How to calculate your bike/wheels depreciation to resale

Triathlon Forum
1

Hey everyone, I recently sold a tri bike to get the new model of the same brand. Bike was merely 14 months old, raced only once, the rest all indoors.

I was kind of disappointed with how fast the bike depreciated its value, but again, I think I priced it fairly based on nothing but my opinion. I’ve been swapping bikes every year, and I am OK with having to buy a few gadgets and putting some money on top of my old bike’s resale profit, but I wonder if there’s a formula to calculate the following:

How fast a bike gets depreciated over time, and how much influence have things like:
Times racedIndoor-VS-Outdoor riding %YearMakeUnique custom features, like custom paint jobs, tailored parts, 3D-printed accesories, OSPWs, etcRace wheelsLoss % of retail value per year
Thanks!

2

  1. No effect

  2. No effect

  3. The year is by far the most important in determining resale value. See #7 below.

  4. The model or type of bike is what people are looking for, so I don’t feel it has much effect in the value.

  5. Unique custom items can be a huge plus for some people and a huge negative for others.

  6. I believe that race wheels should not be sold with the bike

  7. In the first year, you will lose about a third of the value. Probably another 10% each year.

3

40% MSRP off a bike that’s in good shape and a year old.

4

Thank you, guys.

In the case of the race wheels, I sold them with the bike because I made the switch from rim brakes to discs.

Very valuable info. I was kind of lost when I had to “price it”, without letting my own feelings into it.

Thanks!

5

Submit it to Pro’s Closet, then double whatever they offer if going for a private sale. :slight_smile:

6

There is another factor, Technology.

-When the firecrest Zipps came out, non-firecrests lost a lot of value.

-With disc brakes becoming more common, the resale market for rim brake wheels is softer.

-Once we moved to 11spd cassettes, 8/9/10 speed rear wheels lost value.

While Tech is correlated with age, it has more of a step function impact since designs may stay the same (or stay relevant) for years at a time.

7

Submit it to Pro’s Closet, then double whatever they offer if going for a private sale. :slight_smile:

and one can expect triple their offer if they intend to list it.

8

Submit it to Pro’s Closet, then double whatever they offer if going for a private sale. :slight_smile:

and one can expect triple their offer if they intend to list it.

Ha, those guys have a good biz going… The problem is their target audience for acquisitions is only desperate (or rich enough not to care) sellers. I was not in a rush, as it was a matter of lack of space (NYC perks) more than financial, so I am not a good seller for them.