Used Bike Market

[shovelhd]

Originally Posted by charliedid

when has ever not been a buyers market?

1980-1988

[happycampyer]

Originally Posted by charliedid

When has ever not been a buyers market?

Before the financial crisis. Before 2007-08 or so, the secondhand market was firm enough that people could biy a new bike and sell it a couple of years later at a decent price. Obviously, the brand and model mattered, but I can recall selling a used Cervelo R3-SL for a little over half what I paid for it new bitd. Those days are long gone. Other than Moots and a handful of others, one is hard pressed to get anything close to 50% of new bike cost.

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by lhuerta

Halo bike? Yes. I googled it but could not find anything. What is a halo bike?

Anything that's super-high-end, but usually used in the sense of super-high-end bikes from companies like Trek or Specialized, who seem to hope that their TdF (or pricier) bikes [1] inspire loyalty amongst their current owners [2] lend cachet to their down-market siblings and/or [3] lend street-cred to the brand as a whole.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by mhespenheide

Anything that's super-high-end, but usually used in the sense of super-high-end bikes from companies like Trek or Specialized, who seem to hope that their TdF (or pricier) bikes [1] inspire loyalty amongst their current owners [2] lend cachet to their down-market siblings and/or [3] lend street-cred to the brand as a whole.

see also - the Domane SLR RSL I posted above

[Clean39T]

What is the first question pretty much every listing gets in the classifieds?

"So, can you fit 32s on that??"

When the shift to graveling happened...and to endurance geometry before that...and the rims got wider and the headsets got integrated and the head tubes got tall and the shifting got electric...well, a whole class of bikes suddenly became obsolete to a certain trend-following potential buyer. That just means the depreciation curve got a whole lot steeper for a certain class of bikes - so much so that moving anything with an external headset, 25c tire (max) clearance, pre 5800/6800/9000 Shimano, etc. is a near impossibility unless there is a cult following or the price is low enough that value shoppers are willing to snatch them up and wring out more use by appreciating them for what they are...and I think what others were hinting at above is that by doing so you can limit your downside depreciation risk (someone else already took it). Also important there though is that if you don't really enjoy the used stuff you are buying and actually want the newest technology, you need to pay up for it, enjoy it, and not be surprised when it loses half its value in a couple years (or 2/3, or more...).

Does anyone buying a $50K new car think it will be worth $40K in 5 years?

Or when buying a $20K used car that it'll still be worth $17.5K after 4 years and 60K miles are put on it?

No. They don't (or they shouldn't).

But will a $1K car that runs and gets decent gas mileage still be worth $1K in 3 years? Probably.

[m_sasso]

Sorry miss-post!

[paredown]

Buy used, sell used..

Even so, the prices were at their lowest during the recession when I had to fire-sale my CT-1, my Peter Mooney and some other stuff. Either of those are selling for a lot more used that what I managed.

I agree with Clean39, the shift to wider tires has cut into the market value of otherwise fine bikes--the CSi I picked up this summer was an absolute bargain, but 25s are going to be the limit AFAIK.

[AngryScientist]

couple thoughts:

1) just like a car, boat or motorcycle - a new bike is only new once. after that it's a used bike, no matter how clean.

2) a huge part of the value of a custom bike is the custom bit. you're buying someone else's bike used.

3) there are just too many nice bikes out there right now used. browsing ebay and the PSAs that pop up here reveal just a TON of nice bikes moving around the used market.

[El Chaba]

The bike business is seriously sick. The market has been shrinking for years now and the industry continues to push prices further into the stratosphere. Fewer people have all of the money. The people who are buying these halo bikes have no interest in anything used. I used to be interested in the latest new equipment, but I lost interest with the "change for the sake of change" that took over in the mid 2000's. My interest in the market now is one primarily of entertainment...When and how spectacularly will it explode? The used market is a discerning one. Bikes of REAL value hold that value. Have you priced an excellent condition C40, C50 or DeRosa King (10 years old or so)? NOS Campagnolo or Shimano 10 speed parts?

[joosttx]

Last two bikes I have sold are a new Colnago C60 frame and a vintage Colnago Super cross bike I have lost $700 from my purchase prices (slightly more the 10% deprecaition) . So I am not sure the bike market is in the tank. Maybe certain bikes are in the tank.

I sold the Super on PL and it took forever which for less than $1500. For the C60 I sold eleswhere for $500 less than I paid for (bought it in Europe). PL is not the place to sell expense stuff for a number of reasons.

I dont expect to sell my Festka here even though you cannot find one for sale anywhere else.

[glepore]

Lots of factors-market saturation, people wanting disc brakes, etc.
End of year liquidations, everyone knows that Cannondale, Trek et. al. offer killer deals at end of year.

High end used bikes have always been like cars. Huge premium for new.

Iconic stuff is largely a matter of how long you want to wait and how hard you shop. Colnago's, for example. C40's are routinely listed in the 2-3k range-there's a nice B stay 53 Mapei on ebay now-but if you're willing to wait and shop there are deals. I stole a 52 with odd open mold wheels for a grand this year, the frame was flawless but absent the oem fork. But yeah, I would agree that the market is a little soft at the moment, but the new bike market is soft at the high high end as well. Custom stuff still does ok, but that's a different ballgame.

Some stuff the market is aging out of, unless its Eroica eligible-much like vintage race cars, the ones that are event eligible are worth much much more than the stuff you can only do track days with.

[54ny77]

used high end bike pricing is an ankle grabber.

buddy of mine just picked up a bigbikco. rig for something like $4k from the original owner. it was about $15k or so when he bought it retail. maybe a year or so old, if that.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

1980-1988

Yeah well there were like 4 things to buy back then too.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by happycampyer

Before the financial crisis. Before 2007-08 or so, the secondhand market was firm enough that people could biy a new bike and sell it a couple of years later at a decent price. Obviously, the brand and model mattered, but I can recall selling a used Cervelo R3-SL for a little over half what I paid for it new bitd. Those days are long gone. Other than Moots and a handful of others, one is hard pressed to get anything close to 50% of new bike cost.

I guess if you consider 40-50% a buyers market. I can't say I have ever seen bikes as any sort of investment or long term value outside their usefulness as bikes. I guess I always sold bikes to people I knew for a really good price because I got them at a really good price.

[batman1425]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Last two bikes I have sold are a new Colnago C60 frame and a vintage Colnago Super cross bike I have lost $700 from my purchase prices (slightly more the 10% deprecaition) . So I am not sure the bike market is in the tank. Maybe certain bikes are in the tank.

I sold the Super on PL and it took forever which for less than $1500. For the C60 I sold eleswhere for $500 less than I paid for (bought it in Europe). PL is not the place to sell expense stuff for a number of reasons.

I dont expect to sell my Festka here even though you cannot find one for sale anywhere else.

I'm not sure I agree. I see lots of high end gear move around these boards. It depends if it is the kind of bike that the people here are into. This is an enthusiast space with particular tastes at the top end. See how long a Firefly, or a SV lasts here for anything resembling a fair price.

A $6-7K used bike is a hard sell anywhere with what you can get new (even new custom) available for that price. The reality is, you can get 95-99% of the performance of anything that retails over $8k for $3-4k with some patience these days. And you could do the same with very gently used for even less. Unless you must have new, there is incredible value on the used market.

Also, rare doesn't automatically make something valuable.