[Classicrendezvous] Price estimate boilerplate

(Example: Racing:Roger de Vlaeminck)

In-Reply-To: <4d.2325648.271e1f5e@aol.com>
References: <4d.2325648.271e1f5e@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 23:48:26 -0400
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Sheldon Brown" <CaptBike@sheldonbrown.com>
Subject: [Classicrendezvous] Price estimate boilerplate

Cousin Dale wrote:
>I get an amazing number of requests to place a value on all sorts of bikes.
>The cruel truth (and I am not being a wise guy) is that they are worth
>exactly what some one is ready and willing to pay for them..

Me too! If I were to try to answer them individually, I'd spend all of my waking hours on my compewter, instead of 80% like I do now. Fortunately, thanks to Eudora's "stationery" feature, I can answer most of these with a couple of clicks of my electronic rodent. I've got 4 versions, one for drop-bar bikes, one for English 3 speeds, one for Ballooners one for wheelie bikes, viz.: ******************************************************** I'm not actively involved in buying and selling collectible bikes, so I'm really not the best person to ask about the value of bikes.

What is a choice collectible to one person may be just some old bike to somebody else, so actual selling prices can vary over a tremendous range.

Nice old bikes can sometimes be picked up very cheaply at yard sales, or can sell for very high prices between collectors. This makes it very hard to set a value.

Used road bikes with drop handlebars are only desirable if they were originally very high end models--Reynolds 531 or Columbus frame tubing, aluminum wheel rims, etc.

A good place to sell a bike is the rec.bicycles.marketplace newsgroup. Make sure that you provide as much information as possible, including make, model, FRAME SIZE and whatever parts you can identify by name and model. A search of this newsgroup for bikes similar to your own may help you approximate the value of your own bike.

I have a lot of material on older bikes collected at: http://sheldonbrown.com/harart_oldbikes.html

For older road bikes, you could try the Old Roads/Menotomy "Vintage Lightweight" BB at: http://www.oldroads.com/d_eng_def.asp?rec_count=1

You might also consider offering it for sale on eBay: http://ebay.com/<blah>

All the best,

Sheldon Brown ******************************************************** I have a bunch of technical/historical material on my Web site about older British bikes. See: http://sheldonbrown.com/english-3.html http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer.html http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh.html http://sheldonbrown.com/sa50.html http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/three.html http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/sturmey.html http://sheldonbrown.com/sa-1935-8.html

I'm not actively involved in buying and selling collectible bikes, so I'm really not the best person to ask about the value of bikes.

What is a choice collectible to one person may be just some old bike to somebody else, so actual selling prices can vary over a tremendous range.

Nice old bikes can sometimes be picked up very cheaply at yard sales, or can sell for very high prices between collectors. This makes it very hard to set a value.

A good place to sell a bike is the rec.bicycles.marketplace newsgroup. Make sure that you provide as much information as possible, including make, model, FRAME SIZE and whatever parts you can identify by name and model. A search of this newsgroup for bikes similar to your own may help you approximate the value of your own bike.

For older British bikes, especially 3-speeds, you could try the Old Roads/Menotomy "English Roadster" BB at http://www.oldroads.com/d_eng_def.asp?rec_count=1

You might also consider offering it for sale on eBay: http://ebay.com/<blah>

All the best,

Sheldon Brown ******************************************************** I'm not actively involved in buying and selling collectible bikes, so I'm really not the best person to ask about the value of bikes. In addition, I'm not particularly interested in bikes of this sort, so I'm not all that knowledgeable about them.

What is a choice collectible to one person may be just some old bike to somebody else, so actual selling prices can vary over a tremendous range.

Nice old bikes can sometimes be picked up very cheaply at yard sales, or can sell for very high prices between collectors. This makes it very hard to set a value.

A good place to sell a bike is the rec.bicycles.marketplace newsgroup. Make sure that you provide as much information as possible, including make, model, and whatever parts you can identify by name and model. A search of this newsgroup for bikes similar to your own may help you approximate the value of your own bike.

For old balloon tire bikes, you could try the Old Roads/Menotomy "Balloon Tire Bikes" discussion group at: http://oldroads.com/d_bll_def.asp?rec_count=1

You might also consider offering it for sale on eBay: http://ebay.com/<blah>

My Chicago Schwinns page has some links that may be of some use to you: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chicago_schwinns.html

All the best,

Sheldon Brown ******************************************************** I'm not actively involved in buying and selling collectible bikes, so I'm really not the best person to ask about the value of bikes. In addition, I despise bikes of this style, so I've never cared to study up on the various models.

What is a choice collectible to one person may be just some old bike to somebody else, so actual selling prices can vary over a tremendous range.

Nice old bikes can sometimes be picked up very cheaply at yard sales, or can sell for very high prices between collectors. This makes it very hard to set a value.

A good place to sell a bike is the rec.bicycles.marketplace newsgroup. Make sure that you provide as much information as possible, including make, model, and whatever parts you can identify by name and model. A search of this newsgroup for bikes similar to your own may help you approximate the value of your own bike.

For old wheelie bikes, you could try the Menotomy "Muscle Bikes" discussion group at: http://members.aol.com/videomap/muscle.htm

You might also consider offering it for sale on eBay: http://ebay.com/<blah>

My Chicago Schwinns page has some links that may be of some use to you: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chicago_schwinns.html

All the best,

Sheldon Brown
      Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772, 617-244-1040, FAX 617-244-1041
            http://harriscyclery.com
       Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
            http://captainbike.com
    Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
            http://sheldonbrown.com