I realise this has already had some air time in the forum somewhere, but I was just looking on the bay and saw this
Now, I am all for retro bikes being restored etc but how on earth do these guys get or expect to get this sort of money for these types of bikes.
I take my hat off to them if they are maiking a buck saving bikes from going to the tip but, honestly are people out there willing to pay that sort of money for that sort of bike?
cough girls on bikes cough HOT!!! cough
Is he stealing photos from http://copenhagengirlsonbikes.blogspot.com/ ?
In my opinion, these 70s/80s bikes have a ton more style than your $80 K-Mart Huffy or $400 Giant hybrid, and are generally a little more convenient for cruising to the shops on.
There was a folding Peugeot recently with original fenders/rack/etc that went for ~$700. Any decent retro ladies bike or folding bike commands great prices at the moment, but it’s still heaps cheaper than buying a Jorg & Olif or Kronan.
Cycle commuting is gathering speed, and there’s no reason not to look good while you’re doing it.
Commuting in the style is the new fixed - and it’s safer for general consumption.
To a bike nerd it might seem like a king’s ransom to pay that. For someone who knows nothing about bikes, to have a good looking, fully assembled, ‘retro’ styled bike, that even comes with a warranty of sorts, is a safer bet and worth paying a premium for.
If they are such a top mechanic - why not put their name to it?
Just wait till Dutch bikes are frequently imported like the Jorg and Olif from Vancouver.
Besides SP - I scorched 50 track bikes on a twisted townie in the Burn City Scavenger hunt. They’re as FAST as you pedal them!
I’d rather see ‘The Boss’ on a bike with two brakes, fenders, gears (she hates hills) and lights, than see her eat it trying to ride a track bike over tram tracks.
By the time you spend the $ you need to for new pads, chain, cables, grips, tire, tubes, bearings…and whatever else may be shot. Add a small allowance for the consumables (fish oil, WD40, rags, degreaser, grease, metal polish, steel wool etc) and then some more for the love you put into it the price adds up.
So even if you get the old girl given to you or find it in hard rubbish then your still up for a couple of hunded just to recover costs.
Having done 5 of these now for friends and family I can tell you that no one is going to get rich selling restored stepthroughs on ebay.
But that’s not why you do it.
This was a labour of love, and there’s no way I’d get anything close to the time and money invested in it if I were to sell it:
It has everything the ebay bikes have, and so much more.
More photos of it and my own hubgeared mixte here:
Euro-style city bikes are being imported, the Kronan’s are available in Prahraaaan, and the first container of bakfiets’ just arrived ($1000 or so, better value than a car).
Crashdummy: I’d wager that most of the time these bikes are found at op shops/garage sales and saw very little use when new, any only gathered dust for 20 years. Thus, apart from a regrease and wipe down, not much efort is needed to primp them for sale. The biggest investment is time.
Either way, more power to the seller if he’s making a buck, and having more people getting around on bikes is never a bad thing.
we went past the Kronan shop today, i think the one in the window cost $1000. which is about $600 too much if that was the real price.
on the other hand, bakfiets are awesome, who’s sellling them? i’d love to testride one
Blakey, That mixte is sensational, love it.
I agree with all comments, certainly an appealing way to get around but I would have thought it would be hust as easy to
to stop at the local market, tip, op shop garage sale, all of which in my experience have a few floating around for about $5 to $50 and then maybe take to LBS, (not viable for those time poor but…) I dont know, it just sounds like a LOT OF CASH for not alot of bike(like paying more now than it would have originally been worth) which I wouldnt have thought applied to low end bikes…
SP
Repacking bearings isn’t a big job, but it takes a bit of time. Scrubbing rust off the chrome and giving it a polish is another time consuming job. So is stripping most of the parts and giving them a general clean. Cables and housing will cost you about about $35, two new tyres and tubes are $50, brake pads are probably $15 and those wicker baskets go for about $50 I think. There’s also a new saddle on there which is probably $40 alone.
That’s $190 in parts. It’s another $40 for the general servicing a bike shop would do, but that doesn’t include the full cleaning.
So that’s already about $230. $170 profit on top isn’t all that much for the time put in.
I love these old ladies bikes and have done a few clean ups. They’re great fun but usually pretty messy work. The time (or price) is worth it, because they’re a shitload of fun to ride.
I just converted a Standish womens bike (Mixte?) for my girlfriend. It was $20 for the bike, and all i replaced was teh brakes, rear sprocket frame and bar tape…
pics soon.
without a doubt, they’re a lot of work to fix up, but i guess, the average buyer wouldn’t be able to tell if most of that stuff had been done or not. not to cast dispersions on the seller, but it is ebay, you know …
Check out the faux fixie that he/she is selling. A freewheel bike with the back brakes taken off and the cable guides filed away so it looks like a track bike, front brake lever in a really awkward position if you are actually going to use it as your only method of braking. That thing is a death trap.
Harsh but true.
The main problem is that the brake lever and Dia-Compe brake caliper are really, really crap. I agree that stopping this bike would be very difficult, especially since it is a freewheeler.
But, do you think you can stop faster on a track bike with no brakes? Which is the death trap?
I ride fixed with a brake, but give me a brakeless track bike any day over a bike with a single crappy front brake. Anyone who has ridden an older roadbike with brakes like those ones in the rain will know what I am talking about. Even with front and rear brakes, when its wet they are pretty crappy.
‘Death’ is now for sale on ebay! Just make a bid…
maybe get a better brake?
