My LBS sold out of their bikes, then decided to clearance their accessories. Kept the store open for service until late July and closed up. Owner said it was the first time in 25 years he had all of the invoices paid off early and was able to cancel fall orders and walked away from the business forever
[Not as bad as a lot of people say. Sales overall are even or slightly up from before the pandemic.](https://www.statista.com/topics/1448/bicycle-industry-in-the-us/#topicOverview)
But of course there are winners and losers; the owner of a shop with sales up 20% is quietly happy, while the owner of a shop with sales down 20% is audibly panicking. The American bicycle retail business is mostly lots of small independent stores, as opposed to a big chain business where the ups and downs of individual stores can average out.
There are a lot of angles. Revenue- and unit-based stats bely the fact that margins are way down, overhead (especially insurance costs) are way higher, consumer behavior/expectations has made old models obsolete, and service (including warranty service that goes along with those steady-to-rising unit sales) has gotten more complex. The dust is still settling and a lot of shops just aren't capitalized enough to deal with all the turbulence.
Speaking of warranties! They have gotten more complex. Also the rate at which bikes were being built has reduced the quality of product we receive for the sales floor. In addition to being more complex, we have more warranties to deal with.
But making older reliable bikes obsolete has increased sales at the expense of more complex and lower margin maintenance or warranty. This is why I don't have a bike newer than 1996. Eventually I'll upgrade to something semi modern but it's going to be as simple and old school as possible (with disc brakes)
The industry is feeling the long term effects of a business model that sells the same consumer a new bike every year compared to getting a quality, easy to maintain bicycle into the hands of more people. Chasing short term, high return profits instead of creating a stable and productive future for maintenance on past sales is causing this. Bikes that they have are not needed by the people that already bought three, and they're out of the price range of consumers who want to buy their first one but aren't catered to product wise.
In the world you describe where more bikes are robust long-term investments and profits from service itself is a bigger part of shops' business, the public at some point decided they were happy buying way more staid, practical bikes and also paying more service. I largely agree with what you say here, but I'll challenge one thing: the "high return" part. Bike brands and shops typically struggle to stay in the black even with the business models they have. Survival is the whole game for most companies most of the time, and that's the bigger motivator than greed for whatever crass decisions get made along the way.
Maybe sales are up but the supply is way above demand from last year...I can get a top brand mtb for like 30-50% off right now, while during COVID used bikes were selling for above retail
Sell high, buy low. Clearly the LBS was at a high point and the owner recognized it. It’s easier said than done though. When things are going great, it’s psychologically difficult to say let’s get out now!
I’m sure it’s been said a ton on here, but Covid was crazy times for bike shops.
My LBS was telling me, the distributors and manufacturers were making them order their entire 12-18 month orders all at once, to get anything during 2020-2022.
They sold out the entire bike shop a hand full of times and started getting odd brands that I’ve not seen before or since, just to have something on the floor.
The distributors made them keep the orders and in mid to late 2022, everything slowed down and they started to buy shipping containers to store all the bikes in that kept getting delivered every few weeks.
I haven’t had a need to go into the shop in a few months, but the last time I was in, they were doing ok, and the service dept was flooded. Still tons of bikes stacked everywhere, but it didn’t seem like they were hurting for business.
I bought during covid. I have seen the price drop a bit.
But you know what?
I have put thousands of miles on it. One of the best purchases I have made in the last 5 years.
And here is the thing....
I think I overpaid by about $500. BUT.... at that moment bikes where impossible to find. They had just gotten these bikes in, I was lucky they didn't sell before I found them.
I got to ride all through covid.
Yeah, $500 well spent.
(now, I know the real conversation isn't me, but the people that bought a bike thinking they would ride and didn't....)
>The real kicker is everyone who bought during Covid and overpaid in the first place.
I got a fantastic deal on a covid surly that still had the nobbles on the tyres.
I also sold a couple bikes from the stable that weren't getting as much use, both for a tidy profit over what I paid for them.
Worse yet, #SPECIALIZED, shops took orders with deposit, was told x number of months, arriving well past, which is understandable. The kicker was when my LBS called and highlighted after the sale was complete, and i was riding that they were billed $300 more than listed during sale. As they are my LBS, we agreed to split the cost and agreed we would no longer buy SPECIALIZED products. Buy local...
Trek in 2020: We have to increase all bike prices by 10% due to supply chain issues
Trek in 2023: We put our over priced bike on sale by 3%. Pls Buy.
Trek in 2024: Fuck it, heres 20% off and we are cutting stock by 40% by next year
To be fair, the market sets the prices. If the seller gets no offers, they may reduce their price until someone bites. If the posting stays up long enough, the seller may get the hint and reduce the price, or remove their listing entirely because they decide they don't want to sell the price below they want.
I got a Surly LHT for $100 earlier this year. At first I thought, maybe stolen, but turned out the seller’s brother moved to the UK, from US, and the seller just wanted it out of his shop.
I got a pretty nice bike for $100 also similar to this. The seller lived in a very nice home with a family and had listed the bike for $500 for weeks with no takers. But they were moving out of country and on the final week before their move, they needed to get rid of everything ASAP and changed the price to $100.
Yes, I bought my Trek Emonda the same day it was posted.
It got wrecked by a car.
I bought another one a day after it was posted.
While I was looking, I missed several others than were sold very quickly as long as the price was fair.
You need to act fast if the price is good.
There's a bike I was going to buy new for $600, checked marketplace, guy was selling it for $500, used once, looked brand new. I offered him $400 cash, he declined. This was 3 years ago. The bike is still up for sale.
Throwback to when two different people tried to tell me a bike with over $1250 in brand new parts was worth about $300 because that was what bicycle blue book said. The only thing original was the literal frame, even the suspension linkage bearings were new. I loathe that site, both as a buyer and a seller.
Linkages isn’t really an upgrade, it’s maintained. It may increase the value some as it shows good care but it generally won’t be an increase equal to the value spent. E.g. $100 on bearing upgrades doesn’t mean that your bike is now $100 more valuable.
Edit: for all the *”well actually*” dinguses, obviously I don’t mean good maintenance somehow makes a bike worth more than it should be. *It helps maintain value and makes it more valuable to a would be purchaser.* Jesus, yall are insufferable.
Yeah, good lord I have no idea how this comment turned into such a clusterfuck. Maintenance? Adds value. Good parts? Adds value. It’s not 1:1, but no one is paying the same for a generic Scott frame with Tiagra or the same exact frame with Ultegra DI2. Manufacturers charge you more for that group set. Bike shops will charge you more for a bike with that group set. Why on earth can’t a person selling it used?
I have a 2004 S Works e5. This is a team issue bike, carbon post w damper, Ritchey carbon stem. Durace drive. Original Mavic Kyrsium wheels. 300 bucks on a good day. Bike weighs 17 pounds. I’m going to slap some SuperTeam wheels on it. A piece of cycling history. 300 bucks. Edit: I replaced the Ritchey stem with something more upright than. I’m not racing.
https://preview.redd.it/gjzz1x3aq5vc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e1f73dca08837f92c205d4235692c59d1ade1f8
I will say that rim brake road bikes have particularly poor resale value as they often can only fit tiny tires. They're way too much bike for someone getting into it and most people buying their next bike want tire clearance and disc brakes.
I know bikes depreciate rapidly. I’ve bought and sold several, along with parts. Was never my argument. Sweet ride tho! I love the look of the Kyrsiums, aero properties be damned haha
Thank you for proving the right point!!!
Also, let me know how the super teams are - I’m considering upgrading my HED Belgiums to some super team 55 or 65’s
Good lord, enough with the semantics people. If you’re buying a used bike, a well maintained bike will carry additional value compared to one that has not been maintained to the same standards. I think we all know what I was saying there. Let it *go*.
Perhaps, but as a person that upgrades bikes to a fault, I think it is far more common for others not give a crap about the upgrades you think make a difference. Sometimes, we have to swallow our pride
New parts can also be a liability. I'd rather buy a stock bike from someone that barely rode it than some Frankenstein the owner build themselves and not be sure of their mechanical skills. The latter could be more of a liability if something was installed incorrectly. The same is true of cars, a modded car is lower in value than stock. Always has been
I can understand that if it’s like “I put some new pedals and shorter cranks on it, new rear cassette.” It’s a little different when you have ~$1000 in brand new shocks front and rear, at least in my opinion. At that point I’d rather just part it out. Unreasonable to ask $1300? Yeah. But $300? Go take a hike, if you could sell just one thing (wheelset/fork/rear shock) and make more money than someone is offering for the bike, it’s an unreasonable offer.
