Thursday, February 12, 2009

Selling whole bikes

It is sacrilegious to part out a complete bike in the collectors world. With that said, it is unspoken truth that it happens all too often for many reasons, but the main one being that generally the parts are worth more than the whole. Someone willing to spend $200 on a set of Campagnolo Nuovo Record wheels and $75 for a set of Stronglight cranks and $100 for Campagnolo Nuovo Record derailleurs and shifters, makes it hard to try to sell the complete bicycle for $500-$600. That still leaves many parts on the frame and the frame might then sell for a couple hundred dollars itself. This is the case with the Motobecane Le Champion bicycle seen here in the photograph. I have received offers of $300 for the complete bike, when it was listed on ebay, but have also received an offer of $200 alone for the wheels.I am keeping the bike together, as it is an example of a nice French road bike from the early 1970s. They are getting harder to find in this original state. I offered it on Ebay to no avail so I finally decided to just add it to the website for sale and hopefully there it will find a good home.

Next is the Rudge Pathfinder. Nice late 1950s-early 1960s bike. Paint and graphics are beautiful. Appears the frame was originally designed for a rear derailleur, as it has a braze on shifter boss and a gear cable stop on the chainstay. Currently it is set up with a Sturmey Archer SW 3 speed hub, which dates the wheel to 1957, as it was availible for one year. The bike looks as if it was never setup with the shifter and derailleur, on as a 3 speed bicycle. This beautiful bike is now looking for a loving home as well.

More pics of the Motobecane and full description of the bicycle can be found on the Bikeville website. Sorry for the shamless promotion, but just some my current thoughs.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I've got that same Rudge Pathfinder frame...looking for a time to do a build...I guess

Craigzagreb said...

I am looking for a 57 Pathfinder to rebuild if yours is still for sale. Craigzagreb@hotmail.com