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In my 10 years on the CABE, and before that, I have never posted a "what's it worth" thread. If your serious enough about this love we have, your GUT should know already! If you spend the time to follow and listen, your GUT will know! Following this forum and a few others will generally keep you abreast of what's up and down, if you take the time to read and listen!!! As far as the "one hit wonders" they are there in every field of collecting, it's really unavoidable.
 
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I am not a fan of the newly joined member immediately striking with the "what is this worth?" post. The motive is only commercial with no informational or educational purpose. Many never come back after they hear what they want. Worse, some ask the question then argue with people who answer when they don't like the answer (why ask then, if you already know everything). Frankly, I think appraisal inquiries should have their own sub-forum away from discussion areas. If you want to just come out with "what is this worth?", it should be in its own area where people enter and deal with it by their own accord.
I agree 1000%. It's an insult usually. If you wanna go fishing, buy a boat. If it's a delegated area on the Cabe, and posted as such, it will be easier for anglers, pickers, and wannabe's. As a seasoned (or not) Caber, enter at your own risk, bring a paddle.

I try to greet all new Cabers with sincerity and a friendly note, possible joke if I have one, but if it's just an appraisal ploy, not an interest in the forum, frankly, I can spend my time in more positive ways. If I'm bored, I'll check out the "appraisal link". I like to help people where I can. I usually learn something myself. Sometimes about bikes, often about people.
 
In my 10 years on the CABE, and before that, I have never posted a "what's it worth" thread. If your serious enough about this love we have, your GUT should know already! If you spend the time to follow and listen, your GUT will know! Following this forum and a few others will generally keep you abreast of what's up and down, if you take the time to read and listen!!! As far as the "one hit wonders" they are there in every field of collecting, it's really unavoidable.
Yeah, I just posted my 2 cents above, guess this makes it 4 cents? To further your's, I totally agree. If I was a newbie interested in something, I'd bide my time on the "needy" part. "Fair weather friend" term comes to mind. They just call when they want something. I don't have any of those ( except maybe my Daughter when her car breaks down!! ha!! but she's family and it's a Dad's job) and why would you unless desperate.

I have never posted a "what's it worth" either. I figure that's a rubber $$ figure on a good day. If someone does all the work, shares all the knowledge too easy, things are not appreciated or sincere. That applies to most things. Effort=Pride.
 
What I sometimes find entertaining, is the collateral benefit of many what-is-it—worth threads, in the basic or broader questions of what-is-it.
I like testing my memory of bikes and their peculiar features that I vaguely recall maybe seeing once or twice before.
When the poster of a what-is-it thread gets an answer, then they might feel enabled to refine their own searches that led them to the CABE in the first place; (one can hope).
 
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A lot of discussion recently on parts and bikes cost/value. No doubt some bikes and parts have risen drastically in the last couple of years as some well heeled collectors have got in the hobby. From my observations this tends to be cyclic and at a certain point some of this will cool off. I've already seen it happen to a few parts but others seem to keep setting new highs. The reality is there are only a few people who can play at those levels and once they get their fill you will see things come down. Quality, high demand parts are never cheap though so if you think your going to score that original fender bomb for $200 or that Shelby Speedline for $3k you're dreaming.

The part that I really find entertaining though are the "what's it worth" posts mostly from one hit wonders looking to cash in. While we have seen Aerocycles, Evinrudes, and quite a few other gems the majority is common or project level stuff of minimal value. I've seen people chime in with values of what I call a $100 bike of two or three times that. Here are a couple form Monroe this past Sunday that I thought were realistic and as far as I know were still for sale when I left. The girls is a pretty decent '41 Huffman ($100) and the tricycle looks to be a nice, early post war Colson ($20). I actually saw quite a few pretty nice girls bikes both pre and postwar for $100 or less. Sure they could be parted and in some case you may double your money but the trouble it takes just to make $100 just ain't worth it in my book. These real world examples are what I base my valuations on not just some number I pulled from my backside. V/r ShawnView attachment 1620681

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I’m a collector and don’t care at about the money aspect, of course I try to get good deals like everyone.

a couple months ago I found an original unrestored Firestone SuperCruiser boys bike, even came with period tubes and tires. It is not the deep deep fender version, and it has a repro tank, but overall in really good condition. I paid $300 for it and was happy just to find one.

