Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

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sweatysock
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Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by sweatysock »

Well, not a bike, strickly speaking, a trike... but the principle is the same, I'd guess. How far would you go to prepare a bike for sale? Is it better to replace worn tyres and a rusty chain, or leave it to the new purchaser? Obviously a good clean is in order, bit of polish etc., but what would put you off? What is essential?
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NUKe
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by NUKe »

Anything dangerous or broken. Anything else will effect the price but wouldn't put me off. Clean and the tyres and unless they're badly worn leave them. The chain you might find with a good scrub and liberal amounts of oil looks fine. i'd expect when buying second hand to have to replace Chain Sprockets and tyres in due course anyway.
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hubgearfreak
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by hubgearfreak »

nothing's essential, nothing would put me off the right bike (or trike)

however, a clean bike with clear photos will attract more interest which will lead to a quicker sale on a for sale site such as this, or higher bids on an auction site.

new tyres will cost more than will ever be recouperated in the selling price, as they may well be thrown away by the new owner. a quick search fopr tyres in this forum will show that some prefer continentals, some schwalbes, some other makes. some like chunky tread, some like slicks, some like narrow, some prefer wide.
similarly, i wouldn't bother replacing anything of the gears either. some buyers may have it in their head to replace the lot with the latest 48 speed set-up, others may wish to make it single speed so there's a chance that it'll all be discarded as well, so leave that choice to the buyer too.

in short, just clean it, polish it and take decent photos
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horizon
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by horizon »

You might do the decent thing and free off the seatpost, stem and pedals just to make sure. I would also leave the brakes in good working order and the saddle tight and steering right (after being loosened off). You don't know who might buy it.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
GrahamNR17
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by GrahamNR17 »

sweatysock wrote:Well, not a bike, strickly speaking, a trike... but the principle is the same, I'd guess. How far would you go to prepare a bike for sale? Is it better to replace worn tyres and a rusty chain, or leave it to the new purchaser? Obviously a good clean is in order, bit of polish etc., but what would put you off? What is essential?

What trike is it? I'm looking for a trike "project" at the moment, so I'd be happy with dirty, rusty, flat tyres and a low price :mrgreen:
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horizon
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by horizon »

horizon wrote:You don't know who might buy it.


See what I mean? :D
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

sweatysock wrote:Well, not a bike, strickly speaking, a trike... but the principle is the same, I'd guess. How far would you go to prepare a bike for sale? Is it better to replace worn tyres and a rusty chain, or leave it to the new purchaser? Obviously a good clean is in order, bit of polish etc., but what would put you off? What is essential?


Good clean, make sure everything still turns when a reasonable force is applied...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
tooley92
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by tooley92 »

[XAP]Bob wrote:Good clean, make sure everything still turns when a reasonable force is applied...


....would that include the pedals :lol:
Remember folks 'A pessimist is just an optimist with experience!'
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[XAP]Bob
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Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

tooley92 wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:Good clean, make sure everything still turns when a reasonable force is applied...


....would that include the pedals :lol:


If they're in the sale then yes. </deadpan>


Hmm, deadpan doesn't work online....
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Russcoles
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by Russcoles »

Well I once bought the bike advertised with this photo from ebay:
Image
I paid £6, if they had fixed the tyres, removed the knackered mudguards and had ANY other saddle they might have gotten a lot more. Also NEVER advertise with a picture that just has a heap of carelessly dumped bikes in it, kinda gives the impression the bike won't have been looked after :D

This is incidentally the same bike a few weeks later:
Image
sweatysock
Posts: 62
Joined: 11 May 2009, 6:40pm
Location: Shrops-Powys border

Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by sweatysock »

many thanks for all the coments, chaps( and chappesses?)... watch this space, well not THIS space, probably the for sale space... and FWIW it's a mid 90's Trice with balding tyres and no spares, unlike it's owner who is bald wth a spare tyre... :oops: now where's the Mr Sheen?
aek
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Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by aek »

sweatysock wrote:many thanks for all the coments, chaps( and chappesses?)... watch this space, well not THIS space, probably the for sale space... and FWIW it's a mid 90's Trice with balding tyres and no spares, unlike it's owner who is bald wth a spare tyre... :oops: now where's the Mr Sheen?



Could you post some pictures of it ? I was looking at some trikes at some point after my friend Bob got one, but i haven't decided yet.
caer urfa
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Joined: 26 Jul 2007, 9:39pm

Re: Preparing a bike for sale- how far to go?

Post by caer urfa »

This is incidentally the same bike a few weeks later:


Looks good - how did you tackle the frame painting?

Cheers

CU
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