I got the bike for $15. I bought tires and tubes; $50. The big issues: the front deraileur body is busted and this is a broken spoke on one wheel. Fixing the wheel (LBS) and buying a new front deraileur to going to cost.
Is this bike puttting another $50-75? After getting it home, I dont like the quality of this particular model, so I think I should sell it.
So, my questions are: is there a market for parts from a lower end model like this? Would there be any return on moving forward and continuing the restore and sell it?
Please share your thoughts. Thanks,

mparker326

Just figure out what spoke length you need and buy one from a LBS for $1 and fix it yourself. Get yourself a parts bin front derailleur and put it on. Get everything working and figure out if you like it. If not, sell & recoup your costs.

zukahn1 

+1 I would go ahead and finish the bike sense you have done this much but not spend significantly more money on it. As a working bike you should be a able to recoup your money as rider or by selling. Sense the parts aren't very valuable your not going to get much out of the bike in none running condition.

RoadGuy

That's the problem with trying to flip inexpensive bikes. There is no room in the price to sell at a profit after you pour a boatload of money into it (paying somebody else to fix it and slapping on new parts).

You need to stop the bleeding. Look for inexpensive original type used parts on CraigsList, at the local Coop, in the LBS bargain bin, or on eBay. Don't buy new, modern parts for the bike, they will not increase the value of the bike over the value of the bike if you find some nice used original type parts. In fact new modern parts may actually hurt the selling value of the bike.

Learn to fix it yourself. The profit in a flip bike comes when you buy right, and fix it yourself adding inexpensive parts from your parts stash. If you are going to pay someone else to fix a flip bike, you might as well let them bike the bike instead of you, and they can take the final risk, not you, because you will not make a profit.

At this point resign yourself to riding the bike or breaking even when you sell it. You won't make a profit by the time you buy the parts you still need. There is a limit to what you can ask for this particular bike, if you expect to sell it this year ($150-$175, after completing fixup, if you are lucky and you are willing to wait).

vintagerando

I think where I went wrong was not knowing the model well enough, or not being able to indentify it. What I saw was vintage Peogeut, complete, lugged,,,nice paint....
I missed looking closely at the lack of quality in the components.

RoadGuy

U08s are fine riders. They are still popular, just aren't worth that much. You need to relaize that UO8 sold for less than $150, and the waiting list for them was weeks or months for a new one back in the 1970s.

If it was mine, I'd buy replace the broken spoke and true the wheel myself. then ride the bike while I shop CraigsList and eBay for an inexpensive front derailleur. I'd probably go to a Shimano, because they are prooven and more reliable than the original plastic Simplex and I am not interested in trying to make the bike into a Collector, I want it functional as a Rider. You should be able to find a working used front derailleur for $10, or a new one for $15.

wrk101

Flips are best suited for someone with the time/tools/aptitude/space to do ALL the refresh work themselves. There really isn't room to pay bike shop prices for parts and service. Nothing wrong with shops, it just eliminates the margin when the objective is to make $$.

You can even lose money on a free bike, if you don't manage rebuild costs and do all the labor yourself.


People without the time/tools/interest tend to take the DKO (dirt knocker off'r) route. Clean the bike up, put air in the tires, and sell as a project for say $65. Someone else with the time/tools/aptitude will take it from there.

Last UO8 I bought (it was part of a package of bikes, otherwise I would not have bought it), it had upgraded Suntour derailleur set, and I sold the Simplex flat bladed skewers mentioned below (which paid for the bike). I then donated the rest to the co-op.

You have to be a in a super hot market to be able to make money flipping a UO8.

Over time, if you continue with this hobby, you will be able to make quick, accurate decisions about the flip potential of a bike, in say, 10 to 15 seconds. To flip a neglected bike, the price needs to be really low, and it needs to be something decent. Otherwise, the cost to refresh, even when you do the work yourself, will exceed the selling price of the finished product.

Sometimes I will still pick up these kinds of bikes to donate to the co-op.

Bianchigirll 

I don't know how much you paid for that but if you can still return the tires and tubes you may be able to sell the brakes and shifters to offset the cost of the bike and just drop the whole thing.

LesE

Looking at the picture of the wheels, it appears that you have the older style Simplex skewers with straight open cam levers. These generally sell well on eBay especially if the plastic wing nuts are present and intact.

big chainring 

That bike has a lot going for it. I wish I could find them in that nice of condition for that kind and some of price.

But to make that bike work and to flip it takes some mechanical ability and some Internet searching to get good prices on tires, and parts.

As for quality of a UO-8, they are very nice bikes. I rode one for a summer, fixed it up with some $20 bike swap alloy wheels and some wider handle bars. I probably had $200 invested in it and sold it for $250.

Learn on this one, then get another and another...