On Monday, May 20, 2019 at 12:49:43 PM UTC-5, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have had three really good bikes for sale on Craig's list for over two years now and I got a bite on one of them yesterday. It was the Redline cross bike that is in nearly new condition with a flat bar and hydraulic disks..

At the time I built it up hydraulic disk drop bar levers were just coming onto the market and were impossibly expensive.

It has Avid brakes and Deore or better everything else. The drive train is absolutely silent. It has Campy wheels on it and 32 mm knobbies. It is probably the best gravel bike I could think of.

It turned out to be nothing more than a looky-Lou and the bike is back on the ceiling hangers.

But I am very surprised that three GOOD bikes with good equipment in almost new condition can go absolutely untouched for so long now. Why would you pay $1600 for a fair frame from Specialized with bottom of the heap parts new instead of $1100 for a Redline that is SOOOO nice?

The only new bikes I've ever bought was the Time Elite frame and fork and the Colnago CLX frame and fork and both of these were shop models that had laid around too long.

My 62 cm Pinarello Stelvio is perhaps one of the finest road bikes you could have. While the frame and fork are a lb and a half heavier than most carbon fiber bikes if you were a weight weenie you could get it below the 20 lb. mark on the road. More importantly you can descent anything without a thought that the frame or aluminum wheelset might break. I always wonder about my superlight bikes now.

When you can get a Pinarello with a totally rebuilt 10 speed lever set and perfect shifting why would you get anything with the level below Tiagra which only shifts well for a couple of months?

Perhaps the marketplace will improve their act but I think that it will take too long.


Concerning why used bikes do not sell for much. Bicycle technology, parts changes pretty quickly. Recently anyway. Think about old cars. Unless you are COLLECTING them, you never buy or even drive old cars. Compared to anything new, all old cars are junk for performance and comfort and handling.. A new 2018-19 Civic, Accord, Camry will out sprint and corner a 1960s or 1970s Mustang or Camaro.

Unless you are buying the old bikes or cars for utilitarian purposes. And then you just want cheap.