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·Yeah, I wish I'd of gotten rid of it after my injury.
Going to sell this bike but don't know how much to ask....recommendations?
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4,386 Posts
Good luck with things. You shouldn’t have a problem selling it with bikes in such short supply these days.
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·Back when I rode I used my front brake a lot more than the rear and when I was using the rear I was usually locking it up so I figured when I built this bike, I would be fine with the V-brake on the rear but in hindsight, I agree.
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Guest
·Plus, this 1999 frame didn't have the tabs for the caliper.
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146 Posts
Tre-fiddy.
It has no vintage/retro value because it is an oddball build. The main market for this bike is either a new rider who is looking for a cheap bike and doesn't know to look for modern geometry, or someone buying it to part out on ebay. Probably not too many experienced riders dying to snag an older short travel fork/HT bike at a premium price just for the billy-goat experience.
The condition is a mixed bag. The fork stanchions look like they are toast (hard to tell from pics, even zoomed in). Lots of shiny stuff, but it isn't all 25 miles fresh. Sitting for a decade means lots of the rubber/tires/brake pads will need to be replaced even with low miles. Anything with grease will need to be checked to see if the lube has dried up. Chains and hydraulic brakes don't do well sitting for a decade. Experienced bike owners will know this needs a complete teardown and a number of replacement parts to actually make it reliable to ride again.
Both of those types of buyer are motivated by price. Advertising it for more than double pre-covid prices will probably hurt you with both those types of buyers. There are also lots of buyers getting sick of folks who are trying to take advantage of covid pricing with bloated prices.
Naming the build date, but not how old stuff was when it was built could draw negative reactions. Listing a build date with just 25 miles since it was built implies all the parts were new when it was built. It is considered poor etiquette to surprise buyers with older used parts after implying the bike has only 25 miles. I recommend editing your original post to be clear about the age and condition of the parts that weren't brand new when the bike was built. The edit button is under the three vertical dots above the top left of your post. If the fork stanchions are just dirty, clean them and reshoot the photos. Keep in mind that all the free advice everyone posts is worth what you paid for it.
It has no vintage/retro value because it is an oddball build. The main market for this bike is either a new rider who is looking for a cheap bike and doesn't know to look for modern geometry, or someone buying it to part out on ebay. Probably not too many experienced riders dying to snag an older short travel fork/HT bike at a premium price just for the billy-goat experience.
The condition is a mixed bag. The fork stanchions look like they are toast (hard to tell from pics, even zoomed in). Lots of shiny stuff, but it isn't all 25 miles fresh. Sitting for a decade means lots of the rubber/tires/brake pads will need to be replaced even with low miles. Anything with grease will need to be checked to see if the lube has dried up. Chains and hydraulic brakes don't do well sitting for a decade. Experienced bike owners will know this needs a complete teardown and a number of replacement parts to actually make it reliable to ride again.
Both of those types of buyer are motivated by price. Advertising it for more than double pre-covid prices will probably hurt you with both those types of buyers. There are also lots of buyers getting sick of folks who are trying to take advantage of covid pricing with bloated prices.
Naming the build date, but not how old stuff was when it was built could draw negative reactions. Listing a build date with just 25 miles since it was built implies all the parts were new when it was built. It is considered poor etiquette to surprise buyers with older used parts after implying the bike has only 25 miles. I recommend editing your original post to be clear about the age and condition of the parts that weren't brand new when the bike was built. The edit button is under the three vertical dots above the top left of your post. If the fork stanchions are just dirty, clean them and reshoot the photos. Keep in mind that all the free advice everyone posts is worth what you paid for it.
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Guest
·Yes, the whole bike is covered in dust from sitting in my son's bedroom for that many years. I guess I should have at least cleaned it before taking the pics but I wasn't trying to sell it on this post, only trying to get an idea of it's worth, thanks for your response.
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14 Posts
This. But, capitalism built the modern world.
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146 Posts
Very true. Nakid capitalism always sets bike prices.
The trick is not being seen as a nakid capitalist. I think there is going to be a backlash against the bike industry once this is all over with.
My bad, I guess it was the "it has around 25 miles on it" that threw me off. You made it sound as if the whole bike is new.
