fender1

+1. Hobby's are not profit centers.

David Newton

Pardon me, I was expecting a Huffy that has been upgraded to Campy NR.

seypat

Way back in the day, if you purchased a greens fee or a movie ticket, you could play or watch the movie over and over all day long. I really miss those days. One long, hot summer day in my youth I played 72 holes continuously. (The last 27 was with a cart)

RaleighSport

I can't even imagine that! That'd be amazing in my book... but I suspect I'm quite a bit younger than you.

Wildwood 

Given the value of "just enjoying time on the bike" - I'm waay ahead on all of my purchases.
My life has been hugely benefitted by the bike; I'd be upside down without it.

Wildwood 

Given the value of "just enjoying time on the bike" - I'm waay ahead on all of my purchases.
My life has been hugely benefitted by the bike; I'd be upside down without it.

Barrettscv 

I built a 1986ish 400 with a 10-speed 12-25 cassette and a 46 & 38 crankset that I had on hand. It was a great all-around bike. The bike was purchased for $175 in good original condition. By the time I installed all the needed parts and accessories, I had double the sale value invested. I rode the bike for thousands of miles.

JamesRL

I am in too deep in my project bike and spent too much time chasing parts. But I will get what I want.

And I started with a free frame. I bought a group for $150, a wheelset for $150 and a donor bike(damaged frame) for $100. I will have parts left over that I can sell, but the bike itself won't be worth $400.

Oldpeddaller

Beautiful bike, love the colours and custom head badge.

.......... On the seamier side - where can I get "handle-bra" tape? Oh, maybe that's a typo?

KonAaron Snake 

No - it wasn't a typo.

HandleBra : Exemplary Leather Bicycle Handlebar Wrap : "Wait ' till you put your hands on this!" TM

He makes leather custom tape - a lot nicer than the Brooks stuff (though thinner).

Thanks for the kind words! I wanted to use something older/grimier so I wouldn't feel bad about repainting, but she really liked this bike and it fit well.

cycle_maven

I think I have about $650 into this thing. I really wanted a Raleigh Portage, so I bought this attempt at a faux-Portage frame (actually a 1983 Raleigh Touring 18 with the canti mounts moved to fit 650B wheels). Powdercoat, racks, brooks saddle, new wheels and tires, cables, cassette, chain, handlebars, bar-end shifters, etc. Adds up fast. It rides like a dream. But it's maybe one size too small and I'll never get $650 out of it.

jeirvine 

You can build a bike fast/cheap/nice: pick two. I have generally been patient on obtaining parts, and so all my keepers are probably worth more than I have in them. Some have been very looooong projects though, and there were many a flipped bike and sniped auction along the way. For me, cheap and nice is half the fun. Riding 'em is the other half.

Giacomo 1 

Great thread uncle uncle!

I'm a bit weary of the "I got this Colnago Super for $59, including shipping" stories!

Anyway, I think I paid to much for my Miyata, $350, plus shipping, and since I've added brifters and a new cassette, so yeah, I'm underwater with this one. But she is a keeper for me -



Then there is my Fabio Barecci. Bought it as a frame, NOS, Columbus Aelle, with saddle, seat stem, and handlebars only and got it for a good price at $155. Then I went and built it up with modern Campy, and yikes, I'm deep in the hole now! But this bike is really unique and it's my go-to ride for longer rides. Get's a lot of attention on those charity and group rides, so I'm happy enough with her to keep her -



Now I figure if I keep these bikes for another 75 years or so, they might be worth what I paid for them!

The Golden Boy 

Even if I sold my bikes for what I thought they were worth, I'd lose a ton of money.

southpawboston

Hard to know if I'm upside-down on any of my bikes, and hard to evaluate what upside down really means out of the context of purchase loans, like for a house. I mean, most things we purchase put us upside-down because they lose value once they are used. This applies to bikes, in general, just as it does to cars or toasters. You're not really investing when you buy a bike; You're spending on an appliance that will depreciate and rarely be worth the sum of what you put into it. The exceptions are when you buy a known collectible bike, or a bike that you were lucky enough to get really cheap and turn into something truly nice, more than the sum of its parts. That's rare.

Did I spend a lot for my Jack Taylor and Mercian? When I think of what I paid for my Mercian relative to a high-end new bike, it was a relative bargain. Compared to typical mid-range Craigslist bike? A lot. But as long as it remains collectible and in good condition, I'll likely be able to recoup my investment. So I'm probably right-side-up there. The JT is less clear. I spent more on that than I did on the Mercian, but then JTs currently fetch more than Mercians of similar vintage. If I can assume that JTs will only increase in value over time, I'll recoup my investment in it.

As for my commuters and other bikes, yeah I'm upside down but who cares?

michael k

It all started with a $30 purchase...