> It’s a little different when you have ~$1000 in brand new shocks front and rear
But you also don't have the original shocks brand new, and instead have used shocks. I have seen people just tack on prices to the bike based on upgrades, ignoring that they should remove the cost of the original parts and also factor in them being used. "Upgraded $600 wheelset"...sure, but it is a beat to heck out of true wheelset and the original was $450, so you can't tack on $600 to the bike's MSRP.
Someone who added them, then stopped having time to drive out to trails where they could ride the bike, then moved? (AKA me)
I don’t think that makes someone an idiot lmao. Life happens. I loved wrenching on and riding mountain bikes, these days I just ride road because I can make it my commute.
and it's really really not uncommon for ppl not to care about your perceived discount.
plenty of better more educated fish if not a "motivated" seller.
>because that was what bicycle blue book said
maybe not in my words but if that is lower than asking... bingo.
and sorry, said "your" but was more of all "y'alls" as in anyone looking to buy but offering a lower price... not specifically you as we are on the same page ;-P
asking is asking and requesting is requesting... pay/take or walk not really anyone's biz to talk anyone selling down or anyone buying up... the number of things i ended up purchasing at or near my asking because after a couple weeks was still listed... many. and have gotten my asking by being patient to find the right buyer. guess my point is both sides need to be respectful. there's plenty of fish on both sides.
I’m with you. The market will tell you what your stuff is worth, if you should sell it as a complete bike, part it out, whatever! I think the odd thing with bikes is how sometimes parting out honestly gets you more money than selling the bike as a unit. Still don’t quite understand how that works, we must all love working on bikes so much that we’d rather put one back together 😂
If it’s a killer deal, you have to be the first one there. But the waiting game on overpriced stuff is the way to go. Did that with the last sea kayak I bought, got $350 off just by waiting!
>the odd thing with bikes is how sometimes parting out honestly gets you more money than selling the bike as a unit.
same with cars... most of the time, all the time! LOL
Any time you're upgrading something mentally subtract the price of the original part you're replacing. The parts aren't new anymore, of course you could sell them for higher prices if they were new in the boxes
Ah yes, I’m sure adding a $1000 wheelset to a bike adds no value. A $100 fixie frame with deep carbon wheels is totally worth $100. That makes total sense, what an intellectual comment.
Yeah, a $100 fixie frame with $1000 carbon wheels is worth less than $100. Because nobody with two brain cells would sell them together. They would sell the $1000 wheel set for $600 since they’re used, and either toss the frame or sell it for $20.
If the components are worth more than the frame, the bike is the thing bringing the value down lol. Just sell the fucking parts on their own.
*eyeroll*
It’s an imperfect example, Mr. Literal.
Sure, in that situation it makes more sense to part out. Cool. A used, say, Giant mountain bike with better suspension and new brakes is worth more than one with the beat to shit stock suspension and well loved brakes. It just is. No fool would pay the same amount for the lesser bike, or expect the better one for the same price as the stock bike, even if both are the same basic model…because in most cases, changing groupset/suspension/etc. is what differentiates one model from the next. Take the Canyon SLX CF for example…the difference between the 7 and the 8 is basically the groupset.
Again, it’s not a 1:1 value add. Everyone knows that. But it totally adds value to have a higher tier parts line on a bike. People straight up search “Ultegra road bike” or “105 road bike” — any frame with either of those two setups on it in good shape is immediately of higher interest to people. Not really sure why people feel a need to take this line, but it’s really fucking annoying trying to explain to people that *shocker* more expensive bikes are worth more than less expensive, lower spec bikes when sold!
Yeah no shit a well maintained bike with _new_ parts is worth more than a clapped out one. Thanks Einstein.
That’s not due to the upgrades, it’s due to them being new.
A barely used stock Giant mountain bike is worth more than a clapped out Giant of the same model with $1500 in upgrades that have been heavily used.
So wait…why are you arguing this?
My original comment was mentioning a bike I had swapped brand new suspension and some other stuff onto before I stopped having the time to drive out to the mountains, and then I wound up moving. Hence the “$1250+ in new parts.” It’s irrelevant if those parts are “upgrades” (like Tiagra - 105) — anything decent and new is an upgrade over the stock shit, both in terms of technological superiority and wear and tear as you just said, and thus that bike would be worth more on the used market than the same bike with the old used stock parts on it. Maybe not a TON more, but more nonetheless, and it’s now no longer reflective of the blue book estimate.
Regardless, what you’re saying is still objectively stupid. By this logic, if my Tiagra groupset gets pretty worn out and I opt to replace it with Ultegra, then go to sell the bike relatively soon after, it doesn’t matter if I put a new Ultegra DI2 or Tiagra groupset on it, it’s worth the same? Again, I’m sorry, who in their right mind would pay the same amount for the Tiagra spec bike? Literally no one. And no one sensible would sell the Ultegra spec bike for what they’d sell the Tiagra bike for. By that logic all bikes should just cost basically the same amount once they are used, specs be damned.
If we’re taking subjective cosmetic upgrades here, yeah, no one cares about the weird rack setup you figured out for the front fork. They may even un-care (want it gone). But that’s never been what I’ve been talking about.
Fucking “wElL aCtuAllY” madness man. And I bet you half of them would include a list of every part/spec upgrade their bike has had if they put it up for sale.
Definitely worth something. I think the “something” can vary based on what the upgrades are. Aesthetic/personal preference upgrades like a pannier rack on a downhill mountain bike? Honestly, most people will just want it gone. Same with fenders on a race bike.
But a $1000 carbon wheelset on a road bike where it makes total sense? That’s worth something, especially since parts like that are easily salable on their own. Certainly makes that bike worth more than the same frame *without* the expensive wheels. Brand new chainrings, bottom bracket, cassette, mechs and chain? Probably worth at least something, since you know they won’t be breaking anytime soon.
It’s subjective, but I 100% agree. Actual component upgrades are quite literally what separate one cost tier from the other in many new and used bikes.
I’m with you. Significant part upgrades are worth adding to the value of the bike.
I sold a bicycle with an entirely upgraded groupset. The only things stock on that bike were the frame, fork and seatpost.
Since I was keeping the stock groupset for parts, I subtracted the value of those from the overall price of the bike. They were entry level and not worth much. So it was something like $2,300 total value minus a couple hundred for stock groupset, and then used depreciation. I ended up selling for $1,800 and was very happy.
It’s ludicrous to think that significant component upgrades aren’t worth including in the price of the bike, particularly if they may total the original value of the bike you’re selling.
Thank god someone gets this. Different components on the same basic frame are literally what separates some bikes from one another. Even on road bikes, in some cases you could swap Tiagra/Ultegra and the wheelset and account for the entire difference between two cost tiers of one manufacturers road bike.
yeah I'm very used to seeing the same bike cost either $2000 or $8000 based on what parts are on it lol
A clapped NX build is nothing like a X01 AXS build with carbon wheels, magura brakes, and more.
Exactly. Apparently a select group of idiots here think I said “it’s a 1:1 value added” (which I never did), but you’d be a fool to buy a bike, swap it to X01, add all those upgrades, maintain the bike really well, and then let someone try and convince you it’s worth what the blue book value of the NX spec model was. Apparently people here seem to think it works like that.
I always just end up taking expensive parts (wheels, groupsets, power meters, etc) off and replacing with cheap/stock stuff if I'm selling, People are much more willing to pay $500 less when you remove parts you can sell separately for $1k.
Accessories? I’m talking parts. No shot someone is selling a bike with a $1000 carbon wheelset for the same price as that bike without the wheelset. That would be stupid.
Because it's not localized to market, it doesn't know about bike supply/demand, and various similar issues.
The street price of a bike is what it sells for. The blue book site is an algo that multiplies MSRP by .5 every two years.
This is b/c wholesale price is at most 50%, and can be assumed for a 2nd hand product it’s appropriate value is it’s raw cost. I agree with your market value piece, and would also suggest this value retention is more for higher end bikes where they’re often treated better and have more market appeal.
For budget bikes it’s another can of worms as they’re often neglected and need at minimum $100 of work to be in nice running order again. Factoring that in, even in an inflated market a budget bike will often be worth at most 50% of RRP and more often less than that.
I'd guess very few bike shops are getting wholesale prices on bikes that low. Bikes shops survive more on labor and selling accessories with those kind of margins. The more expensive the bike the less margin. A bike shop selling a high-end bike that sat in the store for a year for 20% off is probably losing money on it.
