"Used" Bicycle Depreciation (?)
 

I'm trying to sell my road bike (no longer fits my needs), but having a hard time appraising how much I should ask for it. I have checked Craigslist and eBay sales, as usual, but not found a similar bike to compare to. So I'm curious if there's a good model to use for depreciation.

I have a hard time considering the bike "used." It's a 2009 Bianchi Vigorelli, 55 CM (common size), and has barely 250 miles on it. It also has quite a few upgrades, which I would say increase the stock value of the bike by about $600. So if you were to buy the bike new (the 2010 Vigorelli is practically the same), it would probably be around $2300-2400.

Do I just need to expect to take a huge loss on the bike?

Thanks in advance for any help!

It's worth whatever you can get for it - try selling high on CL or the Bay, and see where it goes.......

Upgrading bikes is like upgrading cars... you seldom if ever get near the amount of $ put into "upgrades" when you resell.

At a certain point when you're running with a good component set, it's actually cost beneficial to swap the parts over to a new frame and sell your old frame if feasible. Beyond that, it's like any other sports equipment, it has hella depreciation.

Rule of thumb is similar to a car. Solid 20-30% depreciation rolling it out of the LBS... to about 1/2 of original value at the 5yo point. Upgrades mean little...

If you still have the old pre-upgrade parts, you could put them back on, and sell the upgrade parts separately. You'll probably end up making more that way. Or make even more money by selling the bike part-by-part. If you have the time, and if that doesn't seem like a cruel way to treat your bike.