Not a stealth ad, by the way, but…..

I’m trying to shift three bikes at the moment (they are all on the classifieds here, and plastered everywhere else on the web too!) and I can’t shift them…..

Those how know me know I don’t keep any of my bikes long, so I’m well used to shifting stuff on so I can fuel my “habit”, and I’d normally expect to shift a bike in a week by adjusting the price down to a suitable/acceptable level to move it on…..you can sell anything if it’s cheap enough, I suppose!

But I don’t seem to be able to shift these….and I’ve noticed some nice stuff hanging around for a long time in the classifieds, reposts on eBay, etc…..

Is it the economy? New bikes are so cheap now? Time of year maybe?

Anyone having the same trouble??

Silly referendum summer 2016, weakened pound, essentials costing more. Less money to change bikes every few weeks, or buy other “treats.”

Stuff moves on… The Heckler is very old skool, might have more success on retrobike, but it’s definitely not a mainstream sale these days. The Piranrello is likewise a bit old hat and not really like modern road bikes. And the singlecross… check ebay sold prices 😉

[dick mode]Well one of your bikes has bent forks and is a touch overpriced, another is just overpriced and the third should be advertised on bikemuseumtrackworld. [/dick mode]

But seriously, have you tried your local cycling FB buy/sell groups? Might be a better fit for those fine machines than here?

Not a stealth ad, by the way, but…..

I’m trying to shift three bikes at the moment (they are all on the classifieds here,

Welcome to the forum 🙄

To continue the /dick mode posting above, the spec on the Heckler will put anyone off on here – better off selling the frame on Retrobike surely? – and I bought a Tricross of that year/spec about 4 years ago for £180 and sold it for £150.

I had a bike up for sale around the end of last year/start of this. Had 0 interest despite asking a fair price going by what others had sold for.

I put it down to bad time of year and tried again in March/April time. Various forums, etc but only had 1 reply. Even trying to move it via a re-seller saw me offered a silly low amount.

Despite the fact it was meant to go to pay towards the replacement, I have ended up with both.

I apprecite ‘just keep’ isn’t the answer for most situations like this but it is how I ended up.

I’m trying to shift three bikes at the moment … and I can’t shift them…..

The only answer is the obvious one, they’re priced too high*.

Why nobody wants to spend money on 2nd hand bikes is another question…that’s probably a mix of time of year** (holidays etc.), general economy, exceptional value of new bikes these days, and proliferation of new standards making some (not so) old bikes less desirable than before.

* + ** might mean that they’re priced too high right now, but 3 months ago or in 3 months time they might shift.

EDIT – having looked at your ads I’d say just too high, the Tricross especially, half your asking price and it enters ‘reasonable’ territory.
I’d split the heckler up and sell in bits, it’ll all shift and quicker than in it’s current thrown together mishmash build. The Pinarello seems a little overpriced, but not massively, time to sell road bikes was a few months ago though.

Fair enough – I thought the Pinarello was a bargain personally given the condition but as I said, everything has it’s leveland I suppose I haven’t found it!

– I’ll keep chopping the prices and see where I get to –

Also the FB pages idea is a good one, I’ll give that a try

Looking at those three, the Pinarello is £400 max and would appeal to a first time racer who doesn’t want to crash their best bike – sell it as such, not as the best road bike in the world.

The Tricross is, frankly, in no fit state for sale – £150 max and it’s known as a not particularly well-handling bike of its type – non matching wheels for £350, not a chance.

The Heckler is really now aimed at a growing teen who’s parents know the value of a once great bike, but don’t want to splash out. Drop the price and aim it at that market.

People will still buy if it’s a bike they want and the price is right. I sold a Genesis CdA in a couple of days a few weeks ago.

In contrast to your point OP I’ve been asking where all the bargains have gone!?

Couple of years ago a look through the classifieds on a typical week usually showed a couple of good full suss bikes, forks, brakes and wheels that were all genuine bargains!

Now I see some of the prices and just scratch my head!

The heckler is an odd ball. Think you’ll have much more luck splitting that and posting.

If you do if be interested in the forks.

Fair enough – I thought the Pinarello was a bargain personally given the condition but as I said, everything has it’s leveland I suppose I haven’t found it!

It’s an old aluminium bike with a load of obsolete parts. Doesn’t really matter what it says on the downtube.

Agree with the others, the Tricross is worth £150 at the very most. Wasn’t it only about £400 new, with matching wheels and a less horrific saddle!?

Nowt wrong with the market, everything wrong with your adverts!

In contrast to your point OP I’ve been asking where all the bargains have gone!? I see some of the prices and just scratch my head!

In this case I don’t think there is a contrast, they’re one and the same point 😉

If it helps, I sold a bunch of bikes and framesets recently including a load of 26″ stuff and it went far easier than I expected. So I don’t think a catastrophic global collapse of the secondhand bicycle market is necessarily nigh.