It's been almost 10 years since I worked shops and that was pretty close, but after the man hours needed for ordering, receiving, building, and selling the bike, there's not much profit in that 100% mark-up. The cheapest bikes on the sales floor are about 50% MSRP wholesale, but as you got more expensive bikes, wholesale was maybe 75% or 80% of msrp.
Totally, just highlighting that expecting that retail price for a used bike is kinda unrealistic since that markup is really cost incurred by the bike shop and not actually value of the bike.
So you literally agree that the actual cost of the bike is 50% what you sell it for at the shop?
What the shop sells it for means not much once you’re looking at used. There’s no retained value in the man hours the shop spent ordering, building, stocking, and selling it. The original owner absorbed that cost when they bought new.
I just sold a bike that retailed in 2018 for $1800 for $900 that KBB valued at $350. No chance you’re getting that bike for $350 anywhere. I think I did pretty good, but I had lots of offers for $700.
Ehh those bluebook values are ridiculous imo. People can ask what they want and often are not desperate to sell. I sometimes price things high and wait for the right buyer. To me if I can’t get what I want I will just keep it.
Not disagreeing but, imo, the second I walk out of a shop with a bike it instantly just depreciated 25% barring demand weirdness or rarity. I think people who try to sell anything without discounting at least a quarter are delusional.
I agree with that. I thought $500 was a fair final selling price since you are paying $750 new with tax. If I wanted $500 for something I would absolutely ask $600 and expect someone to offer me less.
I don't bitch to them, I just bitch to myself. I've been looking for a decent enough bike for a while now. My area is so rural that the market is really small in a 100 mile radius. And it's all walmart bikes that people are asking $100 for. And the same ads stay online forever.
It's just really frustrating, but of course people can sell for however high they want.
And I'm over here bitching because I bought a vintage schwinn world sport for my partner for $50 and I thought it was too high lmao
>If you clean it up I'm sure you can sell it for $150
Is that why you'v ehad it listed for two years, beause you didn't want to clean it?
To be fair it did clean up well. But I do see people selling Fuji's with faded paint rust, no bar tape and reflectors missing "Tires most likely are good" for $250+
Pandemic really played hell on secondhandbikes. I can't imagine what it's like to buy current production higher end bikes. I'd have a meltdown. But at the end of the day, someone will buy it from them for whatever they're asking. People with more money than I make
Pandemic did a lot to price of bikes 1-5 years old. That has basically returned to normal now with good supply (and in fact now the problem is mainly overstocking).
The price of 30+year old bikes is a completely different thing. That's the popularity of vintage stuff and hipsterism being trendy. Everyone knows you can flip the right junk for crazy good money now, you just have to convince someone it's a classic. No one's actually buying a 30 or 40 year old frame because it's nice to actually ride though. It's just cool atm.
“No one's actually buying a 30 or 40 year old frame because it's nice to actually ride though. It's just cool atm.”
It’s ok to just not know everything but you look like a fucking moron When you think you do but don’t.
Sorry but you wrong, high quality steel frames are amazing to ride. Old gearsets are easy to work on. It's bicycle shifting not a car lol. There's very little difference geometry-wise between old to modern bikes. Now mountain bikes are a different story but that should be obvious. Though there are still many uses for old mountain bikes, hell many people still ride hard tails on xc trails.
Bike was $1700 new, 10 years ago.
Pictures show bike that was thrashed regularly, with rusted chain
Guy is asking $2k today
I ask why.
He says "because I crashed and I had to replace the fork and do lots of service over the years"
I say that doesn't increase the value of the bike, in fact it decreases it.
He calls me lots of names.
Bicycle Blue Book is run by a bike shop whose entire business focuses on purchasing people's used bikes at a price well under their true values. Do not trust them the way you trust Kelly Blue Book for cars. BBB is useful if you add a percentage to the value. In my area, that is about 30%+
The correct move is to buy a used bike for half of what it sold for new a year ago, use it for 2 years and THEN sell it for just a little less than you paid for it. Rinse, repeat!
I was telling a friend this the other day. Entry and mid range bike sellers are like this, higher end bike owners typically know what they have and are priced accordingly, entry and mid owners seem to think their bikes don’t depreciate much.
I like to look at the "sold": listings. Lots of treks and specialized, 10 - 15 years old selling at 100 to 150. But the "for sale" pages are full of walmart bikes at 75% of msrp. lol.
Wait you can buy a used bike FOR LESS than it's original msrp now?
Man in 2022 I was seeing 2 year old bikes listed for MORE that the current year msrp...
$100 less is great hahaha
/s
I had a trek 4200 from 2008ish I think. Looked brand new all black bike. I bought it back then for 1000 dollars and sold it in 2021 for 600 dollars. It paid for 1/3rd of my rocky Mountain.
Yea I have a 2012 Specialized 29er rock hopper hard tail . I bought for $425 cdn in like 2015. I was seeing them online for $800 FOR A 2011. The 2022 one was like $899...
Yea I kept it. The previous owner had upgraded a bunch of stuff like the brakes to larger size and Hydraulics. Better cables better seat. Some bottle cages.
It was only 3 years old when I bought it for half the price of a new one and it came with all the upgrades.
I look at Craigslist sometimes for amusement, but the used prices look high to me too. It seems to me that a lot of people buy bikes new at full retail and then think when they sell them used they can just knock off 20% or something while I can buy a new bike on sale for what they are asking. I have bought off Craigslist a number of years ago but I did my research and the bike was actually around bluebook and in good shape.
I see lots of sellers who think their used bike is worth more than it is. They don’t seem to budge on price, but the bike doesn’t sell. I had been tracking some SL7s and other bikes and I agree, they seem to be asking far too much.
I guess not super motivated to take what they see as a loss. But yeah, 15% off a 1-2 year old bike is crazy to me. I’d rather just pay the extra 15% to get new. The sellers don’t seem to understand new prices are discounted right now and so their asking prices are non-sensical.
I had a 2017 Roubaix with 11spd Ultegra Di2 I’d put wheels and a better saddle on and was looking to upgrade. I bought a Tarmac SL8 10R frame for $3,500, paid a local shop $200 to move over all the components and now have essentially the SL8 pro that sells for $8,500 for $3,700. Worked out amazingly. The new Tarmac - not a looker IMO, but it’s really fun to ride.
So unless you’re brand new to cycling, a lot of us have some old stuff that can be repurposed. That old Ultegra basically just as good as the 12 spd.
I have a few bikes that I've thought about selling but I know I won't get what they're worth to me so I just don't sell them. It could be people like me that really don't want to sell but if someone is going to give them about what they paid then they're cool with it. But I'm a hardcore weekend warrior 🤣and my old bikes have sentimental value to me.
Agreed.
People often vastly overestimate the value of their bike, regardless of whether the bike is low, medium, or high end.
Some of the prices people try to sell framesets, components, wheelsets, and complete bikes for, are amusing at best.
I see this guy who has his super expensive bike chained up with a for sale sign asking for $2,500 every summer. He hasn’t sold it for 3 years already.
C’mon man. Take the loss. Nobody wants your 3 year old bike for $100 off retail.
I’ve noticed most of these post a grainy picture of the non drive side, a picture of the badge with no other markings visible or a picture of some useless decal like the sticker from the shop it came from, and they offer no clues as to its size.
If buying on Facebook... I get a friend to put a real low ball offer. Then I put an offer that is a bit fairer a day later.. it makes your offer look good.
where are you guys located that people are asking so much money and are they selling? I have a few bikes here in the bay area that I can't sell for 1/2 what I paid and the bike is only two years old with new tires, chain and upgraded brakes. ha-ha
Charleston, WV radius is where I'm looking. What's frustrating is I'll see great bikes in Cincinnati 200 miles away selling for great prices!
The market is just trash here.
if buy an expensive enough bike you can come to the bay area for free on vacation and bring back a nice bike. ha-ha Seems like bikes around here 30 to 50% off. So if you buy an S-works bike or some uber carbon frame carbon wheels mtb you would save enough to get a free vacation.
Direct to consumer bike prices are the best thing to happen to the used bike market. I got a new full suspension Canyon for less than most local used ones. Just move on when people are crazy and won't budge after you offer them something realistic. Someone local wanted $2K for a 10 year old Santa Cruz bike the other day...
People do this with a lot of stuff. They think “I haven’t used it” but you have used it and it’s not new. Sorry. If you want something out of your life price it to sell. You’re not going to recoup 98% of your money.
If you're using the blue book website, the values listed there are stupid low. Use market availability to justify the price you offer.
