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Real world values

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What he said, I asked “what this is worth” as a new comer who cares? I had no intention of selling the bike I was just curious as some antique dealer was trying to snatch it from my in-laws, I knew it had value a Schwinn “lil chick”, some cabers shared a # one guy suggested I could make more parting it out (blasphemy I would cannibilize it) since then I’ve bought parts & a bike on this site, learned a thing or two and looked at a bunch of cool bikes,
As for high values for cool old stuff it’s not going to last ☠️ most younger people don’t want 8 or 12 🤔 old bikes a garage full of signs and an old rocking chair or a 1970 baja bug (I wonder how much that’s worth? Hmmm)
 
Despite the direction (misdirection) this post took my main points were the perceived exorbitant values of some bikes and parts as well as , what I consider inflated values, some people quote on common items. This post was never about people coming here for valuations and getting/not getting help. V/r Shawn
ND 2 Speeds! They have always been expensive but I saw one (supposed) NOS that went for $450.00 That’s a lot of cash! Now I’m seeing them for $500.00! No biggie, I can wait!
Well, off to Dudley I went and found a complete ND 2 speed mounted to a wheel and tire $280.00! Yup, $280! Found a second one - complete (no wheel) for $300.00! Same show!

I think it’s because we are a large specific group the price goes up - hence why I prefer Swaps!
 
I’ll gladly answer what’s it worth posts occasionally. Even if only one out of ten care I don’t mind.

When I started racing bikes as a young punk there was this group of guys that were too cool to bother with most people unless you were accepted by them. You’d be put on full blast if you dared to engage. And as a kid, that was no fun. Funny thing is 20 years later most of them are washed up, divorced and life doesn’t seem to be going so well for them. One of them even showed up at a local bike race recently and it was great, one more person to finish behind me. Waaaay behind me lol.

Ten minutes of my time could really go a long way for an enthusiast just getting started. Not like that group of has beens.
Some members who have been here a long time have madr me feel that way. One so bad Dave put us on mutual ignore.
After that I felt like you do now. A bunch of "cool" guys with a lot of money and stables of like new bikes who think they are better than me.
Thankfully that is a small number of people. Many here have been really cool and some, like dnc1 are above and beyond. (Hope I didn't embarrass you man)!
The rest of the good members here make the few tolerable.
Hope that wasn't too far off topic and all about me. If so, oh well man.
I hear thats what all my posts are. Or five pages of rambling that has nothing to do with the thread.
Rob
 
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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? :)
Man, If you are I hope to be as well because that is about 99% how I feel as well.
With the exception of beating the 300HP Mustangs.
I have a friend with a Yenko Nova, a 1964 Chevelle SS with a 396 4SP and a 1968 Hemi Dart, and another with a (Homebuilt) 1969 Hemi Barracuda that would probably make the cut.
I cannot afford the fender tag from any of these cars but I can see them about anytime so thats as good as it gets.
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It probably would be nice if all the Cabers were on the same page and didnt answer the "How much is it worth" question there will always be somebody who will respond.Some will say a low price ,hoping to land a deal and others will say a high price so the low ballers wont score.There will be a few who will be honest.Maybe we should have a standard answer like"Depends what someone will pay" This would apply to the new person who joined just to get a price not a usual contributer.
"What ever the market price will bear" is what I always hear when it comes to over priced bikes and parts.. I'm not stupid and was'nt born last night or yesterday and know what my budget will allow.. Nobody in their right mind would pay more than market value for any bike related parts or supplys, Prieod...That's my take on the subject...
 
"What ever the market price will bear" is what I always hear when it comes to over priced bikes and parts.. I'm not stupid and was'nt born last night or yesterday and know what my budget will allow.. Nobody in their right mind would pay more than market value for any bike related parts or supplys, Prieod...That's my take on the subject...
That is why I used DOND for the Flying Merkel sale. I know more than a few think that was a crazy price for that bike but in a world where Autocycles are hitting $20k I saw that as a good buy because even original paint Super Deluxe Autocycles look downright common compared to that bike. V/r Shawn
 
"What ever the market price will bear" is what I always hear when it comes to over priced bikes and parts.. I'm not stupid and was'nt born last night or yesterday and know what my budget will allow.. Nobody in their right mind would pay more than market value for any bike related parts or supplys, Prieod...That's my take on the subject...
“There’s a sucker born every minute” 🤣
 
What's it worth?? That depends on people's net worth and taste. It's that simple. Those that want something, get what they can afford. That's what it's worth to them. If money is no object to a said person.... then there is no limitation of worth and actual value was thrown right out the window. Wealthy people will pay whatever they want to say it's their item. Bragging rights, and at that point, the rest of the people in lower tax brackets don't value it anymore at that new higher "worth" because reality sets in and we realize, sure it's history and rare. But after it's all said and done.... it's still steel tubing, some old lacquer paint, and...... a bicycle..... that, at some point the next person will be taking care of after we die and might not even value it at all. If that bike even lasts that long. It's that simple. No matter how much you try to preserve any of these bikes, they are deteriorating before your eyes, and that's a fact.
 
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