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I think I know the answer to this (sell it complete) but I just want a sense check in the current buyers' market.
My road bike is quite nice - a Boardman Endurance SLR with a hi-mod carbon frame and Ultegra disc groupset - and complete bike sold prices look depressingly low.
Idly wondering about parting it out instead. Or at least removing the nice carbon wheels to sell separately and replacing with alu ones.
(stealth ad bit) It's a medium and has only done about 500km BTW.
What do you reckon?
Personally I'd try and sell it complete first (and accept you won't get as much as you want from it), parting it out would probably shift a few things quickly but then you'd probably be left with the frame and other bits gathering dust in your garage.
Sell it complete and be disappointed with what you get for it. Nobody will want a used standalone carbon Boardman frame. Even used (manual) Ultegra is hardly desirable - users will want Di2 or manual Dura Ace.
I'm sure it's a lovely bike. Sell it to someone young (maybe a cycling club) who will enjoy it as a first decent road bike, and take some comfort in that rather than the perceived monetary value.
If they're Boardman branded wheels I'd leave them on, if they're something else and you still have the OEM wheels then I'd sell the nice wheels separately.
I doubt you'd get enough money for the frame to make it worth splitting. Regardless of how good they are it's just not something people will want to custom build a bike around. And finishing kit, even high end OEM kit, goes cheep, people don't want an all in one Pinarello bar/stem on their Trek.
Put it on a turbo and then gently weep at the waste every time you use it.
Thats my approach anyway
Why do you want to sell it?
I've parted out 3 bikes this year after having them listed on eBay for 6 weeks for what I thought was reasonable and with allowable best offer. I then reduced the price gradually over the next 2-3 weeks and still nothing. I eventually split all of them and sold each for around 10-20% more than the original asking price and did so in less than a month. I still have a stem and a set of pedals waiting to sell, but that's all from 3 bikes.
I still have 1 bike listed as a full bike, but it's unlikely to sell in pieces. SS up your bike and put a high and low figure next to each component based on eBay sold prices. It'll give you a solid indication of what you'll get. I can pretty much bank on the lower end estimate, but in each of the 3 bikes mentioned above, I was within 5% of the higher prices.
Thanks all, you have largely confirmed my thoughts (apart from Daffy throwing the cat among the pigeons) 😀
Put it on a turbo and then gently weep at the waste every time you use it.
You mean every time I don't use it?
Why do you want to sell it?
The 500km it's done has been over four years. I don't feel I'm likely to start using it again anytime soon.
And chapeau to you Daffy, you clearly have a very strong eBay game
Sell the nice wheels separately, if you can be bothered about the potential extra haggling and postage.
I parted out a road bike a few years ago and got decent money for it. Everything went, including the non-desirable Planet X carbon frame and finishing kit. I further split the groupset down into individual bits or sensible sub-groups. Reason being that Hydraulic Brifters cost an absolute fortune purchased new and people will pay decent money second hand to replace a single busted one.
Postage was a bit of an arse mind with more smaller packages, but eBay simple postage makes even that easier these days.
And chapeau to you Daffy, you clearly have a very strong eBay game
Yeah, but that works both ways. I need "it's not a bargain unless you actually have a use/need for it" tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. This is how I ended up with 4 bikes to sell!
I part out bikes i don't need anymore. Usually get more than i would for the whole bike. Usually end up with a few left over bits too. Sometimes they are useful and they go onto another bike, or get kept and eventually donated/paid forwards/whatever.
Selling whole bikes, unless they are still current, or only one generation out of date, is a nightmare.
Sell the nice wheels separately,
Yes that's the plan, they are Prime "blackedition" - which was the posher, lighter model I believe.
Looking at eBay your issue will be getting a decent price for the full bike or the frameset (as discussed above selling the group set parts and nice wheels will net you a decent return). Framesets in sold listings are getting £180-200, putting aside the fact they are decent frames, it’s not a desirable brand for most roadies which reflects in the price.
For me it's a "Faff Vs Embuggerance" thing.
Selling it parted out it's lots of parcels to post and multiple interactions with other annoying humans, selling a whole bike is one large item to deal with posting and the nervousness of sellers parting with a larger amount of cash and their (possibly excessive) expectations. The money you'd get overall is probably not much different.
On balance I'd flog it whole, One potentially painful transaction, but then it's done and you're not left with a few parts and a frame that starts you off mulling over the idea of building another bike...
Yes that's the plan, they are Prime "blackedition" - which was the posher, lighter model I believe.
Ooh, they're nice!
CRC were punting them out for about £350 in the final days of their everything-must-go sale but the RRP on them was about £900. Also, decent quality carbon wheels for rim brakes and QR are a rarity indeed these days!
Ooh, they're nice!
CRC were punting them out for about £350 in the final days of their everything-must-go sale but the RRP on them was about £900. Also, decent quality carbon wheels for rim brakes and QR are a rarity indeed these days!
Yes mine were £500ish reduced from £800 or £900ish IIRC, the 28mm profile disc version (not rim brake).
Do people still want lower profile (climbing?) wheels, or is everyone after deeper section rims these days for the aeros?
Personally I prefer the aesthetic of a lower profile rim and they feel fast enough to me (and comfy, which I do wonder about for deeper rims).
Bike are essentially worth naff all 2nd hand at the moment, especially non-premium ones - no offence - no matter how nice they are. Best bet is to get a price in your head you'd be happy with and see what happens. Even more so given how heavily discounted previous year models are at some of the big sellers. But we are about to enter fat bloke watches TdF buys bike Grand Tour season, so you're in the prime time to sell and being the father of a rapid U14 that age group and the next one are always on the lookout for "bargain" bikes as the little sods grow so quickly and have about as much mechanical sympathy as a backstreet tyre shop.