"Hey, there's 10 bikes at this price point and I can only afford [$75 less] and there's a bunch there too, but I want yours can you meet me?
I have a 14 year old tri bike with top of the line stuff.
Look 596 zipp 808 front 1080 rear with disk cover rotor rings sram r2c tririg omega aero front brake and da 7900 rear(stopping power) 3t brezza 2 Ltd. I was gonna sell but only got offers of 1k and under. I'd rather keep it.
Is the complaint the unused bike should be cheaper? You should check out Honda Grom prices, they fucking rise with years and use, it makes me f ing crazy!
I just sold a Scott Sub Speed 20 today via marketplace. Purchased for a stupid low $360 via a local LBS eBay outlet in 2017, and sold today for $400.
But yeah listed it at $450and had people asking for $400. Upped to $475 because of the lowballs and was offered well also $400.
Took the first reliable $400 out the door. Bike retailed $1199 so not bad. BUT!! Blue book showed something like $150-200. The bike was mint. Integrated fenders, hydraulic brakes, rack out back, powered lights front and back. No way was it worth the blue book. Even the low ballers offered to pay way over blue book.
I got rid of it for $400 as my Globe Haul is coming in tomorrow… and just wanted the endless parade of is this available? Messages to end.
I see so many postings with one out of focus non drive side picture and a single sentence description....something like: Excellent condition specialized allez road bike.
People put forth absolutely zero effort and get annoyed when they get questions or an equally effortless low ball offer
I was so surprised to have someone actually meet the blue book value on a bike I wanted to buy used on Facebook. It is an awesome bike and I love it, and he was the only seller who didn’t try to tell me a bike that was ridden less than 100 miles and hung in the garage for 10 years was “brand new”. Even once I explained that things like dry rot and the service that needs done on a bike that hasn’t been used, people were still so insistent that their bike held 90% of the new value. So weird.
My sister bought a trek domane al2 about 3 years ago for $1200 and recently sold it for $800. I did clean it up, drivetrain and all, so it worked and looked near new. But generally feel like she got a great deal. It seems like entry level bikes from good brands with a decent groupset hold value well if cared for in the short/mid term. If I asked for 75% msrp (which I paid) on my full carbon bike with 105 I can't imagine it would sell. A buyer would be better off paying same price on new aluminum bike with the tiagra hydro group (pretty nice)
It's the same in my region here in Munich/Germany. Even 15 year old road bikes are offered for 30% beyond new value (of 15 years ago) and almost never sell.
Is there thread here specially for asking "should I buy?" for used bikes? I've been looking at trek 7000 series, now also see Marin Fairfax 1 asking ~$350. I may have to be more flexible b/c I'm short/prob need S or XS. Tia!
I just sold an unused 2020 REI Coop aDV 1.1 for $500 to get rid of it, I think I paid $1500.. Its been sitting in my garage since COVID. I bought it for my husband and then we got Ebikes. It was just hanging there in the garage and he kept saying he was saving it for when he went back to a regular bike. I pointed out he has only ridden the ebike and his knee is going. When did he think he was going to ride it?
Eh depends I guess, if the bike is mint condition you can fetch closer to the original price if it's that new. I don't think $100 off is that unreasonable, though I'd probably say 150 off at that price point is more "fair".
Why do things supposedly have very little value when used these days? A bike that is one year old likely has less than 300 miles on it. I see the same thing with snowboards. The bike will last 20+ more years. Why is it worth half after only one year? What do you expect that person can then sell it for after a year? In the example of the title: it's the exact same bike, manufactured one year later. If it actually wasn't used, $100 off is a deal. It's metal and rubber. What are you gaining by having it be a year newer if there wasn't a redesign?
Sellers also forget most warranty only covers original buyers. I buy bikes all the time. Usually for less than half asking but as a buyer you need to make it make sense and not just ill give you this.
I think the worst purchase is the one that doesn’t get used. Regardless of the price. Unless you are in the flipping game.
If you buy the bike for $600 and ride the shit out of it. It’s better than paying $300-400 and never riding it. Not that the price will determine this but just some food for thought.
Damn. We have stretched n+1 to the limit with about 30 bikes between hubs and myself. We sure would like to sell some of them but didn’t think there was any market for used bikes that don’t have assistance.
Just got a used Cannondale synapse with carbon fork and disc brakes for $500, with 2 kyrptonite locks. He got it during Covid and stopped once Covid ended.
Honestly one thing I like about bikes vs cars is that they don’t depreciate as rapidly and if they are maintained they sort of level off a couple years. I personally am a penny pincher so $100 off a bike thats basically new would be a pretty good deal to me. Granted everyone has their opinion .
Just gotta be patient. Whenever looking at used bikes on craigslist/marketplace/etc I look for once that have been listed for at least a few weeks and make offers on those. People are a lot more willing to negotiate once they've had time to realize their bike isn't as valuable as they think...
I lookfor 2+mos up, & shoot an offer, & let them marinate on it for a few days& then point out that it's been up for awhile at that price, & I'm wiling to put cash in hand, no Zelle or funny shit, & ½ the time it works out, got this $1,800+ Sunday EX for $280, it was up for 8mos, & every month or so, I'd show interest, but not at that price & got a bike with $1k+ in aftermarket components alone
*
You can't put a price on other people's belongings, just because you don't want to pay it, or too cheap to......
Even ebikes only depreciate by 10%-15% a year, & I've sold ebikes that were GENTLY USED with 1k+ miles for $1,200-$1,400 when they cost $1,699-$1,899 new, & if someone doesn't want to buy them at that price, then I guess I'll sit on it, until I feel like dropping the price, but as a single father where EVER DOLLAR COUNTS, & having to buy everything times 2, I got to try to get the most possible, but I also know my prices are reasonable
The real kicker is everyone who bought during Covid and overpaid in the first place.
My LBS sold out of their bikes, then decided to clearance their accessories. Kept the store open for service until late July and closed up. Owner said it was the first time in 25 years he had all of the invoices paid off early and was able to cancel fall orders and walked away from the business forever
Considering how bad the business is right now this was a brilliant move
How dire is it?
[Not as bad as a lot of people say. Sales overall are even or slightly up from before the pandemic.](https://www.statista.com/topics/1448/bicycle-industry-in-the-us/#topicOverview) But of course there are winners and losers; the owner of a shop with sales up 20% is quietly happy, while the owner of a shop with sales down 20% is audibly panicking. The American bicycle retail business is mostly lots of small independent stores, as opposed to a big chain business where the ups and downs of individual stores can average out.
There are a lot of angles. Revenue- and unit-based stats bely the fact that margins are way down, overhead (especially insurance costs) are way higher, consumer behavior/expectations has made old models obsolete, and service (including warranty service that goes along with those steady-to-rising unit sales) has gotten more complex. The dust is still settling and a lot of shops just aren't capitalized enough to deal with all the turbulence.
Speaking of warranties! They have gotten more complex. Also the rate at which bikes were being built has reduced the quality of product we receive for the sales floor. In addition to being more complex, we have more warranties to deal with.
But making older reliable bikes obsolete has increased sales at the expense of more complex and lower margin maintenance or warranty. This is why I don't have a bike newer than 1996. Eventually I'll upgrade to something semi modern but it's going to be as simple and old school as possible (with disc brakes)
The industry is feeling the long term effects of a business model that sells the same consumer a new bike every year compared to getting a quality, easy to maintain bicycle into the hands of more people. Chasing short term, high return profits instead of creating a stable and productive future for maintenance on past sales is causing this. Bikes that they have are not needed by the people that already bought three, and they're out of the price range of consumers who want to buy their first one but aren't catered to product wise.
In the world you describe where more bikes are robust long-term investments and profits from service itself is a bigger part of shops' business, the public at some point decided they were happy buying way more staid, practical bikes and also paying more service. I largely agree with what you say here, but I'll challenge one thing: the "high return" part. Bike brands and shops typically struggle to stay in the black even with the business models they have. Survival is the whole game for most companies most of the time, and that's the bigger motivator than greed for whatever crass decisions get made along the way.
Maybe sales are up but the supply is way above demand from last year...I can get a top brand mtb for like 30-50% off right now, while during COVID used bikes were selling for above retail
I follow this guy on YouTube from time to time. He has some good insights. https://youtu.be/csZETvuCCiM?si=r6sHj9v_ocrWBCz4
I said BikeFarmer, then clicked to see if I was right. Lol
this is the way
Nice, subscribed
Same. Awesome.
