FS (+ questions) - 1950s Raleigh Lenton Clubman 22"

Hi,

First, i'm hoping this is OK to post. I've read the FAQ and am not
sure if this crosses the line into acceptable or not - I don't
normally post here, but it seems like this might be an interesting
question anyway.

My dad is wondering about selling his old road bike. It's his winter
bike from when he used to cycle fairly seriously before doing his
military service. We reckon it must have been made around 1957 (he's
recently got back into cycling, but off-road).

So the question, really is - how do you sell something like this? Are
old bikes worth anything at all? When do they become so old they're
rare? It was a fairly good bike for it's time - the frame is
Reynold's 531, although it's only 5 speed. Weinmann brakes and 27"
Rigida wheels (neither original eqpt, apparently - the original wheels
were 26"). He looks after things, mechanically, but it's seen a lot
of use, so the paintwork's on the good side of beaten up.

Is there some kind of speciality market that deals with these things?
Or will he be lucky if he can give it away? How does the frame
compare to a modern bike?

Anyway, he's here reading this. I'll show him how to read this and
post from my account. If you want to contact him directly, his email
is Rodney(dot)Cooke(at)btopenworld(dot)com (do the obvious email
demangling, please).

Cheers,
Andrew

andrew cooke wrote:

Hi,

First, i'm hoping this is OK to post. I've read the FAQ and am not
sure if this crosses the line into acceptable or not - I don't
normally post here, but it seems like this might be an interesting
question anyway.

My dad is wondering about selling his old road bike. It's his winter
bike from when he used to cycle fairly seriously before doing his
military service. We reckon it must have been made around 1957 (he's
recently got back into cycling, but off-road).

So the question, really is - how do you sell something like this? Are
old bikes worth anything at all? When do they become so old they're
rare? It was a fairly good bike for it's time - the frame is
Reynold's 531, although it's only 5 speed. Weinmann brakes and 27"
Rigida wheels (neither original eqpt, apparently - the original wheels
were 26"). He looks after things, mechanically, but it's seen a lot
of use, so the paintwork's on the good side of beaten up.

Is there some kind of speciality market that deals with these things?
Or will he be lucky if he can give it away? How does the frame
compare to a modern bike?

There aren't many specialist dealers (Hilary Stone from C+ does a lot of
eBay trading in old stuff) but someone will want it. The frame is as
good as a modern-ish bike, certainly as good as the 1992-vintage bike I
race on. If it has a rear derailleur hanger, so much the better - the
rear end can be stretched 6mm to take a 7 speed hub, if not 10mm to
accommodate a 9 speed. The paintwork is no problem - lots of places can
respray it and get reproduction decals.

If my father didn't have arthritis these days, he'd probably be
interested - he used to ride one of those!

"andrew cooke" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

First, i'm hoping this is OK to post. I've read the FAQ and am not
sure if this crosses the line into acceptable or not - I don't
normally post here, but it seems like this might be an interesting
question anyway.

My dad is wondering about selling his old road bike. It's his winter
bike from when he used to cycle fairly seriously before doing his
military service. We reckon it must have been made around 1957 (he's
recently got back into cycling, but off-road).

So the question, really is - how do you sell something like this? Are
old bikes worth anything at all? When do they become so old they're
rare? It was a fairly good bike for it's time - the frame is
Reynold's 531, although it's only 5 speed. Weinmann brakes and 27"
Rigida wheels (neither original eqpt, apparently - the original wheels
were 26"). He looks after things, mechanically, but it's seen a lot
of use, so the paintwork's on the good side of beaten up.

Is there some kind of speciality market that deals with these things?
Or will he be lucky if he can give it away? How does the frame
compare to a modern bike?

Anyway, he's here reading this. I'll show him how to read this and
post from my account. If you want to contact him directly, his email
is Rodney(dot)Cooke(at)btopenworld(dot)com (do the obvious email
demangling, please).

....

To get an idea of how much old bikes can fetch go to Ebay.uk

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/

and try the following classifications -

Home All Categories Collectables Transportation Bicycle

The best one, after you've waded through all the Raliegh chopper parts

also -

Home All Categories Collectables Transportation Bicycle Other
Bicycles

and to a lesser extent -

Sporting Goods Cycling Bicycle Parts

The price you get will depend on condition and also whether its a
particlarly sought after model. Please don't ask me whether this is
one such - but in all these felds there are some otherise ordinary
looking things that fetch far better prices than do others.

If you don't want to try and sell it through Ebay youreself, after
reading the ads for a few days you may come across one or two dealers
on there, who may be interested. Another limiting factor may be your
location and the cost of transporting the bike.

You could also try your local cycling clubs as they may have members
who are particularly interested in old bikes. And you could possibly
negotiate a price based on what you've learned from Ebay.


Curious





Cheers,
Andrew

Thanks very much, that will be most usefull, I will now look on Ebay cheers
Rodney