Bike cost depreciation anyone?

[AuroraSaab]

Thats good going
Another bike one that springs to mind is the original Cannondale Synapse Ultegra I paid £1850 new, got £1650 for it four years later ... maybe that was a time when dealers gave crazy discounts to shift stock? Dread to think what 2021 model costs

An even better one is my OH's whiskey collection. He had 4 or 5 unopened bottles of malt which had been in the wardrobe for 20 years or so. They were all £25 ones, not particularly rare. One was a Private Eye special edition of Macallen which was £36. They went for over £4k last year in an online whiskey auction.

 

[Grant Fondo]

An even better one is my OH's whiskey collection. He had 4 or 5 unopened bottles of malt which had been in the wardrobe for 20 years or so. They were all £25 ones, not particularly rare. One was a Private Eye special edition of Macallen which was £36. They went for over £4k last year in an online whiskey auction.

Gulp

 

[AuroraSaab]

I know. I had kept tabs on the prices and a couple of years before the whole lot was worth about £500, just hadn't got round to selling it. They've probably gone up more since but it was time to sell as they were in the way.

 

[simongt]

if you've used it a lot and loved every minute on it it was worth every penny.

Good point. I bought a new GT Outpost in 1998 for £225, my first ever new bike at age 45 - ! Since then, I know I've spent way more than that on new tyres, two sets of rims, umpteen chains and other drive train parts, brake blocks, etc., etc.. However, twenty three years later, said Outpost is still my regular commuter so how do you figure depreciation here - ?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Maintenance is maintenance, depreciation is purely loss of resale value over time. The GT cost you the equivalent of £420 now. What could you sell it for, maybe £100 on a good day in a virus-distorted market? True depreciation probably around 75-80% spread over 23 years. Could be worse, most of my secondhand bike purchases have been made at over 95% discount to the inflation-adjusted original cost.

 

[TheDoctor]

My Brommie M6R cost £650 in 2009, but the Bike2Work scheme means I probably paid back about £350. Based on Ebay prices, I'd probably get about £850 for it. So that's not too bad.

 

[Drago]

My Alpinestars was, IIRC, about £350 in 1996, a nice double butted cromo frame.

Its not mint, but it's tidy, complete, and apart from the seat and tyres its completely original, with it's STX-RC gruppo intact and in very tidy condition. I could probably sell it on Retrobikes for £100. In real terms thats pretty cheap for a quarter century of reliable all weather, all terrain shenanigans.

Thinking about this...

If someone had bought a moderately decent car in 1996, theyd have probably bought it on finance and paid interest, then paid to tax and insure it, and money maintaining, serving and repairing it, and then shovelled it full of fuel, and unless the owner was very dilligent it would probably be a bit of a sheet tip after 8 years, and on average would be off to the scrappy after only another year or two.

And after all that money upon money upon money, and it going to be melted down after barely a decade, the fools would nod sagely and say what a great car it had been.

Whereas after 2.5 times as much elapsed time my bike still rides and operates perfectly. Hell, even a bike thrown in the back of a shed or garage after 5 years and then left to fester for 2 more decades would take very little to recommission, provided its been kept dry.

Society's idea of wise expenditure, necessity and value are not just warped, they're actually bent.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

@Drago, you are assuming though the car gets run into the ground and the bike gets treated better and lasts a lot longer. It doesn't always work out like this. My oldest car is over 60 years old and I don't run anything less than 15 years old. My repairs last year cost me £250, and that was higher than average.
I bet a hell of a lot of mass market bikes don't even survive a full decade, especially if you look at kids bikes and low budget adult models. They get treated almost as disposable, with plenty of dumped and abandoned recent ones around, often just minus a wheel or saddle. Once something goes missing the owners just seem to leave them and either give up cycling or get another bike.

 

[Drago]

Indeed Mr Diver, there are always exceptions. My car is 13 and looks and drives like it were 2, both my motorbikes are 30 this year and look just a couple of years old. But these are the exception.

The far more common reality is that cars get driven into the ground and needlessly helped to an early grave, and even a cheapish bike is liable to have double the lifespan of the average car, just so long as it isnt abandoned to the elements for years.