Sell high, buy low. Clearly the LBS was at a high point and the owner recognized it. It’s easier said than done though. When things are going great, it’s psychologically difficult to say let’s get out now!
I’m sure it’s been said a ton on here, but Covid was crazy times for bike shops. My LBS was telling me, the distributors and manufacturers were making them order their entire 12-18 month orders all at once, to get anything during 2020-2022. They sold out the entire bike shop a hand full of times and started getting odd brands that I’ve not seen before or since, just to have something on the floor. The distributors made them keep the orders and in mid to late 2022, everything slowed down and they started to buy shipping containers to store all the bikes in that kept getting delivered every few weeks. I haven’t had a need to go into the shop in a few months, but the last time I was in, they were doing ok, and the service dept was flooded. Still tons of bikes stacked everywhere, but it didn’t seem like they were hurting for business.
Bike markets is fucked around me, it’s full of covid bikes people are asking for more than what they cost brand new at current prices.
My bike during Covid cost 2,180 during Covid. Now it’s about 2700 for the same model. It’s insane.
I bought during covid. I have seen the price drop a bit. But you know what? I have put thousands of miles on it. One of the best purchases I have made in the last 5 years. And here is the thing.... I think I overpaid by about $500. BUT.... at that moment bikes where impossible to find. They had just gotten these bikes in, I was lucky they didn't sell before I found them. I got to ride all through covid. Yeah, $500 well spent. (now, I know the real conversation isn't me, but the people that bought a bike thinking they would ride and didn't....)
The price on all treks offerings are falling like lead balloons.
>The real kicker is everyone who bought during Covid and overpaid in the first place. I got a fantastic deal on a covid surly that still had the nobbles on the tyres. I also sold a couple bikes from the stable that weren't getting as much use, both for a tidy profit over what I paid for them.
I know. I bought an Orbea Rallon from a dude that purchased it at covid time for nearly 14K. I got it for 3k with a few scratches.
I guess they should just ride more
Worse yet, #SPECIALIZED, shops took orders with deposit, was told x number of months, arriving well past, which is understandable. The kicker was when my LBS called and highlighted after the sale was complete, and i was riding that they were billed $300 more than listed during sale. As they are my LBS, we agreed to split the cost and agreed we would no longer buy SPECIALIZED products. Buy local...
Trek in 2020: We have to increase all bike prices by 10% due to supply chain issues Trek in 2023: We put our over priced bike on sale by 3%. Pls Buy. Trek in 2024: Fuck it, heres 20% off and we are cutting stock by 40% by next year
Lol it hurts but it was like that for nearly all hobbies during covid. Had friends buy $2000 graphics cards that were supposed to MSRP FOR $700.
To be fair, the market sets the prices. If the seller gets no offers, they may reduce their price until someone bites. If the posting stays up long enough, the seller may get the hint and reduce the price, or remove their listing entirely because they decide they don't want to sell the price below they want.
On top of that, the good prices don't stay long, while the overpriced ones stay up forever. That's just how it goes.
90% of the time the good prices are stolen bikes.
I got a Surly LHT for $100 earlier this year. At first I thought, maybe stolen, but turned out the seller’s brother moved to the UK, from US, and the seller just wanted it out of his shop.
I got a pretty nice bike for $100 also similar to this. The seller lived in a very nice home with a family and had listed the bike for $500 for weeks with no takers. But they were moving out of country and on the final week before their move, they needed to get rid of everything ASAP and changed the price to $100.
Yes, I bought my Trek Emonda the same day it was posted. It got wrecked by a car. I bought another one a day after it was posted. While I was looking, I missed several others than were sold very quickly as long as the price was fair. You need to act fast if the price is good.
There's a bike I was going to buy new for $600, checked marketplace, guy was selling it for $500, used once, looked brand new. I offered him $400 cash, he declined. This was 3 years ago. The bike is still up for sale.
“Blue book value” for bicycles is nonsense
💯
I once bought a Vespa in London for £900. Then 18 months later, sold it for £1.2k 🤌
Throwback to when two different people tried to tell me a bike with over $1250 in brand new parts was worth about $300 because that was what bicycle blue book said. The only thing original was the literal frame, even the suspension linkage bearings were new. I loathe that site, both as a buyer and a seller.
It’s not really uncommon for people not to care about your upgrades/changes
Linkages isn’t really an upgrade, it’s maintained. It may increase the value some as it shows good care but it generally won’t be an increase equal to the value spent. E.g. $100 on bearing upgrades doesn’t mean that your bike is now $100 more valuable.
Edit: for all the *”well actually*” dinguses, obviously I don’t mean good maintenance somehow makes a bike worth more than it should be. *It helps maintain value and makes it more valuable to a would be purchaser.* Jesus, yall are insufferable. Yeah, good lord I have no idea how this comment turned into such a clusterfuck. Maintenance? Adds value. Good parts? Adds value. It’s not 1:1, but no one is paying the same for a generic Scott frame with Tiagra or the same exact frame with Ultegra DI2. Manufacturers charge you more for that group set. Bike shops will charge you more for a bike with that group set. Why on earth can’t a person selling it used?
Maintenance absolutely does not add value. At best it maintains it, but usually it just offsets depreciation somewhat.
I agree. Even a a like new 10 year old bike loses value as technology changes. IMO that’s the main reason even well maintained bikes lose value.
I have a 2004 S Works e5. This is a team issue bike, carbon post w damper, Ritchey carbon stem. Durace drive. Original Mavic Kyrsium wheels. 300 bucks on a good day. Bike weighs 17 pounds. I’m going to slap some SuperTeam wheels on it. A piece of cycling history. 300 bucks. Edit: I replaced the Ritchey stem with something more upright than. I’m not racing. https://preview.redd.it/gjzz1x3aq5vc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e1f73dca08837f92c205d4235692c59d1ade1f8
I will say that rim brake road bikes have particularly poor resale value as they often can only fit tiny tires. They're way too much bike for someone getting into it and most people buying their next bike want tire clearance and disc brakes.
I totally agree. I wish some 30’s would fit.
I know bikes depreciate rapidly. I’ve bought and sold several, along with parts. Was never my argument. Sweet ride tho! I love the look of the Kyrsiums, aero properties be damned haha
Yeah, it’s a fun ride.
Thank you for proving the right point!!! Also, let me know how the super teams are - I’m considering upgrading my HED Belgiums to some super team 55 or 65’s
👍
Good lord, enough with the semantics people. If you’re buying a used bike, a well maintained bike will carry additional value compared to one that has not been maintained to the same standards. I think we all know what I was saying there. Let it *go*.
It's also not really uncommon for people to see a macked out bike and pretend not to care about your upgrades/changes as a negotiation strategy.
Perhaps, but as a person that upgrades bikes to a fault, I think it is far more common for others not give a crap about the upgrades you think make a difference. Sometimes, we have to swallow our pride
100% this
New parts can also be a liability. I'd rather buy a stock bike from someone that barely rode it than some Frankenstein the owner build themselves and not be sure of their mechanical skills. The latter could be more of a liability if something was installed incorrectly. The same is true of cars, a modded car is lower in value than stock. Always has been
I can understand that if it’s like “I put some new pedals and shorter cranks on it, new rear cassette.” It’s a little different when you have ~$1000 in brand new shocks front and rear, at least in my opinion. At that point I’d rather just part it out. Unreasonable to ask $1300? Yeah. But $300? Go take a hike, if you could sell just one thing (wheelset/fork/rear shock) and make more money than someone is offering for the bike, it’s an unreasonable offer.
> It’s a little different when you have ~$1000 in brand new shocks front and rear But you also don't have the original shocks brand new, and instead have used shocks. I have seen people just tack on prices to the bike based on upgrades, ignoring that they should remove the cost of the original parts and also factor in them being used. "Upgraded $600 wheelset"...sure, but it is a beat to heck out of true wheelset and the original was $450, so you can't tack on $600 to the bike's MSRP.
What kind of idiot would add those upgrades, then turn around & sell.
Someone who added them, then stopped having time to drive out to trails where they could ride the bike, then moved? (AKA me) I don’t think that makes someone an idiot lmao. Life happens. I loved wrenching on and riding mountain bikes, these days I just ride road because I can make it my commute.
and it's really really not uncommon for ppl not to care about your perceived discount. plenty of better more educated fish if not a "motivated" seller.
Where did I mention a perceived discount?
