I feel your pain. I recently sold my wife's 1977 Trek silver brazed frame and fork on ebay (at least a listmember got it) for $150. She paid $450 for it in 1982. It had a very nice build quality, but no sex appeal.
Ebay is a 2 way street. I turned around and bought a mid 70's Holdsworth 531 touring (almost complete bike) for $300 and I was the only bidder.
No one would even meet my reserve price of $100 for a new in box complete with papers Campy Gran Sport brakeset last weekend. Ebay is currently a buyers market. In 2001, the Japanese were driving prices thru the roof.
Buying but no more selling.......
Keith Kessel Shreveport, La. USA
On Thu, January 29, 2009 12:20 pm, chasds@mindspring.com wrote:
> I just sold my Davidson:
>
>
> http://ebay.com/
> W0QQitemZ230320568519
>
>
> I basically broke even on it. Maybe I lost a little, but not much, if I
> did. I suppose had I parted it out I might have gotten a little more for
> it, and since I bought it as a frame and fork originally, and built it up
> as-sold, parting it out would have been no crime, but I'm too lazy to do
> that kind of thing. I much prefer selling whole bikes.
>
> Anyway, it seemed to me that this bike sold for a price that borders on
> surreal. Try ordering a frame like this from any custom maker, and the
> frame and fork alone will cost you over 2K easy. And this was a Bill
> Davidson, who is one of the grand-old-men of custom frame building, and
> who has been doing astonishingly beautiful work for a long, long time.
>
> Finally, the bike really rides like a dream. With some nice fat Paselas,
> it would ride even nicer. The person who bought it is local--I
> think--and they got a great deal. They got an all-purpose road-bike that
> is as good as anything you can buy now, modern or vintage, with a big
> dash of hand-made elegance, for the price of a nice beach cruiser...
>
> I'm happy to pass it along...no regrets about the price. But it seems a
> commentary on the strange little world we all inhabit. This bike, which
> is one of the nicer bikes I own, sold only because I'm out of space and
> because it really is a bit big for me, and because I have other bikes
> that do the same thing, is the equal of any more famous marque you can
> name, and better than most of those for most kinds of riding. And it
> sold for not much more than two pairs of Dugast tires.
>
> I guess I'm a little sad that Davidson doesn't get more regard. This is
> a hell of a nice frame, and every Davidson I ever saw has been the same,
> a superb piece of work.
>
> So it goes. I suppose it's the times, and the bike itself, as built,
> while first-class all the way, is not especially sexy. And, in our
> little world, as everywhere else, sex sells, by whatever name.
>
> I have a very sexy bike coming up next, a beautiful early '70s Pogliaghi
> in Faema colors. Be interesting to see what that one goes for.
> Functionally, the Davidson is the better bike, but, as we all know,
> function is sometimes the least of the matter--which is not to diss the
> Pog...it's a very, very sweet piece, low bottom bracket, long stays,
> relaxed angles. I'd not sell it ever, but it's too big for me... the
> pogliaghi/faema livery will put the price up there. But for sheer
> function? At best equal to the Davidson.
>
> Not the first time one of us has remarked on this kind of thing, but it
> struck me somehow, as the auction ended. Emotional intensity counts for
> far more than function when it comes to the price of a bicycle.