Peoples attitude to car spending is also ass backwards. A person who gets an MOT bill of £750 on a car worth £1000 is liable not to bother on the basis that it's almost what the car is worth. They then go and buy a newer car at 2, 3 or 400 quid a month, and in 2 months they've spent more than simply repairing the old one would have cost, yet they kid themselves that the original car had become "too expensive" to run. There's very little in the way of such insane mathematics in the cycling world.

 

[hatler]

What is the depreciation on quality kids bikes (Islabikes) and Brommies?

We bought two Islabikes new. One had negative depreciation and the other had a hard life and sold for about 40% of its new price (and is still rolling having had three further owners who all used it for a two mile muddy off-road ride to school every day.

 

[All uphill]

@Drago, you are assuming though the car gets run into the ground and the bike gets treated better and lasts a lot longer. It doesn't always work out like this. My oldest car is over 60 years old and I don't run anything less than 15 years old. My repairs last year cost me £250, and that was higher than average.
I bet a hell of a lot of mass market bikes don't even survive a full decade, especially if you look at kids bikes and low budget adult models. They get treated almost as disposable, with plenty of dumped and abandoned recent ones around, often just minus a wheel or saddle. Once something goes missing the owners just seem to leave them and either give up cycling or get another bike.

Now I'm interested @SkipdiverJohn !

You have given us a good idea of your outlook on bicycles in your posts here, and now you suddenly reveal that you have a collection of mature cars? 😁

 

[Brooks]

I bought my hybrid bike 2nd hand for £90 3 years ago now. In truth I didn't have a clue about bikes but I got lucky it has served me well. I've learned how to maintain the bike so running costs are low. I've treated myself to a new Dynamo hub wheel and lights this Christmas and that was money well spent.I wouldn't have thought the bike would have deprecated in value at all, in fact I suspect the opposite would be the case.
I think bikes are a very good value overall.

 

[Gunk]

Indeed Mr Diver, there are always exceptions. My car is 13 and looks and drives like it were 2, both my motorbikes are 30 this year and look just a couple of years old. But these are the exception.

The far more common reality is that cars get driven into the ground and needlessly helped to an early grave, and even a cheapish bike is liable to have double the lifespan of the average car, just so long as it isnt abandoned to the elements for years.

Peoples attitude to car spending is also ass backwards. A person who gets an MOT bill of £750 on a car worth £1000 is liable not to bother on the basis that it's almost what the car is worth. They then go and buy a newer car at 2, 3 or 400 quid a month, and in 2 months they've spent more than simply repairing the old one would have cost, yet they kid themselves that the original car had become "too expensive" to run. There's very little in the way of such insane mathematics in the cycling world.

I have a very similar attitude, I tend to keep cars for between 7 and 10 years, but I have no problem spending money and maintaining them properly, consequently Mrs Gunk’s 12 year old Mini Clubman drives like a car that’s 10 years younger. I also have a motorcycle that’s 28 years old and again it’s maintained properly and Is as reliable as a modern bike, probably better!

My 5 year old Golf GTD, which I’ve owned from new, has just done 90000 miles now and I’ve thrown some money at it this year, four new tyres, new water pump, cam belt etc and that’s now hopefully sorted for another couple of years. I’ve found that the larger bills seem to be about every two years.

I know it’s probably more economical to just lease or finance a new car every three years, personally I just prefer to buy them and run them until it becomes uneconomical, I’m not too fussed about having the latest thing.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Yes, you are lucky if you get any cash back off cars but .... my very first car bought for £50 in the 80's, a 1960 Morris Minor (needed a bit of work to get it through MOT, but did it all myself), driven for five years then scrapped for £50 (a sad day ). The old girl wasn't finished yet though, got £150 for 9288 EL number plate!
Back to two wheels. This covid shortage of bikes must mean that, generally speaking, folk are getting great second hand prices when moving on?

 

[confusedcyclist]

My Brommie M6R cost £650 in 2009, but the Bike2Work scheme means I probably paid back about £350. Based on Ebay prices, I'd probably get about £850 for it. So that's not too bad.

The interesting thing about brompton bikes is that they don't do a refresh every year or second year, and generally speaking, the new parts are backward compatible with older frames, unless you happen to own early prototypes, so these bikes don't face the same deprecation pressures as you might with other makes. Just like with well used cars, if you buy used bikes, you can easily make money or break even if you are careful with your possessions, assuming you ignore the running costs. But don't forget to factor in the inflation, because you might be still making real term losses.