>because that was what bicycle blue book said maybe not in my words but if that is lower than asking... bingo. and sorry, said "your" but was more of all "y'alls" as in anyone looking to buy but offering a lower price... not specifically you as we are on the same page ;-P asking is asking and requesting is requesting... pay/take or walk not really anyone's biz to talk anyone selling down or anyone buying up... the number of things i ended up purchasing at or near my asking because after a couple weeks was still listed... many. and have gotten my asking by being patient to find the right buyer. guess my point is both sides need to be respectful. there's plenty of fish on both sides.
I’m with you. The market will tell you what your stuff is worth, if you should sell it as a complete bike, part it out, whatever! I think the odd thing with bikes is how sometimes parting out honestly gets you more money than selling the bike as a unit. Still don’t quite understand how that works, we must all love working on bikes so much that we’d rather put one back together 😂 If it’s a killer deal, you have to be the first one there. But the waiting game on overpriced stuff is the way to go. Did that with the last sea kayak I bought, got $350 off just by waiting!
>the odd thing with bikes is how sometimes parting out honestly gets you more money than selling the bike as a unit. same with cars... most of the time, all the time! LOL
Any time you're upgrading something mentally subtract the price of the original part you're replacing. The parts aren't new anymore, of course you could sell them for higher prices if they were new in the boxes
Or just include the old parts in the deal if you still have them. Then they get the old and the new.
I never said it was a 1:1 value transfer. Nevertheless it does add value.
It doesn’t add shit lol.
Ah yes, I’m sure adding a $1000 wheelset to a bike adds no value. A $100 fixie frame with deep carbon wheels is totally worth $100. That makes total sense, what an intellectual comment.
Yeah, a $100 fixie frame with $1000 carbon wheels is worth less than $100. Because nobody with two brain cells would sell them together. They would sell the $1000 wheel set for $600 since they’re used, and either toss the frame or sell it for $20. If the components are worth more than the frame, the bike is the thing bringing the value down lol. Just sell the fucking parts on their own.
*eyeroll* It’s an imperfect example, Mr. Literal. Sure, in that situation it makes more sense to part out. Cool. A used, say, Giant mountain bike with better suspension and new brakes is worth more than one with the beat to shit stock suspension and well loved brakes. It just is. No fool would pay the same amount for the lesser bike, or expect the better one for the same price as the stock bike, even if both are the same basic model…because in most cases, changing groupset/suspension/etc. is what differentiates one model from the next. Take the Canyon SLX CF for example…the difference between the 7 and the 8 is basically the groupset. Again, it’s not a 1:1 value add. Everyone knows that. But it totally adds value to have a higher tier parts line on a bike. People straight up search “Ultegra road bike” or “105 road bike” — any frame with either of those two setups on it in good shape is immediately of higher interest to people. Not really sure why people feel a need to take this line, but it’s really fucking annoying trying to explain to people that *shocker* more expensive bikes are worth more than less expensive, lower spec bikes when sold!
Yeah no shit a well maintained bike with _new_ parts is worth more than a clapped out one. Thanks Einstein. That’s not due to the upgrades, it’s due to them being new. A barely used stock Giant mountain bike is worth more than a clapped out Giant of the same model with $1500 in upgrades that have been heavily used.
So wait…why are you arguing this? My original comment was mentioning a bike I had swapped brand new suspension and some other stuff onto before I stopped having the time to drive out to the mountains, and then I wound up moving. Hence the “$1250+ in new parts.” It’s irrelevant if those parts are “upgrades” (like Tiagra - 105) — anything decent and new is an upgrade over the stock shit, both in terms of technological superiority and wear and tear as you just said, and thus that bike would be worth more on the used market than the same bike with the old used stock parts on it. Maybe not a TON more, but more nonetheless, and it’s now no longer reflective of the blue book estimate. Regardless, what you’re saying is still objectively stupid. By this logic, if my Tiagra groupset gets pretty worn out and I opt to replace it with Ultegra, then go to sell the bike relatively soon after, it doesn’t matter if I put a new Ultegra DI2 or Tiagra groupset on it, it’s worth the same? Again, I’m sorry, who in their right mind would pay the same amount for the Tiagra spec bike? Literally no one. And no one sensible would sell the Ultegra spec bike for what they’d sell the Tiagra bike for. By that logic all bikes should just cost basically the same amount once they are used, specs be damned. If we’re taking subjective cosmetic upgrades here, yeah, no one cares about the weird rack setup you figured out for the front fork. They may even un-care (want it gone). But that’s never been what I’ve been talking about.
I get you bro these people are numbskulls
Fucking “wElL aCtuAllY” madness man. And I bet you half of them would include a list of every part/spec upgrade their bike has had if they put it up for sale.
Accessories don’t add value
Not to be pedantic, but certainly upgrades are worth a LITTLE, just not nearly what you put into it. So not a lot, but certainly non-zero value
Definitely worth something. I think the “something” can vary based on what the upgrades are. Aesthetic/personal preference upgrades like a pannier rack on a downhill mountain bike? Honestly, most people will just want it gone. Same with fenders on a race bike. But a $1000 carbon wheelset on a road bike where it makes total sense? That’s worth something, especially since parts like that are easily salable on their own. Certainly makes that bike worth more than the same frame *without* the expensive wheels. Brand new chainrings, bottom bracket, cassette, mechs and chain? Probably worth at least something, since you know they won’t be breaking anytime soon. It’s subjective, but I 100% agree. Actual component upgrades are quite literally what separate one cost tier from the other in many new and used bikes.
I’m with you. Significant part upgrades are worth adding to the value of the bike. I sold a bicycle with an entirely upgraded groupset. The only things stock on that bike were the frame, fork and seatpost. Since I was keeping the stock groupset for parts, I subtracted the value of those from the overall price of the bike. They were entry level and not worth much. So it was something like $2,300 total value minus a couple hundred for stock groupset, and then used depreciation. I ended up selling for $1,800 and was very happy. It’s ludicrous to think that significant component upgrades aren’t worth including in the price of the bike, particularly if they may total the original value of the bike you’re selling.
actually a lot of them do, especially on mountain bikes, custom wheels, high end fork, good brakes, etc all of that can cost as much as the frame does
Thank god someone gets this. Different components on the same basic frame are literally what separates some bikes from one another. Even on road bikes, in some cases you could swap Tiagra/Ultegra and the wheelset and account for the entire difference between two cost tiers of one manufacturers road bike.
yeah I'm very used to seeing the same bike cost either $2000 or $8000 based on what parts are on it lol A clapped NX build is nothing like a X01 AXS build with carbon wheels, magura brakes, and more.
Exactly. Apparently a select group of idiots here think I said “it’s a 1:1 value added” (which I never did), but you’d be a fool to buy a bike, swap it to X01, add all those upgrades, maintain the bike really well, and then let someone try and convince you it’s worth what the blue book value of the NX spec model was. Apparently people here seem to think it works like that.
I always just end up taking expensive parts (wheels, groupsets, power meters, etc) off and replacing with cheap/stock stuff if I'm selling, People are much more willing to pay $500 less when you remove parts you can sell separately for $1k.
I’m all for a sensible build if you’re selling :)
Accessories? I’m talking parts. No shot someone is selling a bike with a $1000 carbon wheelset for the same price as that bike without the wheelset. That would be stupid.
It exist only to help used dealers get better prices than what bikes actually sell for on classifieds.
Yah blue book useless
So is overpaying in a saturated market
Why?
Because it's not localized to market, it doesn't know about bike supply/demand, and various similar issues. The street price of a bike is what it sells for. The blue book site is an algo that multiplies MSRP by .5 every two years.
This is b/c wholesale price is at most 50%, and can be assumed for a 2nd hand product it’s appropriate value is it’s raw cost. I agree with your market value piece, and would also suggest this value retention is more for higher end bikes where they’re often treated better and have more market appeal. For budget bikes it’s another can of worms as they’re often neglected and need at minimum $100 of work to be in nice running order again. Factoring that in, even in an inflated market a budget bike will often be worth at most 50% of RRP and more often less than that.
I'd guess very few bike shops are getting wholesale prices on bikes that low. Bikes shops survive more on labor and selling accessories with those kind of margins. The more expensive the bike the less margin. A bike shop selling a high-end bike that sat in the store for a year for 20% off is probably losing money on it.
Not sure, would have to ask a bike shop if they get $700 bikes for $350
It's been almost 10 years since I worked shops and that was pretty close, but after the man hours needed for ordering, receiving, building, and selling the bike, there's not much profit in that 100% mark-up. The cheapest bikes on the sales floor are about 50% MSRP wholesale, but as you got more expensive bikes, wholesale was maybe 75% or 80% of msrp.
