Ebay - are people insane?
rolf_f
Posts: 16,015
I'm trying to pension my P7 off the commute run for all but bad weather with a retro racer but it is becoming a bit of a pain!
I'm not too fussy - don't mind something that needs a strip and clean up as long as the components are mostly serviceable. Probably prefer something from the 80s - ideally either a Raleigh or Peugeot for nostalgic reasons. Don't want to pay silly money (particularly as the B2W scheme is currently running at work so a new bike would be effectively 40% off retail price). The main restriction is that any bike that needs seeing needs to be near enough not to waste a tank of fuel on it! However, the problem is the silly amounts people will spend.
First one up was a late 80s Raleigh Triathlon - nice enough thing, Reynolds 531 main tubes and Shimano 105 equipment. Only really used in its first year and stored since. Unfortunately, both wheels were out of true, tyres knackered and the frame had more rust spots than the average Grimsby trawler (the description wasn't really unfair - just not detailed). Given that, whilst OK, it is certainly no top quality bike and the 2 pics were low res and not sharp and the bike needed a strip, clean and wheel truing plus new tyres, I was staggered that it made it to 70 quid (sight unseen I think).
Anyway, move forward and I found a Peugeot nearby. One photo, low res, very blurry, just recogniseable as a Peugeot (flash glare does it some favours though...). Only negative in the short description was knackered tyres. Went to see it and it was OK - everything moved smoothly despite not having been cleaned since the 80s! The frame was scuffed here and there but more down to bad storage than much use. However, it isn't an uprange bike. Seatpost and wheels in plated steel and badly spotted (but at least true) and frame from Peugeots bespoke Carbolite cast iron tubing. Back of the chainwheels quite rusty. Spec not great either - plasticky simplex rear mech and shifters etc but capable of making into a perfectly decent commuter once new tyres and tubes, brake blocks and cables, bar tape plus thorough cleaning had been sorted.
However, no way for £54 - with a good £25-30 still to spend to get it on the road. Again, I think bought sight unseen. Why do people keep bidding up this sort of thing? An old Raleigh Record with quite a few Campag bits made only £26 but that was in Nottingham so not much use for me. Really quite nice bikes with nothing needing often only make a ton so why buy a bottom ender needing work for over 50?
Below is the Peugeot - and below that is the ebay image that someone used to justify spending £54 on...... Almost makes me want to buy new but that wouldn't be half as much fun!!
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I'm not too fussy - don't mind something that needs a strip and clean up as long as the components are mostly serviceable. Probably prefer something from the 80s - ideally either a Raleigh or Peugeot for nostalgic reasons. Don't want to pay silly money (particularly as the B2W scheme is currently running at work so a new bike would be effectively 40% off retail price). The main restriction is that any bike that needs seeing needs to be near enough not to waste a tank of fuel on it! However, the problem is the silly amounts people will spend.
First one up was a late 80s Raleigh Triathlon - nice enough thing, Reynolds 531 main tubes and Shimano 105 equipment. Only really used in its first year and stored since. Unfortunately, both wheels were out of true, tyres knackered and the frame had more rust spots than the average Grimsby trawler (the description wasn't really unfair - just not detailed). Given that, whilst OK, it is certainly no top quality bike and the 2 pics were low res and not sharp and the bike needed a strip, clean and wheel truing plus new tyres, I was staggered that it made it to 70 quid (sight unseen I think).
Anyway, move forward and I found a Peugeot nearby. One photo, low res, very blurry, just recogniseable as a Peugeot (flash glare does it some favours though...). Only negative in the short description was knackered tyres. Went to see it and it was OK - everything moved smoothly despite not having been cleaned since the 80s! The frame was scuffed here and there but more down to bad storage than much use. However, it isn't an uprange bike. Seatpost and wheels in plated steel and badly spotted (but at least true) and frame from Peugeots bespoke Carbolite cast iron tubing. Back of the chainwheels quite rusty. Spec not great either - plasticky simplex rear mech and shifters etc but capable of making into a perfectly decent commuter once new tyres and tubes, brake blocks and cables, bar tape plus thorough cleaning had been sorted.
