I am putting together a Nishiki Century (tange 5 I think) to sell next weekend. I pilfered a few parts off of it, all replaceable. Should I build it back up as a 10spd (original) w/ stem shifters or build it as a coaster brake 27" wheeled city bike? There is a bike boom woman's bike that I can have for free that has 27" coaster brake wheels and upright bars. The original dropbars were bent badly and have been scrapped so the upright bars are going on regardless. What do you guys think would be the best way to assemble the bike to get maximum buying audience? I think people from NYC or Philly would be my primary buying audience either way....

Single speeds are worthless IMO, but also to hilly to use one easily. That would probably cut the value way down since it wouldn't be a true fixie. !0 speeds here in Seattle are S160 -$250 for most any 10 speed. A true fixie can be more just depends on what after market parts were used.

I prefer simplicity in a city bike and would rather go with the single speed but I don't think that I'm the norm. A 10spd would probably be more desirable to most people.

this is for the T-Town swap which is an anomalous zone for bike values. What would command top dollar elsewhere can be nearly worthless at the Swap

Personally I think you'll sell it for more as a 10 or 5 speed, but selling it for more and having to put more work and parts into it might cancel out....in which case a coaster setup would be cheap, easy and would probably do ok

Here in Philly, single speeds are where its at, because the main parts of the city are flat. Not sure about NYC. There are always a zillion 10-spds for sale, so yours might stand out more as a ss w/ coaster. Girls especially seem to like coaster brakes.

+1. If your market is hipster dude/lady (but especially lady), go coaster. If your market is more suburban, go 10-speed.