Aye, after 8 years of almost exclusively classified posts, you’d think he’d have the art of selling nailed down 😆

Aye, after 8 years of almost exclusively classified posts, you’d think he’d have the art of selling nailed down

He has, that’s why the market is the problem, obvs…

Agree with most of the above.

I’d also have to question why a road bike that has only been used 4 times has both cable and heel rub on the frame/cranks.

I’d also have to question why a road bike that has only been used 4 times has both cable and heel rub on the frame/cranks.

Storage wear isn’t it?

Oh it’s stealth ad time!

Is anyone interested in buying or swapping a lightly used Trek Stache? Not an ad, just trying to get a feel for the situation 😉

n0b0dy0ftheg0at – Member
Silly referendum summer 2016, weakened pound, essentials costing more. Less money to change bikes every few weeks, or buy other “treats.”

this

I’ve spent the last 8 months shifting loads of old kit with no bother at all, including a 26″ 2008 Patriot for £700 and a 2013 26″ Five for £1,200. New standards don’t help, but the right bike at the right price will still go. There’s always an element of luck too, of course.

funkmasterp – Member
Oh it’s stealth ad time!

Is anyone interested in buying or swapping a lightly used Trek Stache? Not an ad, just trying to get a feel for the situation

😆

I think I sold the exact same Tricross when it was only a year old and decent condition, with all original kit (matching wheels and Specialized saddle) and could only sell it for about £200 (just under half what I paid for it) back then….

IME many of the people who used to look at buying decent bikes 2nd hand now buy Canyons, YT’s and Radons.

It’s kinda killed the quality 2nd hand market.

The photos aren’t helping, they seem a bit fuzzy and really hard to get a view of the condition of the components. Other than that is as others have said; pricing too high, not enough demand for what you are selling, probably by about 50%

i tried selling a 26″ Soul a couple of months back and had zero interest at all at what I thought was a very fair price. I guess I was wrong.

Mmmm. Interesting feedback in here….thanks for that

I suspect that the market is polarising between two widening purchase points: new bikes on credit and used bikes made up from parts.

I think this is also enabled / fuelled by trends such as people feeling like they have less time, greater availability of credit, price focus and getting very used to things arriving at their door through the click of a button. At least three of these trends work against the classic model of going to someone’s house to inspect and potentially buy a used bike.

Finally, there has been accelerating “obsolescence”. Purchasers may not see beyond that 135mm QR back end, even if the rest of the bike is on-trend.

Personally, I’d highly recommend breaking for sale separately.

As per Ben H – split them. There’s always a market for well priced bits and pieces.

This site gives some idea of S/H prices. It’s more relivant to the US market but not far out for over here. Has the Pinarello coming in at sub £400.

https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/searchlistingdetail.aspx?id=3030271

Last summer, TimP on here bought my (2009?) black Tricross Singlecross. It needed bits doing to get it roadworthy after my Xmas 2013 RTA, including replacing the stem (which I threw in) and a front wheel that had an almost certain terminal rim damage.

I wanted to sort it myself, but my confidence in rim brakes vanished after that RTA. I threw in my 2006 Elite turbo trainer; turbo tyre; pair of used (but not very worn) Marathon Plus tyres (which I had no intention of ever trying to fit to a bike for a couple of hours ever again) for £100.

Tim seemed happy, perhaps got a bit of a bargain, I was happy with a bit of cash to cover a few upgrades on the Wazoo.

Silly referendum summer 2016, weakened pound, essentials costing more. Less money to change bikes every few weeks, or buy other “treats.”

Went into the LBS where I bought a “clearance” bike 12 months ago to see what this year’s deals were. They have the same type of bike up for sale (i.e. last year’s model to clear) and it’s a full £1000 more expensive. Oh, and that’s for XT instead of XTR too.

I’ve chatted to them previously about this and they looked at their feet and admitted that the import prices had gone through the roof and they were simply passing this along. I’ve decided to skip this year’s upgrade 😉

n0b0dy0ftheg0at – yup very happy with it. Still on the original bars which will be changed bearing in mind the size and intensity of your crash!

It did the SSEUCX champs in Brighton, and now is my daily commuter, running fixed.

Front wheel was binned, changed the awful looking original Spec forks for some lovely Kinesis carbon ones, new bar tape, new shorter stem, a pink perch with a lighter seatpost. I got the Marathons on, but feared ever having to take them off out in the wild so they lasted a month, so on some Conti slicks. Going to get some vinyl stickers to cover some of the paint damage and the loud graphics.

Would not expect to get much more than I paid if I sold it today (not a stealth advert as it is my geared Tricross that I need to sell. Its a 56cm)

I’ve taken on board all the comments above – prices on all of them are drastically reduced now so let’s see what happens…! 😀