However, no way for £54 - with a good £25-30 still to spend to get it on the road. Again, I think bought sight unseen. Why do people keep bidding up this sort of thing? An old Raleigh Record with quite a few Campag bits made only £26 but that was in Nottingham so not much use for me. Really quite nice bikes with nothing needing often only make a ton so why buy a bottom ender needing work for over 50?
Below is the Peugeot - and below that is the ebay image that someone used to justify spending £54 on...... Almost makes me want to buy new but that wouldn't be half as much fun!!
Faster than a tent.......
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Ah, nostalgia. A Peugeot Elan was my first proper racing bike. £140 in 1987. I got the upgrade bug bigtime and within six months it had new wheels, saddle, seatpin, pedals, brakes, gears, chainset. Actually probably the only thing that was the same was the frame
Which I then replaced when the seat tube sheared through just above the BB a few years later... great days 0 -
I put a bid for £20 in on that Peugeot, and I was as amazed as you to see what it went for (though I wasn't able to go and look at it). I was planning to strip off the drivetrain and run it fixed.
Shame it went for so much really...0 -
Ok. Seem to remember it being thinner than that. Fairly certain it was Carbolite 103 tubing (but my memory may be playing tricks) which according to sheldon...redvee wrote:JonGinge wrote:Oh, one thing with those old Peugeots is the seatpin diameter is unique to them. Shimming or machining required to get a modern post to fit. Buyer beware a bit
Think it's 25.0mm
http://sheldonbrown.com/seatpost-sizes-m-z.html
My Peugeots Aravis from the same time has 531Pro tubing and that is a 25mm pin0 -
I think the fashion for converting old racers to fixed is what's driving the prices so high. Maybe you should shop for bikes with vertical droupouts.
A few months ago I got a lovely 531 Peugeot with full 105 for £120 in near unused condition. I think a deal like that would serve you better as a commuter than something a little cheaper and a lot more knackered.
Matthew0 -
MajorMantra wrote:I think the fashion for converting old racers to fixed is what's driving the prices so high. Maybe you should shop for bikes with vertical droupouts.
A few months ago I got a lovely 531 Peugeot with full 105 for £120 in near unused condition. I think a deal like that would serve you better as a commuter than something a little cheaper and a lot more knackered.
Matthew
Yeah - but I've seen one old racer advertised as 'vertical dropouts so ideal for fixie conversion'
I am coming to the conclusion myself that the more expensive bikes represent far better value for money. I do find it odd also that you can pay more for a single speed conversion than the same bike with the components still on it! Still, I'm in favour of anything that encourages recycling.whyamihere wrote:I put a bid for £20 in on that Peugeot, and I was as amazed as you to see what it went for (though I wasn't able to go and look at it). I was planning to strip off the drivetrain and run it fixed.
Shame it went for so much really...
I was going to go up to £31 as the vendor (nice bloke as it happens) said he could drop it off at my house! The mech was running ok but fixed would probably be better in the long run for it.Faster than a tent.......0 -
Exactly the same forces which drove the property market.
I have recently noticed that the price of frames being sold for conversion seems to have fallen as the market get flooded with any old tat found in the shed.
I think a lot of people have paid £30-50 for an old frame and realised that a set of 'fixie wheels' will cost £100, other bits quickly add up and they need to buy the tools. Suddenly the cheap conversion aint so cheap* compared to good second hand 'new' fixie/ss easily found at £200.
* and unless you know what you're doing it's still a piece of rusty sh1te
*possiby thats just my experience“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
Am I missing something here? Is £54 really that expensive for a perfectly serviceable bike that in all likelyhood will last at least another few years? A pair of half decent tyres will cost you £20-£30 these days, do you honestly expect to get a full bike for the same money? Stop being so tight.