I guess as the economic situation gets worse, there may be some good deals to be had.
 
I’m a collector and don’t care at about the money aspect, of course I try to get good deals like everyone.

a couple months ago I found an original unrestored Firestone SuperCruiser boys bike, even came with period tubes and tires. It is not the deep deep fender version, and it has a repro tank, but overall in really good condition. I paid $300 for it and was happy just to find one.

I guess as the economic situation gets worse, there may be some good deals to be had.
2008/9 were my best buying years!
 
I think we're seeing the compartmentalization and downhill trend of 60's and 70's kids bikes right now.

Collectors of history aside, its the "golden years" aspect of bikes that seem to lift prices up and then bring them down.
For instance, there are only so many people that rode a pre-war anything still around. In their heyday, rose colored glasses drove the prices up and then Capitalism took over. They continue on by the anomolie of scrap drives for WW2 taking 2/3rds of them away. Next come speculators wearing those same glasses until the glasses fell away, and then it was/is everything you can do to sell any of those bikes at a "profit" unless its the best documented original in existence. Then its a collector that buys it and 20 more show up in average condition at the same price, until those are nearly given away a few years later. The people wanting them for ANY reason is becoming a really small crowd.

The market jumps up and down by want. Why do they want it? Nobody needs one. Pre-war people leave, and their families flood the market to the point you can barely give away a girls model, and a 60 pound bike wont comfortably get you across town. The style isn't appreciated anymore. So who is the next owner?
Im watching someone try to fire sale a fantastic all original 40s/50s bike right now that they bought 15 years ago on speculation. It will end up selling Im sure, but at less than half (and a loss) of what it would have brought ten years ago.
Where are the kids to enjoy them? On their phones.
Technology and the world market are taking over. The world is 100 times smaller than it was when bikes were king.
It looks to me like we're seeing the same happen with 60's kids bikes now. The speculators in rose glasses are keeping the prices up temporarily, but the Lil' Chicks and Stardusts in great shape are taking a while to sell now, and at much less than just a few years ago.
Its a situation that will be worse in the end because Schwinn hit sales of a million bikes a year in the late 60's and there have been no scrap drives to thin the herd.
Cantilever bikes are ridable by an average size adult for kicking around the neighborhood a few blocks on the weekend but a Stingray is even smaller and much harder to justify having unless you are a collector. Again, only the cleanest and best documented will be sale-able in the end and that end is in just a few years.
Then will come BMX, its on its way up right now.
Then eventually people will be fawning over the crappy Wall-Mart bike that was never sold and found still in the box.
Enthusiasts are a small crowd with any collectable.
Anything "collectable" is the same.
Try to sell that family jewel 1700's high boy today and the eventual buyer will pay a two decimal places fraction of what it would have brought in the 1990's. You wont be able to give away Grandmas coveted china, the Smithsonian already owns the best example.
I saw the writing on the wall in the 2000's with muscle cars. Scottsdale had more no-sales than actual sales and the sellers were complaining about reserve fees and no-sales. Stuff that had never happened before. Its still happening today.
I bought an old 68' GTS program car for 1300 in 81' and I chose it from a thick market of what are now, collector vehicles priced from 1k to 5k. I drove that car to work daily. That GTS sold for 37k back in 02' but would be hard to get 15k today. Its nothing but a collector vehicle today, and that crowd is too small to keep the prices up. Only the absolute best will sell and be put on display. the rest will sell to dreamers at a "crazy" low prices and they will bastardize them with "speed" parts to try and beat out a new 300hp base model Mustang. Impossible.
All different reasons for the same thing.

In the end, after I mull all of this over, I just buy what I want, and when Im done, sell it to make space for the next. I've seen too many people leave with bad attitudes about "things," that were supposed to be their retirement or "gold Mine."
Pfft.
If you want to make money on "things" for an extended period of time you have to "mine the miners," and ride their "gold" market. Just watch Antiques road show or American pickers and you'll see. Even though that AP show is nearly all scripted, they are still displaying these trends for all to see.

Wow, this turned out to be quite a diatribe.... but Im still gonna offer 600 for that bike that was purchased for 1800, 15 years ago. And if that flys... Im gonna ride it till its worth even less.

Am I shunned? Banned? :)
 
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