The Chainlink

The Blue Book Comes to Bikes

Not to be confused with Park's Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair, The Bicycle Blue Book just launched online to become the go-to for valuing your used bike. The founders, a venture capitalist and a long-time bike repair shop owner, claim that their

... database contains 7+ years of transaction data for bikes built all the way back in 1993. Using a proprietary algorithm crafted by a combination of bicycle industry veterans and technology experts (herein referred to as nerds), we feel confident that this is the best used bike valuation tool you'll find anywhere online.


I noticed a couple of things right off. Most, if not all, of the bikes listed are above $1500 and fall well within the range of high performance. So I have three questions for anyone willing to to check out this new site:

  1. For you cognoscenti out there, what do you think of the estimates on their Marketplace Listings?
  2. For potential buyers/sellers, do you find this site useful? And ...
  3. If so, why? In other words, why is this better than your local Craig's List, swap meet, or eBay?

And no, I'm not trolling here - look at my profile picture and you'll see I don't ride anything that comes close to the bikes listed. I'm just curious.

 

Thanks-

gk

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Permalink Reply by Mike Bullis 5.5-6.5 miles on September 26, 2013 at 3:48pm

Kind of useless, at least for me. I only have one bike newer than 1993 and, although the make is listed, the model is not.

Which begs the question, where would one find the value of a 1954 Robin Hood with 700c wheels and a fixed Bendix two speed hub?

Permalink Reply by Louie Louie on September 27, 2013 at 10:35am

I tried it for my Eddy Merckx MX leader and the value seems a bit off by about $500.  It suggests a $1100 for like new condition with a campy record group.  I would say more like $1600 from tracking ebay sales.

Permalink Reply by Drewbacca on September 27, 2013 at 10:44am

It's based on "market price" in that (at least to an extent) the owners of the site claim that it is based on CL and ebay prices... I've looked up a few bikes there over the last few months and find that most of the prices are in the ball park.

Overall, I think a bluebook for bikes is a dumb idea as there are simply too many variables when trying to determine the quality of a used bike. If it's not stock, the numbers get fuzzy real fast. How do you determine how well a bike has been maintained... I can come up with a value while looking at a bike and pricing out the components and their condition in my head; a website can't do this. 

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on September 27, 2013 at 11:11am

It doesn't go back far enough for my small bike collection either. I did look up the value of a 1997 Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel. From memory, their "like new" price was about $750. That would be a screaming deal. It looks like they need to beef up their database or the algorithms, whatever things are coming up with these low prices.

There's no way to tell what something sells for (or even if it sold) on Craigslist.  I don't know where they would get reliable data there. As for Ebay, if it was an auction or a BIN, the prices hang around on their system for awhile (maybe you can buy those data from Ebay and look farther back). If it was a BIN/best offer, all they tell you was the offer was accepted, not what the actual transaction price was. (Ebay clearly knows it. I have no idea why they don't publish it.)

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on September 27, 2013 at 11:23am

I am getting MSRPs for everything I entered, not used values.  What am I doing wrong?

 

One advantage over CL is that it will probably have a greater percentage of listings by people who actually know something about bikes.  About 80% of CL listings don't even include the correct size. 

 

It appears there are only 5 bikes listed for sale right now.  It's got a long way to go to be of much use as a marketplace.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on September 27, 2013 at 11:27am

There should be a View Detail link.  If you click that, it will give you a range of values for used bikes.

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on September 27, 2013 at 12:31pm

thanks Skip.

 

Prices look low to me.  If anyone has a like new Basso Loto w Chorus Ergo 8 available for $577, let me know.

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