Anyhoo, carry on. Good luck selling it.
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255 Posts
Hallelujah!
Where were you with all of this spot on common sense a couple of months ago?
Used bikes. Shouldn't there be expected price...
I know with the current shortage sellers think they can cash in on demand, and asking prices are just stupid lately, but looking at used bikes has always been a trip through the looking glass. I see over and over again how people are asking 1500-2000 on the low end and between 2000-3000 for...
www.mtbr.com
I sold a full suspension 26" bike from 1998 with an XTR group last year for 275. I listed it at 300. I was very surprised the buyer didn't haggle more.
These bikes aren't worth too much to anybody these days, but yes, a beginner wanting to try out mountain biking, or maybe someone looking for a kid's bike, will be your market. The former might pay 300 or more, but you'll have to wait for someone that really doesn't know what they're doing to get more than 300, and the later probably won't want to spend 300.
I don't know why politics has to be part of a bike price discussion. i grew up in communism where the government set prices (below production cost for life essentials like food and rent, above cost for luxury products like TV). Guess what? Actual prices of hard-to-come-by items (basically everything that was desirable was hard to come by) were set by the market. A new car cost 10K marks but yo had to wait 15 years for delivery (no joke!). The same car used was 40K Marks from private party with no wait time.
Supply and demand price setting has existed for all of human history and even among apes there is some sort of that concept (like how many oranges a male bonobo has to bring the female for certain ... favors.... depends on the number of females and males available)
Capitalism is just one way to allocate production resources. A command economy just follows other methods to allocate resources. Both use capital. Neither can escape the concept of supply and demand. And no, outside capitalism we did not have better and cheaper bikes (accounting for how many hours a worker needs to work to buy a bike and how good the bikes were).
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4,386 Posts
...goes on to do just that for 3 paragraphs...
Start at $600 in my neck of the woods and get that or close. Be good if you cleaned it as well as possible and rode it around the block to see if there's anything wrong with it from sitting all that time. You won't get many calls IMO, so make sure to sell it to one of the few.
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Guest
·Thanks everyone with your constructive input. I updated the ad to include the used parts and I did clean it up and since I can't ride offroad anymore I asked my neighbor to, he took it on the trails around here (I live on a mountain) he said for around 6 miles and said it worked great.
I posted an ad yesterday for $600 and got three calls, So I made arrangements to meet the first guy that contacted me today and he bought for the $600.
I have a full suspension bike that I'll post later this week.
I posted an ad yesterday for $600 and got three calls, So I made arrangements to meet the first guy that contacted me today and he bought for the $600.
I have a full suspension bike that I'll post later this week.
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255 Posts
Good for you on that 600. It must be getting down to the dregs out there in the bike world; sort of like closing down a bar increases your chances you'll take somebody home... I guess people are just snatching up whatever is out there just so they can have something to ride.
I'm not saying that bike was a crappy one. I'm just amazed it brought as much as it did even being built up with the nice stuff it had.
What was your take on the buyer? Did they seem like a complete beginner with no knowledge of bike stuff, or maybe it was someone who had one like it years ago that had let it go and was dying to find a replacement?
I personally would only pay 600 for an old 26er if it was a specific mid 90's rigid steel frame bike I've wanted for a few years, but it would have to be in all original configuration, with zero use on anything, in the color I wanted, and then I would still feel like I overpaid. Like, way too much.
I'm not saying that bike was a crappy one. I'm just amazed it brought as much as it did even being built up with the nice stuff it had.
What was your take on the buyer? Did they seem like a complete beginner with no knowledge of bike stuff, or maybe it was someone who had one like it years ago that had let it go and was dying to find a replacement?
I personally would only pay 600 for an old 26er if it was a specific mid 90's rigid steel frame bike I've wanted for a few years, but it would have to be in all original configuration, with zero use on anything, in the color I wanted, and then I would still feel like I overpaid. Like, way too much.
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3,620 Posts
To state the obvious ,it worth what some one will pay for it. I had a nice 1988 Fisher with Deore xt and little use and good condition ,I got $ 175 for it. Also had a 1988 Merlin in good shape ,got $2500 for it.
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