What's up with asking prices lately?

agreed, also valid
i hear some say another crash will come

Interest rates are sickening low, leaving the money rot in a bank and making inflation or feck all interest.
And the banks making insane profits off the money, screw that buy something nice enjoy it.

Agree with the OP that you used to see lots of nice Gazelles etc with 600 or mid-campag going for peanuts! I don't think a lot of 'vintage' parts or bikes used to be valued highly, esp 70s - 90s. Now they are.

I'd say, like frame building prices, that people are starting to actually have to pay properly where things used to be too cheap.

Agreed with @Skülly, to get a 1976 Mercian with nuovo record throughout on here I would need to pay silly money. I went to Italy and picked up exactly that for £150 (admittedly it needed a fair amount work). If I were to sell it back on here I could double my money, even after extensive renovation costs.

However, it isn't just on here, it is in wider society. I had somebody offer me £1500 for the bike on the street, can you imagine that happening only 5 years ago?

To balance things up a bit, I am a bit sceptical about a big rise in prices per se...maybe on very rare and top manufacturer/good builders items plus panto stuff but not generally.

I have a few frames for sale at very good prices, they have not sold (actually, not even any interest!). I am talking about Columbus SLX tube frameset from a reputable builder (I even have the build receipt from 1990) and its hardly been used. Equally on modern track stuff this is despite knocking off 50-75%. Other examples, I bought some c-record campag sheriff pista wheelsets for around £400 around 5 years ago, I still have them and cant get rid for much less. Same with older 'vintage' Campag Super Record Pista cranks and wheelset for less than £100 mark. I did actually sell a Colnago Super Frameset for £120 last month...

May be the traders like Hilarystone, HillyBen, Pistoffski et al can demand/get big monies but not persuaded.

mars bars used to be 10p
look at the price of them now ...and they're smaller

ridiculous

You see the same (overpriced) bikes being peddled on eBay over and over again. More than a year later, Brick Lane Bikes are still trying to sell the same Look and Somec. And Vintage Velo are only just coming around to the fact that they've asked too much for their Olmo Sintex.

http://www.vintagevelo.co.uk/shop/vintage-bikes/olmo-sintex/

Prices are high but nobody's biting.

/\
this
speaking to some London bike shops that sell vintage, some feel the pista market has peaked
cx type/ adventure bikes are shifting, although a diff bag to vintage steel

Yeah, I agree. You see some priced at ridiculous prices on eBay, but they do sit on there forever.

Every time I see a bike on here priced highly, no matter what it is, I rarely see them sell.

It would be interesting to see how many bikes have sold on here above a certain amount, like £700 or £800?

There are definitely bargains though. I picked up great deal off someone on here on a steel road bike posted from Germany.

I think a lot of people are testing if they can get away with it at first, then drop accordingly when it doesn't sell.

once brexit happens we will only be riding 1980s vikings and falcons for £3000 a pop .

You make very good points - fashions change, so much classic track and very decent road (not Colnago, Pina, Merckx, Coppi etc) do really sell still cheaply or not at all. I'm always amazed how little Mavic, Suntour, Sachs group/parts tend to go for.

once brexit happens we will only be riding 1980s vikings and falcons for £3000 a pop .

Hahaha or as the nippers now say 'foffacopter'.

And the disc wheel hoarders..... 😐

I reckon there are still loads of deals to be had on here on all types of kit.

I was having this discussion with @markairsy1 last night - it's definitely a buyers market at the moment!

this ... some people are selling to eek out as much cash as possible, some people just want to pass on the bargain they got to someone else when it doesn't work out or upgrade

There's always those who don't understand how things work here, there's always those disillusioned by the fact that because they paid £1000 for the bike and only used it once they'll only accept £999 for it even though it's currently for sale new from various online retailers for £500, there's always those who sell for peanuts just to make some space/quick cash.... Etc etc etc
It ebbs and flows and I'm sure once the sun starts shining things will get more expensive again and more bits will become available when people upgrade for summer.
It's pretty much always the case though that if you want VFM you buy in winter and sell in summer.

also the 'ethos' of the market place
as I understand it, selling here was all about 'mates rates', not tearing the arse out of people

@Dick so I'll hold off on the clear out then?!! good to catch up last night, get your phone sorted out pal!

This! Exactly!

@markairsy1 - just hold off till the 18th mate, at this rate, it'll be summer by then.....

ha, just looked on that vintage velo site, scruffy raleigh record sprint frame set £135 so my hacked about resprayed 501 sprint should be good for £100 with post and stem headset bb and some calipers :)

Hilary stone still has some nice fixer uppers under £100

I guess businesses like Vintage Velo would argue that they're offering fully serviced bikes, with new brake cables, inner tubes, tyres, etc. Personally, I'd rather buy for less and address any short-comings myself - and it would still work out cheaper I'd wager.

I'm guessing the Gazelle's @gueron is talking about are the two that were recently put up for sale. Although I think they are great looking bikes, I'd be surprised if they sold here for the asking price.

I don't think bikes really sell for over £500 on here.

You see people put really nice bikes up for a grand or more but the threads rarely generate any interest. Even if fairly priced at £1k, I just don't think LFGSS wants to know!

Exactly. There is always a lot of praise for nice bikes for sale for high asking prices, but that rarely translates to sales