I'm wary about old Peugeot's anyway for the reason JonGinge mentions. Odd seatposts sizes on some models. Do some not also have weird French threaded bottom brackets too, making finding replacements almost impossible?0 -
In some ways maybe £54 isn't so much. However, that bike wasn't really that desirable when new and it certainly wasn't serviceable now. As it happens, you can get decent Schwalbe tyres for £16 a pair but you still need to add on new brake blocks (definitely needed), new cables (maybe) and the wheels are pretty rusty (can see in my photo). If he'd made it rideable for the money maybe a different story. Probably wouldn't have gone for anymore though!
If you add on to that the unknown mileage (the vendor himself bought it second hand) and the plastic derailleur etc, and I think £200 for a new bike looks like better value.
I think that Peugeot is a bit less risky parts wise than many. As I understand it, by the mid 80s most of the French standards were obsolete anyway. Besides, you can get anything you need on Ebay (at a price!!).Faster than a tent.......0 -
I got my old bike for £30 but realisticly (and i knew this) most of the parts would be shot, and i did have to travel.
it mostly has modern parts hanging off it now bar the odd thing like the old front derailer. I kept it downshifters but moved to indexed.
unless your very lucky you'll need to travel and most will need work as will have been in a shed etc...0 -
Try car boot sales etc - I have an 80's Raliegh Pursuit, quite rusty but in perfect working order otherwise, bar needing new tyres and a shift lever (one is snapped)
My brother bought it at a local car boot sale for the princely sum of £2.50. Yes, thats two pounds and fifty pence.
There is also a raleigh MTB (pretty basic one) that we keep in my dad's garage for my uncle to use when he is over from Dubai, bought for the massive price of £20. Yes, twenty pounds for a basic yet fully functioning bike. Again all we needed were two cheap tyres and half an hours fettling and it was good to go.
I guess what im trying to say is if you avoid the obvious channels like ebay you find stuff for sale at a more realistic value.twitter @fat_cyclist0 -
Missed another Peugeot at the weekend. Very nice mid 80s Triathlon - 3000 miles or so on it, few marks, little rust, attractive colour scheme etc. Just in need of new tyres.
But it was just 501 main tubes and it went for £180 which, again, seems a lot. Disappointed though. Coincidentally, a mate dropped off his Dads old bike to look at and tidy up - and that is a late 80s 531 main tube Peugeot Triathlon. Nice if a bit dodgy in colour scheme.
Anyway, I finally did succeed in getting something this Monday. £120 for a full 531 framed (ie stays as well as main frame) 70s 12 speed bike in what appears to be very good nick and in ready to ride condition. Either a nice bike for reasonable money or an idiot purchase. If the former, pics will be posted Much better value than that Carbolite Peugeot by any standards. Faster than a tent.......0 -
God. I GAVE my eldest brother an old Raleigh bike of mine - suicide shifters and a 531 frame
Damn' it. I could've made some good money out of that! Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
2011 Trek Madone 4.5
2012 Felt F65X
Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter0 -
Kieran_Burns wrote:God. I GAVE my eldest brother an old Raleigh bike of mine - suicide shifters and a 531 frame
Damn' it. I could've made some good money out of that!
Count it as good karma!! A respectable 531 framed bike (even 501) will make a 3 figure sum any day of the week on Ebay. More if you mention 'fixie' in the listing :roll:
No bad thing really - old stuff ought to have a value.
Anyway, just make sure your brother knows not to chuck it on a skip ever........Faster than a tent.......0 -
I hadn't ridden it for 10 years and all it needed was a clean and lube. Tyres, brakes, everything was working perfectly. Damn' good bike actually.
Karma / money
Money / Karma
Hmmmm.... Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
2011 Trek Madone 4.5
2012 Felt F65X
Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter0 -
Kieran_Burns wrote:Karma / money
Money / Karma
Yeah, on the face of it, £100 is a large price to pay for the slight chance you get reincarnated as something better than a slug Faster than a tent.......0
