Personally, I’d struggle to part with more than £1.5k I reckon – unless it was one of the few brands with transferrable warranty and also dripping with blingy kit.

Just wondered what other people thought, as I saw a guy is asking £3.2k for a s/h bike on the classifieds.

Depends on the condition and if the seller is agreeable to sort warranty out.

Also looking at that bike if the bits are in good nick then it might make that split.

All depends on what I could get a new one for etc.

That’s a great example of where splitting a bike makes more sense. It’s such a personal build choice and anyone looking for that type of purchase will want to spec their own. I think that’s probably true of anything above the £1.5k or so that you’ve suggested.

Difficult though – those frames were probably worth £2,500 when new. Who would buy one at that price and want to sell for 50% of that?

those frames were probably worth £2,500 when new

Well, that’s what SC charge for them, but whether they’re “worth” that much…

😉

I sold my last Top Fuel for £3400 I think it was. New bikes get more expensive, stands to reason second hand do as well.

I spent £1500 on a s/h S-Works Enduro in 2008 (£3200 new if I remember) from an LBS, it was a year old and immaculate. Ran it for a couple of years.

Then sold the frame, shock, wheels; brakes are on Son no. 1’s bike, XTR chainset is on my bike, 36’s are spare for when my forks are been serviced etc, and the rest is sat in my spares box.

But second the thoughts about spec; his spec seems a bit too heavy duty.

Like Druidh say, it makes more sense to split when getting into the thousands. Someone can go and get a decent new bike from a shop with 0% finance for that…with a warranty too. It’s easy to build up a bike costing 6 or 7k these days. A suppose a lot of those doing so will either keep them for years or upgrade the frames and use the old parts.

Hi
Paid £1750 for a year old Ibis Mojo with full XTR but only cos I knew the history and the seller would sort any warranty out.
Wouldnt normally go anywhere near that though.
Cheers
Steve

New bikes get more expensive, stands to reason second hand do as well.

But does it stand to reason?

The more money you pay, the more you’ll lose if the unwarrantied frame breaks.

For me I supopose it’s like “only gamble what you can afford to lose”.

I wouldn’t pay £1500 for a NEW bike, never mind a used one!

Same as anything that’s secondhand,it’s only worth as much as what someone’s prepared to pay for it…..

I’ve paid £1.5k from a shop for an ex-demo (Intense 5.5) with a rather nice spec, less than a year old.

When I went to pick it up, they’d fitted a complete new drive-chain, bearings and bushes throughout, Ride-on Cables, seat, seat-post, lock on’s and brake pads, then serviced the shock and the forks. So bar a few scrapes and a bit of cable rub it was effectively a brand new bike, for less than the price of a frame.

Its still going strong over 3 years later

Over 3 grand for a second hand bike off the classifieds? With no warranty? Good luck with that! 😀

I have a very similar bike to that one. I just wouldn’t sell it as a complete bike, even though it’s probably worth that I wouldn’t personally pay that for a second hand bike. I wouldn’t see it as saving money but loosing it if it ever broke or got damaged.

Selling that as bits is the way to go but I’m not sure he would get even selling it as bits.

I paid £1600 for a bike off the classifieds, turned out it was fine but it is a huge risk and when you are told that things were serviced last month but there is not receipts you have to take it on the chin. I found this after being told a shock had been serviced 6 months ago by Mojo. Turned out when Mojo put in the part number, when I sent it in due to an issue with the propedal lever, that the shock had never had a service but had been back 2 years ago for warranty work… Nature of the beast I guess, but as said above, only spend when you can afford to lose.

Depends on a number of factors but the bottom line is what is the best bike you can get for £1.5k. Talking into account the negatives of S/H (how much do you know about it / lack of warranty). You could also throw in the pro’s and con’s of buying from Germany or the states etc. All comes back to what is the best bike you can get and the level of risk you find acceptable.

My bike was £700 S/H. £700 new does not get you much in a frame or a spec list. £700 S/H can get you an excellent bike but there are the risks, up the budget and the same applies.

He wouldn’t get anywhere £3200 even if he split it.

It’s an interesting question and imho one the bike companies are going to have to look at if they want to keep increasing the cost of new bikes.

If people are not prepared to spend more on second hand bikes and there is no way for the original owner to trade in against a new bike (Possibly Leisure Lakes, but I don’t know anyone else) then it creates a problem.

Some people will buy an expensive bike and keep it for many years but I’d hazard a guess that most run them for ~3years max and then sell on when it’s still worth something. But as you say, if the most someone is prepared to pay for a full bike is ~£1500 then who is going to lay down the cash for a 4 – 5 or 6k bike knowing that in a year it’ll loose most of its value.

If you are spunking c£4k on a bike then you are in to silly money territory and you should expect to take a massive hit on the resale value.

In the price there is no doubt a big premium for the latest technology and bling when you come to sell it; it will be more mainstream or even superseded so the premium is gone along with the normal depreciation and the level of wear on some very expensive components. It all adds up to a massive write down in value.

The most I’d pay for any bike is £1,800. Second-hand bikes can be very good value if they have been under used. Personally, I rag the shyte out of mine and assume everyone else does the same. Which is why I tend to buy new.

Personally, I rag the shyte out of mine and assume everyone else does the same.

They don’t though, that’s the thing. And it’s usually not too hard to spot a bike that’s barely been ridden.

Or just buy from here, since there’s a higher % of mincers and mid-life crisis sufferers on STW than on Pinkbike.

He wouldn’t get anywhere £3200 even if he split it.

I didn’t want to say anything but yes, he does seem a bit hopeful.

£1k tops for a s/h one.

More if I was buying the parts separate though.

Just wondered what other people thought, as I saw a guy is asking £3.2k for a s/h bike on the classifieds.

I was watching one (carbon Tallboy) on eBay last week, ex-demo from a trail centre in scotland I think. Went for £2.5k in the end so I suppose someone got a bargain! More than I wanted to spend though, plus it had some nasty cable rub which was a shame – probably nothing to worry about but would certainly put me off spending that kind of money.

I paid a smidge over £1200 for my Transition Blindside, good spec, but it immediately needed a £200 fork service (had to have a coil conversion on the Boxxer WC’s as the air shock was toast).

That’s about my limit I think.

I’m lucky enough to have, in the past, spent big money on a couple of bikes…£4.5k and £3k. I bought them knowing that i would be keeping them for quite a while.I know there is no way I will get what I think the bikes are worth even though they are fastidiously maintained. You have to be realistic. He’d be better strippping it down. He might take a bit of a hit but no way is anyone gonna spend that much secondhand when there are now so many good bikes out there with,like d45tyh says 0% finance and warranty. People are gonna be more willing to shell out a couple of hundred quid on wheels/forks etc than 3.2k. who’s got that sort of money these days!!! I know i haven’t

The perfect seller is the mincing midlife crisis roady who thought he would give it a try. I bought my bike of a guy with a garage full of high end road bikes and other expensive toys that looked un-touched. He reckoned it had done a hundred miles, I think he was too embarrassed to confess he had ridden it once. I did more damage to it putting it on the car rack than he had done in 3 years of riding.