As I ponder a potential used bike purchase that is far in excess of anything I’ve ever spent on a bike before, I got to thinking about whether there is a perceived amount that people generally won’t go above for a used bike?

I see plenty of halo bikes that must have cost upwards of £5k to put together being offered for sale, barely used, for a variety of prices – but many of them seem to go for a lot less than I would have expected.

Is the fact that bike warranties aren’t transferable that keeps used values so low even when a bike is only a few rides old? I know that it’s a major consideration for me – buying a bike at sub-£1k used when the frame might only cost a few hundred to replace if it fails is a lot less of a risk than a halo model where a new frame might be nearly £2k.

Just a Sunday evening ponder…

Sold one for £4k (not mine), so isn’t really a limit just depends on original spec.

Unless you really covet a particular bike, for most of us its probably when you can get a new bike that will arguably do the same thing for the same money.

If you’d spent £5K building a bike, selling it for £2K would hurt, but £2K buys you a lot of new and fully warrantied metal

£2K Big mountain basher options

so you’d have to really want that brand to overlook the new alternatives.

The most expensive bike Ive ever bought complete was a used bike, a Mk.1 Nomad, which I’d lusted after since it was released. It rode like a dog 🙄