big_heineken

I have had the 1989 Trek 330 listed on craigslist for a few weeks with almost no interest. I don't think the price is unreasonable.

What am I doing wrong? Is it just too hot in Houston to ride, or what?

https://houston.craigslist.org/bik/3888475553.html

oddjob2

If you've done any work to it, describe it in detail along with any new parts. I use the term "reconditioned" because 95% of the bikes I sell have been cleaned, polished, new grease, new consumables, etc.

Also, list the components and ideal rider's height, in this case, 5'9" to about 6'1"

Also, if it's charcoal metallic rather than black, I'd reshoot the photos to bring the nice paint out.

Finally, you're in the burbs. People want new in the Woodlands, but vintage is cool inside the loop. Maybe you need to offer delivery too near campus?

PatTheSlat 

What jumps out to me is you need to polish/wax the paint, tilt the bars down slightly, post drivetrain pictures, your pictures are slightly out of focus, and you could do with a slightly more detailed description.

E: 2nding what oddjob said about listing ideal rider height, I've actually had a few people tell me they bought my bikes solely because I do that in my ads. I'd also suggest a slightly longer posting title, people may not notice an ad with a short title like yours. Something like "Nice TREK 330 Road Bike, 60cm, Ready to Ride" is what I would go with. Trek in all caps because it's known by just about everyone as a quality brand and it'll catch people's attention.

Bianchigirll 

I just looks HUGE! I agree a little spitshine will make it look better and although I am sure you don't want to hear this a pair of tan wall tires might make it look nicer.

wrk101

+1 Problem is size. Big bikes just don't sell. Its really a 62cm, c to t is how Trek measures it.

Bike could use some contrast to pop. Unless Johnnie Cash comes by (oh yeah, he's dead), its too black. Blue bar tape would have helped, ditto black tires with blue stripe or gumwalls. I always use contrasting tape and cable housing. It really helps!

+1 I always list approximate height bike will fit. Most shoppers are clueless.

abdon

You are getting as much interest as the amount of effort you are putting on your ad.

To me the 'ready to ride' is as good as the 'almost new', and by that I mean it has been rendered meaningless. On many things there 'almost new' you can see the rust on the pictures and dread to see what it would look like in person.

They don't charge for words, so I would expect a seller that knows what they are talking about to say why this is ready to ride, else I would assume is a clueless person who turned the wheels and didn't even bother to check the brakes nor shifting.

You don't even have to do any actual work on the bike. In two minutes you can determine the following:

"Rims are [perfect/good/need a slight alignment/out of round], tires have [plenty/good/a little] thread, rubber is [solid/dry rotted], hubs [spin smooth as a baby's butt/spin good/grainy], spokes clean up [nice and shinny/spotty]... So on so forth, work your way up the drive train, frame, and everything else.

tmh657

^This. I had a 1982 Trek 412 24", (60cm) on CL. Fantastic condition. Upgraded to 2x9 speed with 105 hubs, Open pro rims, bar end shifters @ $275. In 1 month I had 1 e-mail. I had to downgrade it to lesser wheels, 7 speed and down tube shifters to sell it at $220 in SoCal.

With your location you may have to do some of the things others have mentioned AND lower the price. I would not put any money into it. Just some elbow grease.

PatTheSlat 

To add a bit of conflicting info here, I absolutely have not experienced the "big bikes are hard to sell" phenomenon that gets mentioned here so often. Even the 68.5cm Raleigh I had sold fairly quickly. Maybe my area (Central Ohio) just has a lot of tall people?

oddjob2

Same in Michigan.

tmh657

^Must be a regional thing. There are plenty of tall people in my market. They just don't seem to buy 60-62cm road bikes with drop bars and down tube shifters unless it's really inexpensive.

Now give me a 48cm framed bike and it will sell very quickly at a premium price. YMMV.

rekmeyata

Price is unreasonable, the bike was the lowest end bike Trek made in the day, and is probably worth maybe $150, it could be worth $250 if it all the original components on it and it was in like new condition, since you don't say that one can assume it's in average condition or less and some of the parts may have been replaced thus $250 is too high. Having said that, you could lower the price to $225 and then put OBO after it and see what the highest price you'll get for it. I know that personally I wouldn't even buy it.

