Well, if you’d like to give away bicycles there’s a hot market out there! I put two very nice bicycle frames and a complete, custom bicycle out on FleaBay for a week and the results were, well… uninspiring. On the bright side, I paid to put reserves on all three in anticipation of a weak market.
Let’s see, I put a $900 reserve on Debbie’s full Campy custom Ritchey and received 23 bids where the highest bid was $385. I’m pretty sure the Chorus / MAVIC wheelsets sell for the mid-300’s alone on FleaBay, that is without tires. The tires alone are $90… Please.
The almost mint Bianchi MegaX Tour de France / Team Mercatone Uno frame carried a reserve of $400 and collected 27 bids where the highest was $280. Not a chance. Oh, but there were plenty of post-auction requests to sell it off Ebay. Hmmm, I’ve jokingly called Ebay FleaBay but now I’m thinking that’s pretty much what it’s become, it’s just missing the run-down, drafting building alongside the old US Route XX.
My $2,400 Erickson custom frame — also in mint condition — carried a $1,200 reserve and garnered 16 bids where the max bid was $365. Thinking back on the original cost, that wouldn’t cover the paint or the custom lug work. If that’s the true fair market for something like a hand-made custom frame I just as soon send it off to Florida so it can be with the matching tandem (just kidding Al, don’t get too excited).
So, I’m thinking I’ll just hold on to them and see if the market warms-up in the spring. If not, then it looks like I’ll continue to be a collector and our kids will just have to figure out what to do with all of those bikes that their crazy step-dad kept hanging in the garage or stuffed in closets!
TG
WPH one of your readers from BF here. That Ritchey is a lovely little bike, if Mrs WPH was a bit shorter and we lived in the States I would buy it from you.
I think I will continue to acquire bike stuff and that the kiddlings will have to work out what to do with it in a few decades time. Better to keep it in the shed than get a broken heart disposing of it to people who have no sense of its value (monetary or sentimental).
Cheers
WPH
Hi, I know its far fetched but do you still have the Bianchi bike? And would you still be interested in selling?
Yes, I still have it: it’s now wall art. 🙂
Haha. Sounds fantastic. I am looking for the fork for my Pantani build. Would you be interested in selling that? And maybe the frame a swell?
So no selling then? 🙂
Sorry, no… I’ve decided to hold onto it and most of my other frames.
Thats alright. Its a fantastic frame so I don’t blame you 🙂