advice on value of a tandem
 

I am hoping for some advice on how much I should ask for a tandem I would like to sell. It is about 15 years old but looks new. Maroon in color, Suntour components, 21 gears, road/touring bike. It was made by Nashbar and is called the RT1000. I can't find any others on-line. Does anyone have one? Know how to price something like this? Thanks in advance for your ideas.

I would say go over the components thoroughly, and the frame. Look at what's available new and make your best guess at what is comparable. First question down the decision tree is whether there is an eccentric. Next is the quality of the frame. Consider the material and how clean the welds are. And the weight. From looking at the grade of the components, including the obvious ones like the drive train and the less obvious ones like the wheels, headset, bottom brackets, you have some chance at finding something built to a similar standard. Once you have made your best guess at that, discount it some for the fact that Nashbar is not a known brand for tandems. And then go to Mark Livingood's site to pick up the tandem pricing spreadsheet, which will tell you how much to depreciate that for the 15 years of age.

When Nashbar sold tandems they were around $900 new.
Have seen 2 of them . . . have never ridden one.
Try for $400 but be prepared to go lower.
Just our input.
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Nashbar 1000T? http://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/B...000T&Type=bike

I think you need to price it based on your objectives....

If you're just trying to clear it out of the house so that someone else can enjoy it, just figure out the least you'd be willing to take without feeling like you gave it away.

If you're looking to get as much $$ out of it as you can, price it somewhere between Zero and what you paid for it... and just hope one of the folks that P.T. Barnum spoke of comes along and offers you full price.

Somewhere in between that is where it should be priced. The reason I'm being so wishy-washy is because it really is going to be hard to peg it to fair market because prices for these things are all over the map.

• Someone at BF bought one a couple years ago BF for $250: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=381983
• If you check Craigslist using a network wide search, there are Nashbar tandems out there for $450, $650 and higher... although the year, model and features vary a bit.
• If you assume a replacement value of $1,500, which is probably high, you get a range of $370 to $433; using a value of $1,000 which is probably closer to reality you get a range of $247 to $289.

Actually, he looked at it and decided not to buy it, due to the condition.

*I* think I would have been willing to pay $400-500 for a drop-bar + bar-ends tandem with decent components, like this Nashbar, before I found my Cannondale.