PatTheSlat 

I disagree with this, I think the price is right on, it's just the presentation that's a bit lacking. A couple of months ago, I listed a slightly newer Trek 370 for 250 and it was sold within an hour.

wrk101

+1 Price is fine. Back at that time, bottom of the line Trek road bike = middle of the line for many of their competitors.

rekmeyata

That's fine to disagree, it was just an opinion, I would personally never pay that much for such a low end bike, there are people out there who just don't know their bikes and will pay that for a low quality bike LBS type of bike. Just because someone sold one for that price doesn't mean a person with common sense and intelligence bought it! Having said that, you were smart enough to sell it for that price.

PatTheSlat 

Double butted True Temper chromoly and Exage components does not equal a low end bike. As oddjob said, a bottom of the line vintage trek is still a mid-level bike.

oddjob2

In reading many posts in C + V appraisals, what's the personal satisfaction of putting down the vast majority of bikes people inquire about? Obviously there is a spread between what the regular insiders pay and what the market will bear. Also, there seem to be skads of lucky first time buyers too.

A few of the BF members know I get pretty robust prices from my reconditioned bike sales, models that Rekmeyata considers low end. The vast majority of my customers pay 90-100 percent of my asking prices for reconditioned mixtes, road bikes, and MTBs, including such common bikes as U0-8s, Raleigh GPs, Fuji 10 speeds, Shoguns, Bianchi hybrids, Miyata 310s, Motobecane Mirages, Bridgestones, and many Treks. Ninety percent of these buyers are college grads and probably over 50% of them are obtaining graduate degrees. Several are university professors at schools such as Princeton and Michigan. I would say that these buyers are intelligent and have loads of common sense, that's why they buy a used bike.

oddjob2

I cannot take credit for Thrifty Bill's quote above, I am merely the Oracle, according to BikeMig.

thinktubes 

Agree that the price is OK for a major market. Treks are a well known brand and sought after.

As a side note on brand, I've noticed that junk Peugeots sell well based on their fomer glory.

rekmeyata

And I'm not saying they don't sell well at stupid prices, what I'm saying that in my opinion those bikes are not worth the price. Most people that are buying these bikes have no clue what their buying, they see the words "vintage" and go ape over it thinking their getting a collectable. This sort of crap goes on in the coin collection world too, you get people who don't know a thing about coins but by golly if it was minted in 1898 it's got to be rare, so they buy a semi worn out penny for $12 and it's worth maybe 45 cents. This goes on in all sorts of antique stuff too. There are far more people over paying for a vintage, antique, or classic whatever because someone says it is then those that get lucky and buy one for pennies on the dollar.

And I was buying and riding bikes when those bikes were new, I wouldn't bought one of those new not alone spend more then they sold for new 25 years later! I see a lot of bikes like that, I just shake my head.

wrk101

I think part of the confusion here is the purpose of this section. Is it: "What would you pay for this bike?" or is it: "What would this bike sell for in your market?"

I always answer postings with the latter question in mind. Most of the time, the figures I give are what I have sold the same model of bike for in my market, or as a minimum, a similar model. So its my personal selling experience. Since my market is average, maybe just slightly better than average, I will occasionally adjust up my estimate for a red hot market (SF, NYC, Portland, OR, and a few more).

I've sold several dozen Treks in the past several years, several of them were 330s. Not a single one went to a collector. Maybe its just my market. Buyers here are looking for a road bike. Most could care less that it is vintage. They just don't want to drop $800 to $1000 into a new LBS road bike, so they are seeking alternatives. Trek is a name most recognize and respect. So they sell well, really well.

Some buyers are attracted to steel frame bikes, not as a collectable, but instead for the perceived "better" ride. Maybe a friend told them to get a steel bike, or perhaps they read it somewhere on the web.

Actually, out of 500 bikes sold, none so far has gone to a collector. About a quarter of the buyers were attracted to the style and aesthetics of a vintage bike (looks "cool"). Sold a Motobecane once to a college student, he just wanted a french bike. "Wow, its a french bike!" He could care less of the components, what the frame was made out of, or whatever. The rest were just looking for a road bike at a more attractive price.

dailycommute

Regarding size, looks just like my old steel 60cm treks. Not a bad price really but Houston is not a place one would expect old steel to bring top dollar. I would not put any more $ in it but maybe wipe it down and take a few better pictures. CL is spotty for me on selling bikes but the ones I have sold took about 4+- weeks on average to find a real buyer.