ac34

Hi there- I came across a 1989 Bottecchia "80th Anniversary" bike at a thrift store and bought it on the spot. I didn't exactly walk out with it-- the guy had seen something similar on ebay and priced it accordingly.
Unfortunately the frame is a little to small for me so I'm not going to hang on to it. I'm wondering if anyone can ballpark what it might be worth.

Some info that I have gathered so far:
55cm Bottecchia frame - Columbus Aelle (low end?) tubing
Campagnolo Athena groupset- I'm assuming this is all original and came with the bike.
Cinelli stem and bars
700c Campagnolo "Lambda Strada" wheelset w/ campy hubs

The bike is in pretty good condition. It looks like it has been sitting in someone's garage for about 25 years. It's very straight and no rust. There are some small rust speckles on the fork. All the components seem to be in pretty good shape. For some reason the previous owner put a ridiculously crappy gel seat and pedals on it.

check out some pictures here on Velospace
https://velospace.org/node/41533

Thank you in advanced for any info you can give me on it.

ac34

Also, I am aware that there is info about 1989 Bottecchias elsewhere on these forums, but I couldn't really derive the worth of this bike from them.

Bianchigirll 

Nice looking bike but it needs a little elbow grease to get it in sellable shape. The prices for these are weird this one being a lowerend (not lowend) {it seems odd to me to pair Alle w/ Athena** maybe around $450+ in really clean condition and ready to ride. then again I am assuming selling on ebay and your willing to ship. local maybe $300+ depending where you live. Also if the Synchro works well that will be a big plus.

ac34

I just found an ebay auction for an 89 athena groupset
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...#ht_784wt_1270
It ended at $382 and seems to be pretty close to the condition that this one is in. I think 350-400 for the bike might be a bit low.

beech333

This is not an exact science, it is an estimate. In this case, I agree with BG's value. Sometimes an item goes high, sometimes low. As an average, I would expect that this bike would sell for what BG said. If you get more, great.

ac34

I agree. It really just depends on th buyer. Thanks for your help.

randyjawa 

Determining Vintage Bicycle Value is not an easy thing to do. And comparing what a group set will bring is not a good way to determine what a bicycle, fitted with the same group set, is worth. There are many reasons for this but please believe me it is true. Put another way, a frame set will often times sell for more than a complete bicycle. Honestly. Anyway...

I would definitely offer the bicycle, cleaned up and road worthy, for double what others in this thread have suggested. One thing I have learned over the years is that patience, when selling a vintage road bicycle, is priceless. Well, not priceless, but patience will be rewarded with a better price. Also...

Your marketing skills will play a big part in how much the bicycle is worth. Do a good job, offer the bicycle on Ebay, Craigslist and any other selling vehicle you can think of and then be prepared to wait. And the wait will not be long, considering the time of the year. Much of North America is about to come out of winter, into Spring, and that is when bicycle, be they brand new or vintage, will fetch the best selling price.

You can learn a bit more about Vintage Bicycle Value, if you want to spend a few minutes going through the information offered. There, you will learn a bit about how to go about selling your bicycle and what value you might want to place on it.

Hope that is a help.

ac34

Thanks randyjawa. I took a look at your site, lots of good info. I spent yesterday cleaning it up.. put some new tires and cable housing on it, new grip tape, put on an old brooks on. It looks pretty damn good.. I'm now thinking that I might have a hard time prying it out of my own hands anyway! We'll see after I take it for a spin. Thanks again.