First of all I find this thread may be of great benefit to me in the future. My road bike is what? somewhere in the middle between the classic manufactures and the more mass produced or is it more top end (Doniselli from 63 or 64). But I do find that it only has a double crank does affect my one knee and am thinking in the future to obtain a triple crank for road riding. Is it possible to sell the Doniselli for more than I would pay for a good modern triple crank bike of somewhat the same quality? Will I be better off with an old classic bike or a modern one? Will the biggest difference be aesthetics (which are important as well)? The mention of used values to reflect quality is misleading. Used items are priced by how much one is willing to pay for it. Not long after mountain bikes became so popular, used road bikes (at least the less expensive ones) fell in price as people wanted mountain bikes. I was into photography during the end of the '70s and early '80s when programmable cameras became very popular and each year the previous models were left in the dust and became less expensive but the old manuals really dropped in price. Did they all of a sudden become items of less quality. Eventually I switched to an autofocus system that provides me with much better exposures than the manual one I had. View cameras are still a thing of beauty as well. Back to the bike content. It was mentioned that bikes were becoming disposable items like laptops. Sure, those who want the very "best" or newest will be selling a three year model and as it was an expensive one and those who can normally afford those will also want the best and newest, prices have to drop to attract buyers who either cannot afford the newest or are not that interested in it. Supply and demand. In 1986 I bought both a mountain bike and a computer. Bought a "replacement" bike last summer as needed another mtb anyway and am much happier with the new one than the old one. Replaced or updated the computer several times in that period. Current computers are 250 times faster than my 1986 model. If bikes had improved in speed that much I would not even own a car (or ever need to take plane rides LOL). People upgrade computers either to run new software or because time is money and more work in less time therefore more time to ride. My first mutlispeed bike was a hand me up (from my younger brother) Sears Free Spirit circ 1972. I dare anyone to find a worst made modern bike. Every ride meant fixing something else up.
Ivan Shukster
Medicine Hat, Alberta
1963/4 Doniselli
2001 Specialized Hard Rock
1986 BRC Columbus for running the dogs