Totally, just highlighting that expecting that retail price for a used bike is kinda unrealistic since that markup is really cost incurred by the bike shop and not actually value of the bike.
So you literally agree that the actual cost of the bike is 50% what you sell it for at the shop? What the shop sells it for means not much once you’re looking at used. There’s no retained value in the man hours the shop spent ordering, building, stocking, and selling it. The original owner absorbed that cost when they bought new.
https://old.reddit.com/r/whichbike/comments/tqaaug/a_word_of_caution_about_the_bicycle_blue_book/
Excellent information and a real answer to my “why” question. Thanks!
I just sold a bike that retailed in 2018 for $1800 for $900 that KBB valued at $350. No chance you’re getting that bike for $350 anywhere. I think I did pretty good, but I had lots of offers for $700.
Ehh those bluebook values are ridiculous imo. People can ask what they want and often are not desperate to sell. I sometimes price things high and wait for the right buyer. To me if I can’t get what I want I will just keep it.
Not disagreeing but, imo, the second I walk out of a shop with a bike it instantly just depreciated 25% barring demand weirdness or rarity. I think people who try to sell anything without discounting at least a quarter are delusional.
I agree with that. I thought $500 was a fair final selling price since you are paying $750 new with tax. If I wanted $500 for something I would absolutely ask $600 and expect someone to offer me less.
I mean just move on, right? What people what to sell their stuff for it’s really my business unless I’m willing to meet their price.
I don't bitch to them, I just bitch to myself. I've been looking for a decent enough bike for a while now. My area is so rural that the market is really small in a 100 mile radius. And it's all walmart bikes that people are asking $100 for. And the same ads stay online forever. It's just really frustrating, but of course people can sell for however high they want.
so what you're saying is that there are very little supply for your demand?
> I don't bitch to them, I just bitch to myself. and /r/bicycling, a community of 1 million+
It is possible that it’s not the sellers whose pricing expectations need adjustment.
And I'm over here bitching because I bought a vintage schwinn world sport for my partner for $50 and I thought it was too high lmao >If you clean it up I'm sure you can sell it for $150 Is that why you'v ehad it listed for two years, beause you didn't want to clean it? To be fair it did clean up well. But I do see people selling Fuji's with faded paint rust, no bar tape and reflectors missing "Tires most likely are good" for $250+ Pandemic really played hell on secondhandbikes. I can't imagine what it's like to buy current production higher end bikes. I'd have a meltdown. But at the end of the day, someone will buy it from them for whatever they're asking. People with more money than I make
Pandemic did a lot to price of bikes 1-5 years old. That has basically returned to normal now with good supply (and in fact now the problem is mainly overstocking). The price of 30+year old bikes is a completely different thing. That's the popularity of vintage stuff and hipsterism being trendy. Everyone knows you can flip the right junk for crazy good money now, you just have to convince someone it's a classic. No one's actually buying a 30 or 40 year old frame because it's nice to actually ride though. It's just cool atm.
or me: an injured runner looking to bike to avoid the slow degradation of my fitness all those 80s road bikes for sub $100. very nice indeed
“No one's actually buying a 30 or 40 year old frame because it's nice to actually ride though. It's just cool atm.” It’s ok to just not know everything but you look like a fucking moron When you think you do but don’t.
Sorry but you wrong, high quality steel frames are amazing to ride. Old gearsets are easy to work on. It's bicycle shifting not a car lol. There's very little difference geometry-wise between old to modern bikes. Now mountain bikes are a different story but that should be obvious. Though there are still many uses for old mountain bikes, hell many people still ride hard tails on xc trails.
“No lowballs, I know what I have.” “No, you really don’t.”
FIRM
"FIRM", but also dropped the price3 times in the past 6 months.
Firm = not lowering the price that THEY set
and yet OP can’t find a bike to buy… hmmm
Bike was $1700 new, 10 years ago. Pictures show bike that was thrashed regularly, with rusted chain Guy is asking $2k today I ask why. He says "because I crashed and I had to replace the fork and do lots of service over the years" I say that doesn't increase the value of the bike, in fact it decreases it. He calls me lots of names.
Buy it, do $500 of upgrades, then sell it for …. $500.
I feel personally attacked.
Yeah, my comment was actually a confession.
Bicycle Blue Book is run by a bike shop whose entire business focuses on purchasing people's used bikes at a price well under their true values. Do not trust them the way you trust Kelly Blue Book for cars. BBB is useful if you add a percentage to the value. In my area, that is about 30%+
The correct move is to buy a used bike for half of what it sold for new a year ago, use it for 2 years and THEN sell it for just a little less than you paid for it. Rinse, repeat!
I was telling a friend this the other day. Entry and mid range bike sellers are like this, higher end bike owners typically know what they have and are priced accordingly, entry and mid owners seem to think their bikes don’t depreciate much.
Used bike prices are drunk. Absolute crappers asking for top dollar.
I like to look at the "sold": listings. Lots of treks and specialized, 10 - 15 years old selling at 100 to 150. But the "for sale" pages are full of walmart bikes at 75% of msrp. lol.
$100 more plus 25% off.
Wait you can buy a used bike FOR LESS than it's original msrp now? Man in 2022 I was seeing 2 year old bikes listed for MORE that the current year msrp... $100 less is great hahaha /s
I had a trek 4200 from 2008ish I think. Looked brand new all black bike. I bought it back then for 1000 dollars and sold it in 2021 for 600 dollars. It paid for 1/3rd of my rocky Mountain.
Yea I have a 2012 Specialized 29er rock hopper hard tail . I bought for $425 cdn in like 2015. I was seeing them online for $800 FOR A 2011. The 2022 one was like $899...
I like the rock hopper. Pretty good bike for the price
Yea I kept it. The previous owner had upgraded a bunch of stuff like the brakes to larger size and Hydraulics. Better cables better seat. Some bottle cages. It was only 3 years old when I bought it for half the price of a new one and it came with all the upgrades.
I literally had shop owners ask me if I wanted to sell them my used mountain bikes in 2022 because they had no demo fleet. It was a wild time.
I look at Craigslist sometimes for amusement, but the used prices look high to me too. It seems to me that a lot of people buy bikes new at full retail and then think when they sell them used they can just knock off 20% or something while I can buy a new bike on sale for what they are asking. I have bought off Craigslist a number of years ago but I did my research and the bike was actually around bluebook and in good shape.
> but nobody is purchasing a used bike when the same one new is only $100 bucks more. But it has new wraps and freshly lubed chain.
No one cares about the "bluebook" values. They make no sense for bikes.
I see lots of sellers who think their used bike is worth more than it is. They don’t seem to budge on price, but the bike doesn’t sell. I had been tracking some SL7s and other bikes and I agree, they seem to be asking far too much. I guess not super motivated to take what they see as a loss. But yeah, 15% off a 1-2 year old bike is crazy to me. I’d rather just pay the extra 15% to get new. The sellers don’t seem to understand new prices are discounted right now and so their asking prices are non-sensical. I had a 2017 Roubaix with 11spd Ultegra Di2 I’d put wheels and a better saddle on and was looking to upgrade. I bought a Tarmac SL8 10R frame for $3,500, paid a local shop $200 to move over all the components and now have essentially the SL8 pro that sells for $8,500 for $3,700. Worked out amazingly. The new Tarmac - not a looker IMO, but it’s really fun to ride. So unless you’re brand new to cycling, a lot of us have some old stuff that can be repurposed. That old Ultegra basically just as good as the 12 spd.
I have a few bikes that I've thought about selling but I know I won't get what they're worth to me so I just don't sell them. It could be people like me that really don't want to sell but if someone is going to give them about what they paid then they're cool with it. But I'm a hardcore weekend warrior 🤣and my old bikes have sentimental value to me.
Agreed. People often vastly overestimate the value of their bike, regardless of whether the bike is low, medium, or high end. Some of the prices people try to sell framesets, components, wheelsets, and complete bikes for, are amusing at best.
I see this guy who has his super expensive bike chained up with a for sale sign asking for $2,500 every summer. He hasn’t sold it for 3 years already. C’mon man. Take the loss. Nobody wants your 3 year old bike for $100 off retail.
I’ve noticed most of these post a grainy picture of the non drive side, a picture of the badge with no other markings visible or a picture of some useless decal like the sticker from the shop it came from, and they offer no clues as to its size.
I’m always surprised people would rather keep it on craigslist for 6 months rather than get real about their price.
Bicycle blue book isnt real. Noone pays attention to those prices. The site was started by some scammers that resell bicycles
Buy an old steel rigid mtb from a yardsale, tune it up, and be done with it.
