brianinc-ville

Gorgeous bike, but something about the presentation looks fishy to me...for $27,000, you'd think they could take some better pictures. No, wait, eBay wants to give me a $15 coupon, so's it'd only be $26,985. What a deal!

[Seriously, if the bike is what the ad says it is, what do you think a reasonable offer would be? I have no idea.]

1939 Raleigh Gents Superbe Safety Tourist | eBay

Scooper

I thought that bike looked familiar.

Two years ago they were asking the same price.

zukahn1 

Well I have my doubt's about the legitamcey of this bike but even if %100 legit and nos it is still a basic mid level Raliegh commuter town bike. The seller needs to come down at least a full digit on price.

3alarmer 

.... $26,999 ?

rhm

Well, obviously Zukahn meant "an order of magnitude" but even $2700 is a lot of money for a roadster.

To my mind, the questions to be asked are: who would ever want such a thing, and why? And, with this in mind, what would they be willing to pay?
The only answer I can think of would be, a movie set designer who needed a brand-new bicycle for a film set in 1939; and I can imagine such a person would have pretty deep pockets. But (s)he'd be perfectly happy with a reproduction or restored bike, which (I imagine) could be had for much less than $27000.

I have no doubt a 1939 bike in this kind of condition is a great rarity. But when it comes right down to it, no one cares.

markk900

Besides - who among us could resist taking it for a ride....then it immediately becomes worth about $270 (probably more, but not 2 orders of magnitude more).

auchencrow

Yup. That's exactly the reason I haven't bought it.

rootboy 

He's had two offers. Did you offer him $270, Auchen ?

miamijim

And there it is.... Until some body cares it has no value. I think its worth well north of $10K....

Bandera

The seller is casually posing his NOS Tourist, suitable for a rural parson to pedal about the village on his way to tea at Miss Marple's, by leaning it on the missing Queen Anne chair from John Churchill the 1st Duke of Marlborough's sitting room at Blenheim. Since the chair would fetch at least $450,000 at auction and is considered a National Treasure the seller should consider using the kickstand to pose his fabulous DL- 1.

-Bandera

NormanF

I think its worth $3000 in mint condition... I mean its not unreasonable considering people today think nothing of dropping $5000 on a carbon fiber road bike.

But $27000 - no one will buy it because its just too much even for a very wealthy antique collector.

crank_addict

Anyhow, the one posted above seems to have been on fleabay for a longtime. The seller has one very unique Raleigh and I think he's right on with the price. Someone's going to come along and pay or near his price.

A wealthy antique buyer probably is not his kind but will be the type of buyer who won't care about the price. I've seen some stupid money people have spent for cars ($125k for a cheese holed 1959 Porsche 356 coupe 4 cam, car fully dismantled and half the engine parts gone) ($190k for a complete rotted out, but original '66 Shelby GT350.... its really just a Ford Falcon with a 289 folks), endless of absurd priced motorcycles, to handbags ($10k), a used designer sweaters... yes a sweater for $8,000..... wrist watch's - stratospheric and makes car collecting look cheap.... stuff I can't comprehend. They just want it.

I'm just glad I don't have that problem and ride with a smile my forty dollar '1967 DL-1.

BTW: Seller has a link to photo albums and guessing some of his other very choice and beautiful bikes.
https://s47.photobucket.com/user/supe...?sort=6&page=1

loubapache

Just sold 300 shares of Alibaba for $88.88 per share. Once it settles, this bike is mine.

3alarmer 

.
...obvious what's going on here. He has many bikes, wife wants room in the garage to park her car, and he keeps telling her, "I'm trying to sell one, dear."

mikeybikes

At least the shipping is free

holden west

A world class museum like the Royal BC Museum would love one for their modern history exhibit but they would balk at the price. Times are tough and a curator could cobble together something almost identical for a fraction of the price as it doesn't have to be ridable, just good enough for a display case.

I know it's not the same but a local auction house recently sold a 1940s "Flying Ace" bicycle in almost mint condition, including its 1951 license plate. It appeared not to have been ridden since that time. Fenders, lights, leather tool bag under the saddle etc., all original, including tires. It sold for $460. The auction estimate was $400-$600).

markk900

IMO, though the bike is indeed pretty unique in its current condition, the only way I can comprehend it being "right on" in its price is in the sense of "a fool and his money are soon parted". Yes he might get that (though its a long fishing expedition, and so far has turned up nothing).

Agree - the most likely buyer in my opinion is the obscenely wealthy individual who will spend the money solely because he/she wants to be able to show off the bike worth $27K (defined by the fact he paid that much) to his/her friends. Which is sad because a) the bike disappears from the public, and b) it drives up the realistic prices for the rest of us

Amen!

David Newton

$27,000 and it will still clank, rattle, and grind when your supermodel girlfriend rides it across the ballroom floor.

CbadRider

Moved to Appraisals.