Forum menu
I also find it strange that there are very very few 2nd hand ebike framesets on eBay
Becasue flogging a frame only is essentially a really niche way of buying/selling a thing that only real enthusiasts are willing to look at. I think the vast majority of all e-bikes (not just e-MTBs) are being bought by the sorts of folks who're back into cycling after a pause, or are casual users, I don't think they're "strip parts of old frame and build onto new frame" or "buy it all separately and build it yourself" kinda folks.
at the end of a typical three year contract, the value of a 1k phone is a couple of hundred at most
Largely because the battery can't be trusted...
The only residual value in anything, be that a bike, a car, a phone or a bag of haribo is the material is made from and how easy that is to extract. Anything else is simply market.
People accept the market for a 2nd hand phone is poor, up until a few years ago people willingly bought a £40k car knowing it would be worth £25k by the time they put number plates on it or drove home.
Being able to realise a significant portion of the purchase price of a bike is a relatively new thing (-50% - 10%pa, remember that?) and I can't see it lasting to be honest. It doesn't help that rrps have jumped by huge proportions (even allowing for 15% inflation) in the last 18 months and the second hand market is full of people who either paid rrp and want 50% of that (I find this very unlikely given the bike market is like DFS) or are trying to resell for marginally less than they paid (or more than, especially now that c2w can buy you an 8k bike, reduced to 6k paid for at 45% discount.)
In regards to the op, yeah I'd buy one, but I wouldn't pay what many people think they're worth.
Why the heck would anyone want to win someone else’s old phone?
Worse still, you can have a knicker draw. Probably popular in Japan.
“buy it all separately and build it yourself”
pretty much impossible to do this with an eeb. as no one sells frame only kits and certainly not without the motor/controller/battery. the motor/battery is the main cost. a manufacturer can chuck some cheap OEM parts on and sell it much easier.
i bought the cheapest new EEB i could and have upgraded parts and suspension over the last 2.5 yrs as required.
there is no way i could afford an eeb with top end kit.
I don’t think they’re “strip parts of old frame and build onto new frame” or “buy it all separately and build it yourself” kinda folks.
The cost of full bike is one of the things that put me off (and many many others) for the past couple of years - its only this year where massive discounts have been available on complete bikes where I've been able to invest in one.
& I only manage it as I did it on 0% and swapped out and sold pretty much every component on the bike with my existing bike (which had better parts) and had the finance paid within a month.
If a decent 2nd hand e-frame come up for sale I'd much rather have had that option.
Bike are generally always worth more in parts, I'll quite happily buy a cheap 2nd hand bike and strip it for parts and make a few hundred - it surprises me that this just doesn't happen when it comes to good quality emtb's.
Thing that worries me mostly about ageing ebikes or second hand ebikes is battery cell repair – I see places that can repair/service motors but not if you get a battery problem outside of warranty or even want to replace an old battery that is losing performance.
Another reason why I think there is a market for EEB's on utlity bikes with easily replaced or upgraded battery and motor tech.
I really liked the Cotic Cascade prototype with all the gubbins in a frame bag and easily replaceable/routed.
I sold my Scott e-genuis 2015 a few years ago but I replaced all the motor bearings beforehand and got a full dealer report to aid in the selling.
it surprises me that this just doesn’t happen when it comes to good quality emtb’s
That's because a 9k ebike comes with rs 35 silver forks, nx gears and shimano non series brakes which have the after market value of precisely SFA^(0.5)