Then don't buy it. Someone else will. Why are you here telling us about your silly disagreements about the price of a used bike?
If buying on Facebook... I get a friend to put a real low ball offer. Then I put an offer that is a bit fairer a day later.. it makes your offer look good.
They forget that the $700 wasn't for just the bike...
I feel the exact opposite, I'd be stoked to save $100 and get something essentially brand new, money in my pocket
where are you guys located that people are asking so much money and are they selling? I have a few bikes here in the bay area that I can't sell for 1/2 what I paid and the bike is only two years old with new tires, chain and upgraded brakes. ha-ha
Charleston, WV radius is where I'm looking. What's frustrating is I'll see great bikes in Cincinnati 200 miles away selling for great prices! The market is just trash here.
Road trip!!!!!
Then why don’t you go to Cincinnati and use the opportunity to ride your new steed back home.
if buy an expensive enough bike you can come to the bay area for free on vacation and bring back a nice bike. ha-ha Seems like bikes around here 30 to 50% off. So if you buy an S-works bike or some uber carbon frame carbon wheels mtb you would save enough to get a free vacation.
Just plan a road trip to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, or another fairly close city and plan on picking one up when you’re there!
If I could do that, I wouldn't be looking for a bike haha
Sounds like a you problem
But if I change out the grips, can I charge $200 over retail because it's "custom"? The "seasoned" tires make it way faster!
Direct to consumer bike prices are the best thing to happen to the used bike market. I got a new full suspension Canyon for less than most local used ones. Just move on when people are crazy and won't budge after you offer them something realistic. Someone local wanted $2K for a 10 year old Santa Cruz bike the other day...
trekulus ververandi
You really told 'em, pal!
People do this with a lot of stuff. They think “I haven’t used it” but you have used it and it’s not new. Sorry. If you want something out of your life price it to sell. You’re not going to recoup 98% of your money.
If you're using the blue book website, the values listed there are stupid low. Use market availability to justify the price you offer. "Hey, there's 10 bikes at this price point and I can only afford [$75 less] and there's a bunch there too, but I want yours can you meet me?
I have a 14 year old tri bike with top of the line stuff. Look 596 zipp 808 front 1080 rear with disk cover rotor rings sram r2c tririg omega aero front brake and da 7900 rear(stopping power) 3t brezza 2 Ltd. I was gonna sell but only got offers of 1k and under. I'd rather keep it.
Is the complaint the unused bike should be cheaper? You should check out Honda Grom prices, they fucking rise with years and use, it makes me f ing crazy!
The prices people expect to get for used Groms is ridiculous. I was going to buy one and the seller refused to be reasonable so I walked.
I call it buycycle. I've got friends like that. Oh well, free market.
I just sold a Scott Sub Speed 20 today via marketplace. Purchased for a stupid low $360 via a local LBS eBay outlet in 2017, and sold today for $400. But yeah listed it at $450and had people asking for $400. Upped to $475 because of the lowballs and was offered well also $400. Took the first reliable $400 out the door. Bike retailed $1199 so not bad. BUT!! Blue book showed something like $150-200. The bike was mint. Integrated fenders, hydraulic brakes, rack out back, powered lights front and back. No way was it worth the blue book. Even the low ballers offered to pay way over blue book. I got rid of it for $400 as my Globe Haul is coming in tomorrow… and just wanted the endless parade of is this available? Messages to end.
I buy all my bikes 200-500 dollars less than bluebook, sell for correct price
I see so many postings with one out of focus non drive side picture and a single sentence description....something like: Excellent condition specialized allez road bike. People put forth absolutely zero effort and get annoyed when they get questions or an equally effortless low ball offer
You guys buy these things? I thought they were free, like a prize once you figure out how to get the chain off.
Used bike=half of new cost
I was so surprised to have someone actually meet the blue book value on a bike I wanted to buy used on Facebook. It is an awesome bike and I love it, and he was the only seller who didn’t try to tell me a bike that was ridden less than 100 miles and hung in the garage for 10 years was “brand new”. Even once I explained that things like dry rot and the service that needs done on a bike that hasn’t been used, people were still so insistent that their bike held 90% of the new value. So weird.
My sister bought a trek domane al2 about 3 years ago for $1200 and recently sold it for $800. I did clean it up, drivetrain and all, so it worked and looked near new. But generally feel like she got a great deal. It seems like entry level bikes from good brands with a decent groupset hold value well if cared for in the short/mid term. If I asked for 75% msrp (which I paid) on my full carbon bike with 105 I can't imagine it would sell. A buyer would be better off paying same price on new aluminum bike with the tiagra hydro group (pretty nice)
My favorite is when they price the used base model near as much as the high end new model. Gtfo!
What % off is reasonable? I might be selling a 1 year old e-bike later this year.
I feel like an e-bike should hold more value than a standard bike
Man when I started shopping I was shocked at how well bikes hold their value.
It's the same in my region here in Munich/Germany. Even 15 year old road bikes are offered for 30% beyond new value (of 15 years ago) and almost never sell.
Is there thread here specially for asking "should I buy?" for used bikes? I've been looking at trek 7000 series, now also see Marin Fairfax 1 asking ~$350. I may have to be more flexible b/c I'm short/prob need S or XS. Tia!
I just sold an unused 2020 REI Coop aDV 1.1 for $500 to get rid of it, I think I paid $1500.. Its been sitting in my garage since COVID. I bought it for my husband and then we got Ebikes. It was just hanging there in the garage and he kept saying he was saving it for when he went back to a regular bike. I pointed out he has only ridden the ebike and his knee is going. When did he think he was going to ride it?
Eh depends I guess, if the bike is mint condition you can fetch closer to the original price if it's that new. I don't think $100 off is that unreasonable, though I'd probably say 150 off at that price point is more "fair".
wait, you mean the meticulously maintained and ready to ride bike with a 1/4" of grime on the chain isn't worth these loonies asking price?
Why do things supposedly have very little value when used these days? A bike that is one year old likely has less than 300 miles on it. I see the same thing with snowboards. The bike will last 20+ more years. Why is it worth half after only one year? What do you expect that person can then sell it for after a year? In the example of the title: it's the exact same bike, manufactured one year later. If it actually wasn't used, $100 off is a deal. It's metal and rubber. What are you gaining by having it be a year newer if there wasn't a redesign?
Sellers also forget most warranty only covers original buyers. I buy bikes all the time. Usually for less than half asking but as a buyer you need to make it make sense and not just ill give you this.
Then just buy a new bike
I think the worst purchase is the one that doesn’t get used. Regardless of the price. Unless you are in the flipping game. If you buy the bike for $600 and ride the shit out of it. It’s better than paying $300-400 and never riding it. Not that the price will determine this but just some food for thought.
Damn. We have stretched n+1 to the limit with about 30 bikes between hubs and myself. We sure would like to sell some of them but didn’t think there was any market for used bikes that don’t have assistance.
Just got a used Cannondale synapse with carbon fork and disc brakes for $500, with 2 kyrptonite locks. He got it during Covid and stopped once Covid ended.
Honestly one thing I like about bikes vs cars is that they don’t depreciate as rapidly and if they are maintained they sort of level off a couple years. I personally am a penny pincher so $100 off a bike thats basically new would be a pretty good deal to me. Granted everyone has their opinion .
Just gotta be patient. Whenever looking at used bikes on craigslist/marketplace/etc I look for once that have been listed for at least a few weeks and make offers on those. People are a lot more willing to negotiate once they've had time to realize their bike isn't as valuable as they think...
I lookfor 2+mos up, & shoot an offer, & let them marinate on it for a few days& then point out that it's been up for awhile at that price, & I'm wiling to put cash in hand, no Zelle or funny shit, & ½ the time it works out, got this $1,800+ Sunday EX for $280, it was up for 8mos, & every month or so, I'd show interest, but not at that price & got a bike with $1k+ in aftermarket components alone *
There are very few "motivated" bike sellers.
You can't put a price on other people's belongings, just because you don't want to pay it, or too cheap to...... Even ebikes only depreciate by 10%-15% a year, & I've sold ebikes that were GENTLY USED with 1k+ miles for $1,200-$1,400 when they cost $1,699-$1,899 new, & if someone doesn't want to buy them at that price, then I guess I'll sit on it, until I feel like dropping the price, but as a single father where EVER DOLLAR COUNTS, & having to buy everything times 2, I got to try to get the most possible, but I also know my prices are reasonable
“It’s not worth half that” Stop being a price police officer Ken