Greetings all, One of the joys(pains?) of working at a LBS is when someone walks in with a bike they want to sell. Most of the time they are POS bikes from the toy store down the street, once in a while a rose pushes through the thorns. An older woman came in a few weeks ago wondering what her old(er) Raleigh was worth. I asked her to bring it in explaining that Raleigh has made all kinds of bikes and I could not tell without seeing it. She brought it in yesterday. It is a Super Course from 1972, all original in excellent condition. The only thing missing is the Brooks saddle. The paint is not marked up and the chrome is not pitted. The tire hold air and the British tube is still in the front. The 531 decal is peeling, but is still there and all of the Carlton decals are intact. She had the original brochure and owners manual from when she bought it, but could not find the bill of sale...It has a Pelsher rack on the back and a steel front rack that mounts to the stem, this looks like it supports a box type bag. Add a REG spring loaded cage and bottle on the seat tube. Yes it is that British green with gold highlights around the Nervex Pro lugs. Now you are probably asking what she wanted for it. She asked for $200 which I told her she may be able to get either on line or at a swap because of the excellent condition. She did not want to bother with that so she took the $70 I had in my pocket and called it good. I don't know the British bikes as well as I know Italian bikes, so here is my question: Did I ripe her off, or did I help her out? I know it is a mid level bike, but I figured the originality and condition made it with at least the $70 I gave her. I do not intend to resell it, I may put it on the wall in the shop. We do currently carry Raleigh, so it will not be out of place.
At least I could bring it to the Cirque!,
Garry Nold
Olympia, WA