Hi Mike:
No guide can comprehend all prices or gross variability in prices (of bikes or any collectible). The best that can be hoped for is a guide indicating current average prices for the more commonly sold bikes. And this is no mean task. Highs ( epic eBay battles) and lows (tag sale finds) have little relevance. Forget about prices for unique parts-they'll get what ever a very dedicated collector can pay. Furthermore, a guide would be of limited value for the very experienced collector or dealer-they already know the stuff. Such a guide would probably be of most value to the new and mid-level collector. But from their ranks would come the future of the hobby.
I'd be happy to subscribe to a price guide, especially if a man of your prestige prepared it.
In any event, good luck with all your undertakings,
George
George Hollenberg MD
Westport, CT, USA
> Hi CR folks,
>
> Yes the price guide update I'm supposed to write is on the slow
> track - especially with time I'm putting into Rene Herse
> Bicycles Inc.
>
> The big stumbling block to the price guide is the variability in
> the market. For the same reason folks want a price guide, it is
> also extremely difficult to develop. In a sense, average (or
> mean) price is easy to come up with, but the stinker is wrapping
> my brain around capturing price variability. The market for
> vintage road bikes in general is extremely thin. It isn't like
> trying to place a value on an excellent Leica M3 single stroke,
> or a MCintosh MC240 amplifier. Some of those collectibles
> change hands multiple times in a day - how many of the Peugeots
> like the one in question change hands? - and how many of the
> exact same vintage with the cool plastic stuff yet with the
> alloy rail saddle and the mod 63 crank? And in that size? I
> bet there are perhaps NO close comps!
>
> The kicker is if a bike has something slightly cool that
> captures the imagination of only two folks on ebay, then for
> less than the cost of adding a bunch of options to a mid-line
> BMW automobile someone can pay a seemingly crazy sum for a
> particular bike.
>
> My latest thoughts are to come up with "gut" what it should
> typically sell for prices, and then rate particular bikes with
> the relative probablilty that the bike might sell for much more.
>
> I have worked on some price-value-templates, and it gets mighty
> ugly pretty fast. At some point I might bite into the project
> again (I had played with it only a couple of weeks ago), but to
> do it right is no picnic.
>
> Mike Kone in Boulder CO
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: gholl@optonline.net
>
> > I gather many feel that the price lately paid for a PX-10 on
> eBay was excessive.
> > Perhaps it was.
> > But, in the absence of a current price guide, how is one to
> know what the "right
> > price" for a vintage bike really is?
> > The topic of a current price guide for vintage bikes generally
> is not well
> > received on CR-but many who decry the price guide idea are
> quick to find fault
> > with some poor soul who has "paid too much".
> > Most times on CR inquiries about price of bikes and components
> are held in
> > contempt-until a high price is reached-then comments abound-
> almost always
> > derogatory ones. It would seem that one can't have it both
> ways. If the rules
> > or convention prohibit such inquires on CR that's fine-but
> there should be
> > somewhere to find such information. Some info is present on
> eBay itself, but
> > it's too limited to be really useful.
> > I think such a vintage bike price guide is badly needed-almost
> every other form
> > of collectible has a current price guide.
> > Some collectibles have several.
> > George Hollenberg MD
> > Westport, CT, USA
> >
> >
> > George Hollenberg MD
> > CT, USA
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
>
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA