Hatchet

Saw this posted today - is it worth the asking price?

https://buffalo.craigslist.org/bik/d...535907087.html

Narhay

No, maybe half that.

It has quality components from what I can see but not $600.

machinist42

No.

Clang

Worth maybe a third of what they're asking. It's nice and clean, but Takara is a generic marque no one will pay a premium for. It also has aging, split brake hoods, and pedals aren't included.

When the price is off by that much, I don't think it's worth contacting the seller to try talking them down.

SkyDog75

No.

In Western New York, better deals can be found for half the asking price of this bike. It's an inexpensive market for used bikes.

Aubergine 

Not even close. 200 max.

Kontact

That's a $200 bike that should sell for $150. Maybe more if it is truly in fantastic condition, but there just isn't demand for this kind of thing.

wrk101

I've got that same bike in my queue right now. Wish it was worth anything close to that figure.

There are really very few Japanese bikes from that era that are worth that price, this is not one of them.

StarBiker

Up state goofball!

Don Buska 

Deduct another $100 off the lowest price given due to the seller inability to provide more than one picture and taken from the wrong side of the bike at that...

cb400bill

Champion 2 is a nice butted frame. But the brand has little cache. I wonder which level of SunTour is on there.

As is, $150 in my area. May be able to get $200 or a bit more if the bike were totally over hauled and those torn hoods were replaced.

Kontact

This appears to be a fairly upscale Takara, it just isn't the kind of bike that really gets anyone fired up at the moment.

oddjob2

A bike brand without heritage is a vintage bike without much value. Lotus is obscure enough, thankfully a bf member has developed a website about them, but Takara would have to be near the bottom of makes that are searched on craigslist or google.

StarBiker

And Lotus made some really nice bikes. Unless somebody was around at the right time I guess they wouldn't remember them. I remember them better than any Trek. Nobody around here sold Trek, but they sold Lotus. About 1982. I can't remember Trek being anything until the very late 80's.

Chombi1 

It might have been Takara's top of the line bike, but the brand was known for being a mid to lower market maker in the 80's, so prices for such bikes will be less than most other well known Japanese brands like Fuji, for example. If this bike have at least a full DB CrMo frame on It (which it could, being their top of the line bike), it could have significant enough value, maybe just below $300 in a hot market if the bike is close to mint condition. It should be a well finished and nice riding bike, it's just the brand name thst is mostly keeping its value down.....

oddjob2

A similar obscure brand is Shogun. I bought a Shogun 1000 for $75, hoarded the Shimano Arabesque kit, and resold the frame for $125.

ramzilla

If it's got a Champion Tange 2 frame it could be worth as much as $200. But, you could do much better than that for $600. Keep an eye out for a mid - 80's Paramount PDG or something similar.

San Rensho 

In spanish, "esta cara" (that means it's expensive) is pronounced in Caribbean spanish, Cuban, Puertoriquen, Dominican Republic Spanish, as 'takara'.

I think it is.

bikemig 

T-Mar

This is really hard to get excited about. While it does have a Tange #2 tubing decal and appears to be early 1980s, the rest of the signs are not good. The rims appear to be 27" as opposed to 700C, it has a spoke protector, the stem is very short, the hoods are splitting and there are no pedals. The brakes appears to be the ubiquitous Dia-Compe 500G. I can't positively identify the crankset and brakes but I've seen this model from this era spec'd with Sugino Super Maxy and SunTour ARX. If so, I'd place it lower mid-range and the asking price is about 3X FMV.

non-fixie 

Street cred is a bit of an issue ...

xiaoman1 

+1