Good investment?

pilot_pete

What do you reckon? http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/bianchi-unveils-oltre-xr-gimondi-70-35675/ if you were to buy one of these and just store it would it go up in value over time? Say 10 years, then 20 years? I mean as long as it was never ridden, you keep all the extras that come with it, service it every now and again to ensure it will still work etc.

What other bikes do you thin would represent an investment opportunity? Perhaps one of these http://road.cc/content/image/6263-colnago-ferrari-cf7

PP

MountainMonster

Bikes are not investments in any form. No matter how lovely a bike is, you will almost never get all your money back.

Captainlip

well said

nolight

It will go up in value 500 years after you are dead.

Grill

Perfectly good bike that's never ridden = waste of money

marcusjb

Absolutely agree that bikes would very rarely make a good investment (a few rare exceptions of really iconic machines like the Lotus 108 or a machine ridden by a true legend of yesteryear (I hear you can now pick up one of Lance's Treks for about £2.39)). It just isn't special enough for anyone to pay more than you'd pay for it now in coming years - there are quite a lot of them (70) and I am sure that any Bianchi collectors out there will already be on the list to buy one - but there can't be that many collectors out there that some will miss out.

There are better returns out there for a £10K investment.

Bikes are to be ridden, not hung on walls.

ugo.santalucia

Look, even a 50th anniversary super record groupset in NOS conditions with certified serial number in the box is worth less than the original price (considering inflation, currency depreciacion etc... ) so there is no way a piece of plastic will be worth any more.
I recently purchased for a fiver a Gran Sport rear mech... in the 50s only a handful of riders could afford one... Mavic 501 hubs, the best money could buy in the late 80s... got them for 25 pounds in near showroom conditions... a NOS Colnago Master flogs on Ebay for less than the new Colnago Master... the list is endless

LegendLust

Bikes are like cars. They depreciate.

de_sisti

Pete, if you want something that will appreciate in a few years time, why not just buy a couple of Rolex watches.
1994 I bought an Explorer II for £1575. They now retail for close on £3000. The same sort of appreciation could be
said of other Rolex watches. I'd make a good profit if I sold mine now.

meesterbond

De Sisti wrote:

Pete, if you want something that will appreciate in a few years time, why not just buy a couple of Rolex watches.
1994 I bought an Explorer II for £1575. They now retail for close on £3000. The same sort of appreciation could be
said of other Rolex watches. I'd make a good profit if I sold mine now.

Although if you'd invested the money some long term bond and got, say 4% back you'd have even more that the £3k it might be worth now.

Watches, like bikes, aren't actually a particularly great investment vehicle.

ugo.santalucia

De Sisti wrote:

Pete, if you want something that will appreciate in a few years time, why not just buy a couple of Rolex watches.
1994 I bought an Explorer II for £1575. They now retail for close on £3000. The same sort of appreciation could be
said of other Rolex watches. I'd make a good profit if I sold mine now.

that's 3.5% interest... barely covers the inflation or in other words they cost the same as 18 years ago, which makes sense...

Pat Murray

So your watch has gone up 3% per year at a time when inflation was running at an average of 6.2% - not really a good investment. By comparison the stock market would have given you 9.4% a year - your watch would need to have a value of nearly £7,000 to be comparable.

And don't forget you are considering the price of a new watch not your second hand one.

de_sisti

I bought the watch first and foremost because I wanted it as a watch. If I fell on hard times I could sell it and wouldn't have lost anything on it

Pat, I wasn't expecting a lesson in investments and economics. Perhaps I should have put one of these on my
post, as I was being a bit cheeky. :roll:

entershikari

Bikes are not investments in any form.

That is demonstrably false. If I buy bike to replace my car then it can be considered a very effective investment, saving much more than the cost of the bike within a few years.

Paul 8v

It's a bit like buying a Porsche, a new one will lose money, a vintage one like a 356 speedster will go up. Better place to put your money than the bank these days (And more fun)

How about a few Campagnolo 50th anniversary groupsets, easier to store too :-)

Paul 8v

But if I had that sort of money knocking about that Bianchi looks lovely!

saprkzz

MountainMonster wrote:

Bikes are not investments in any form. No matter how lovely a bike is, you will almost never get all your money back.

I own a 1990 Klein Attitude team USA that would disagree with you comment ok, its not an investment as it will never be sold, but I could get a more now than what i paid for it

de_sisti

Paul 8v wrote:

Better place to put your money than the bank these days .......is land; they don't make it any more.

:?:

Ok, I stole that from Woody Allen.

Paul 8v

saprkzz wrote:

I own a 1990 Klein Attitude team USA that would disagree with you comment ok, its not an investment as it will never be sold, but I could get a more now than what i paid for it

Ooh, nice :-)

confused@BR

Whatever you decide to invest in, don't choose wine! Drink it, you know it makes you unconscious.

Perhaps that should read 'makes sense'?

Nah.

Slack

meesterbond wrote:

De Sisti wrote:

Pete, if you want something that will appreciate in a few years time, why not just buy a couple of Rolex watches.
1994 I bought an Explorer II for £1575. They now retail for close on £3000. The same sort of appreciation could be
said of other Rolex watches. I'd make a good profit if I sold mine now.

Although if you'd invested the money some long term bond and got, say 4% back you'd have even more that the £3k it might be worth now.

Watches, like bikes, aren't actually a particularly great investment vehicle.

At least the watch is a tangible asset that you can keep at home. Money is merely paper tokens, with no underlying asset to pin its value.

Paul 8v

Exactly, same goes for gold coins/bars, not a good time to buy them at the moment though as in bad times the value goes up as people have no faith in the banks (Especially now!)

ugo.santalucia

Slack wrote:

meesterbond wrote:

De Sisti wrote:

Pete, if you want something that will appreciate in a few years time, why not just buy a couple of Rolex watches.
1994 I bought an Explorer II for £1575. They now retail for close on £3000. The same sort of appreciation could be
said of other Rolex watches. I'd make a good profit if I sold mine now.

Although if you'd invested the money some long term bond and got, say 4% back you'd have even more that the £3k it might be worth now.

Watches, like bikes, aren't actually a particularly great investment vehicle.

At least the watch is a tangible asset that you can keep at home. Money is merely paper tokens, with no underlying asset to pin its value.

This is a classic argument... reality is that the day money loses its value, you won't be able to sell a Colango... not for money, not for gold...
The entire capitalism is based on the assumption that money has some value... the day it stops having value, expect to be shot whilst enjoying a ride on the above Colnago

JamesB5446

So a gun would be the most sensible investment, then one can use it to acquire Colnagos?

ugo.santalucia

JamesB5446 wrote:

So a gun would be the most sensible investment, then one can use it to acquire Colnagos?

A gun is always a good investment if you can get it cheap and legal in X country and sell it illegally in Y country at 5 times the price... just don't complain when you get shot on your way back from Tesco...