Used Bicycle Value/Prices (Bicycle Blue Book)

Here's the scenario. You found a bike on Craigslist that you think will work. You meet up with the individual selling the bike, test ride it, and it looks to be in decent shape. You think you want the bike, but you aren't really sure what the bike should cost. Right now, the new price in a shop is $2,300 - of course, that's the cost for the new model, not the 5 year old model you're currently viewing. Is $800 a reasonable asking price?

Maybe you're trying to sell your bike. You've had it a couple of years and haven't really been on it much in that time. When you bought it brand new it put you back $1,500 (plus tax, and all those little extras you got talked into). You want to get your money out of the bike, but you know you're not going to get retail for a used bike, no matter how little you actually rode it. When you put it up for sale, is $1,000 too much to ask?

Most of the car/truck driving population has utilized some sort of car value book or website in the course of his/her lifetime. Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds, and NADA are just a few of the more well-known organizations that are often used. For those looking at buying a bicycle second hand, the value of a bike may well be a guessing game much of the time. The owner may have sentimental attachment to a bike for various reasons, or simply have put a lot of money into the bike and believe that it is worth more than it truly is on the fair market. Of course, all value is subject to personal "equations" and thoughts (how bad do I want the bike, how many people might get here before I make up my mind, is the risk of walking away greater than paying a few extra dollars, is this a "hot" bike in my region, etc). As a rule though, most of us don't want to feel as though we paid too much for a used bicycle. But, where does the used bike buyer look for information?

*Image from Bicycle Blue Book

Bicycle Blue Book is a website attempting to create a bit less confusion for both used bike seller and buyer. The relatively simple website allows you to enter the year, make, and model of the bicycle in question and the results provide both MSRP and current value of the bike. In addition, the searcher gets basic information about the originally sold bike such as tubing material, component groups, and so on.

Taken directly from Bicycle Blue Book's website:
Bicycle Blue Book data is guaranteed to be the most accurate value assessment on the web. How is that possible? The bicycle Blue Book database includes hundreds of thousands of bicycle transactions for models dating all the way back to 1993: used and new, online and brick-and-mortar, makes and models of all kinds. Using a proprietary algorithm crafted by a combination of bicycle industry veterans and technology experts, the resulting valuation is a real-world number based on aggregated sales data and practical evaluation.

We know you have options - but we also know that you want the most accurate information available on your bicycle's value. That's why at Bicycle Blue Book, we've undergone a meticulous process, first poring over two million sales records - both for bicycles and related items - then filtering out the bad data from the good.

The result? The most comprehensive, most reliable, most accurate, and most up-to-date valuation for your bicycle based on year, make, model, and MSRP. In fact, if we don't have all of the necessary information, you're the first to know - as you probably well know, wrong valuation is no valuation at all. That's why we make data accuracy our top priority. It's the only thing that matters.

*Image from Bicycle Blue Book

My first reaction to this website is, "Wow, I can't believe it's taken so long to get something like this up and going!" But, my follow up thoughts are in regards to whether or not one can actually find the bike s/he is looking to purchase or sell. They do have quite an extensive list of inventory when browsing through the current choices, but I quickly took note that, for example, my Rivendell Sam Hillborne is not available. While Rivendell is an option to choose, there are only four generic bicycles listed and one can only select the year 1998, making me think that there is still work to be done with this website. I will concede that even though Riv has been around for a number of years, it's not the most common bicycle seen on the road, so I decided to test out another bike.

*Image from Bicycle Blue Book

How about something more common... my Trek Lexa SLX, for example. That one popped up quite easily, and even had all of the selections available (such as triple or compact) to get the most accurate outcome. I even looked up the '11 Surly Pacer and took note that not only is the whole bike price available, but the frameset alone is a given choice. Very nice to see.

I took note that the website appears to still be in "beta" format, so I presume there are upgrades and bugs still being worked out of the system, but this seems like a really useful tool for used bike buyers. In addition, there is an app available for the iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, and Android, so it seems like it would be a handy tool to have ready on the go as well.

If you have used this for a bicycle transaction, I'd be curious to know if it actually worked well for you... and if you haven't used it, would you look to information like this for your next used bike purchase?

Another New(er) Bike Shop: Fat Kitty Cycles

I will be the first to admit that the last thing Boulder is in need of is another bike shop. I often wonder how they are all able to survive, but each seems to find their little niche for the area and battle it out to decide which is the "best" in town. The latest to join the group? Fat Kitty Cycles. While they've actually been in business now for several months, I was interested to learn that this shop is kind of a little bit of everything. They sell both new and used bikes, provide service for bicycles, and also have classes on various topics to help out in the bike community. I also love that they do consignment of bicycles (goodness knows, this could come in handy for a person like me who seems to try, try again with various models) with a really fair split based on the bike sale price.

For locals looking to check out the shop, they are located on Arapahoe between Foothills Parkway and 30th. Unfortunately, I have yet to pay the shop a visit, but if anyone reading has had the opportunity to stop by, I'd love to hear more. The bulk of the bike re-selling business seems to be done via Craigslist, but they also have regular shop hours. I suppose I am attempting to decipher what the benefit is of consigning with the shop if their advertising is a Craigslist ad that anyone could really post? Having a store front though is undoubtedly beneficial to those perusing local spots for his/her next bicycle, so perhaps it would be worth a go for the exposure and possibly a quicker sale. I'm definitely interested to check out this spot to see what they have to offer. Anyone else finding new bike shops in your area that are different or interesting?