+/x10 Wheels~tires
+/x10 Fenders~chainguard~Brakes~saddle

Salubrious

I found an old school (60's) Bianchi that had a Campy Valentino on it, with a matching front Campy deraillier. I thought it might be something cool so I picked it up. No Columbus or Reynolds decals though so it might be a gas pipe frame. It was equipped with Mavic rims, double butted spokes, Bianchi hubs. I ran across a set of Campy hubs for $40 at a swap meet. They were in nice condition so I took the wheels apart and installed the Campy hubs. Also found a set of Campy quill pedals so they went on there too. I lent the bike to a friend of mine who was a bit of a torque monster, he broke the BB axle clean in two. The crank was a cottered Nervar Sport, I ran across a Nervar Star cheap so I set it up with that.

The bike rides wonderfully. I probably have about $800 into it, not to mention the time spent on the wheels; never see that again. I bet its only worth $250. I gave it to my girlfriend but she's hating on the quill pedals and the saddle and the brakes and the handlebars...

It is a nice ride though and I can raise the seat to fit me so I will probably have to ride it some more. Worse things could happen....

michael k

D1andonlyDman

If it's any consolation, bikes are nowhere near as bad money pits as boats are.

oddjob2

+10 Especially racing yachts.

+100 Extra especially for carbon fiber racing yachts.

bikemig 

This is such a great thread. I'm not terribly upside down yet on my vintage mtb drop bar conversion bike but I'm working on it as I'm turning into this into my touring bike! I picked up a 1988 stumpjumper comp for no particularly good reason other than that it was very reasonably priced on craigslist. So far I've installed a nitto technomic stem and randonneur bars; new wheels (pretty inexpensive ones with sun rhynolite rims and deore hubs); pretty expensive tires (schwalbe marathon supreme touring), shimano 8 speed bar end shifters, new chain and 8 speed cassette, and new brake levers. I've kept the old derailleurs and crankset but I had to replace the bottom bracket and have the threads chased out. I'm easily $500 into the build and I'm not done yet. I know I'm going to build different wheels and go with a different rear derailleur as the existing deore xt is a bit beat up. I love the bike though and think it will make a really great touring bike:

gaucho777 

I bought my Speedwell Ti for about $260 (negotiated in a package deal with an ultrasonic cleaner). Even though it was in very rough condition, I still felt it was a bargain considering some of the rare components that were on the bike, such as the Weyless pedals and the alloy-railed Ideale saddle. Then I spent months cleaning, polishing, and accumulating parts. When I finally started building up the bike, I found a previously unnoticed (and undisclosed) crack near the seat binder bolt. At that point, I was not willing to abandon my plans, so I sent the frame to Frank the Welder for an expensive repair. The repair alone cost several times what I paid for the bike. The repair also required me to replace the original 27.2mm Birmalux seat pillar with a 26.0mm one. I'm not sure if I was lucky, or not, but I found a 26.0mm Birmalux seat pillar "on sale"…at pb*bikes. Along the way, I also splurged on a 3ttt adjustable stem and superleggera bars, NOS Dura Ace hoods, 1st gen Dura Ace cranks, Challenge Parigi-Roubaix tubulars, NOS red bullseye pulleys, Robergel Trois Etoiles spokes for rebuilding the wheels, new clips & straps, decals, chromed T.A. bottle cage. The bike came with a spare front wheel with a Hi-E hub; so, I had to buy a rear Hi-E hub to make a pair and will eventually build up a back-up super lightweight set of wheels. I also bought an O.M.A.S. Ti bottom bracket that I've get around to installing at some point. Almost forgot the pedals. They were deeply scarred and misshapen, so I reshaped, filed, polished and then had the cages anodized black again (an expensive thing to do for two small pieces). Yeah, I'm definitely upside down on my Speedwell, but I don't mind.

Before Score



Money Pit After

dweenk

It's just amazing. Goes to show once again that it'll buff right out.

The Golden Boy 

I'll just quote myself for no good reason...

My 1986 Trek 400 Elance was the first bike I chased after. I specifically looked for this bike. Over the past few years I've been fortunate enough to find some really nice bikes- perhaps further up the food chain from the 400 Elance- but I still love this bike- it's my most beautiful bike. Right now it's outfitted with the Belleri bars that were on my Trek 620, along with Tricolor brakes and levers, Suntour Command Shifters and, XC Pro derailleurs.

I was trying to get a Superbe Pro RD working on this cluster, but it wasn't quite going- I love the look of the Superbe Pro stuff, and the juxtaposition of the top of the line road group on a nearly entry level bike is kinda cool. IMO- with this bike it's not lipstick on a pig.

Oldpeddaller

Thanks for the link Aaron, that looks like really good tape - as you say, finer than Brooks with smoother edges and with a good range of colours. I'll be considering getting some of that for a couple of my bikes when I change the current wrap. Quite pricey but given the apparent quality, I imagine good value for the money spent.