Used Bikes

Used Trek T100 Tandem

Paul and Jaime’s Trek Tandem

Hey, we managed to get a used tandem that wasn’t the byproduct of a divorce! How about that?
This is Paul and Jaime’s old Trek T100 hybrid tandem from 1999. The frame is made from True Temper cromoly tubing, and Trek built in their factory in Wisconsin. It is fitted with Shimano  XTR components from the time, along with Sugino tandem cranksets, an adjustable stoker stem, medium-width hybrid tires, a kickstand and a rack.
The bike is a medium (50cm rear, 54cm front) and should fit a 5′ to 5-7″ tall stoker and a captain between 5’5″ and 5’11″ tall. When this bike was brand new it would have cost you just over $1200. You can buy it now (in nearly new condition) for only $749.

Used Trek 7.3 FX

Used 7.3 FX disc $519

Hybrid bikes strike a nice balance of road bike speed and mountain bike ruggedness.

This versatile Trek 7.3 is a great deal and is in new condition.

This bike rides smoothly and feels light.  It features comfortable Isozone grips and handlebar, and rolls on the light and sturdy Nebula rims.  Trek outfits the bike with a Shimano Alivio drivetrain and powerful disc brakes.

This is a medium to small size bike, and will fit a rider between 5’4″ and 5’7″ tall really well.  Brand new, you would have paid $875 for the bike as it sits.  Buy it now for only $519.

Used kids’ bikes

Used Trek Mt 60

Trek Mystic 16

Used Trek Jet 16 $129

Used Jet 20

We have a trade-up program for kids’ bikes, therefore we have used kids’ bikes for you to buy.  The selection varies, so check in here or visit the store to see what we have on hand.

These bikes are usually ones that we originally sold, and lots of them even come with the original warranty. we tune-up each bicycle to make sure that they are safe and ready for the next child to enjoy. Some bikes have new parts, and we’ll stand behind all of our used bikes for one year.

1970′s Jack Taylor Tandem

Jack Taylor tandem $1999

This is a Jack Taylor custom tandem built in the 1970′s.

Buy it and ride it as it sits (maybe on the California Eroica retro ride?) or update some of the components and enjoy the retro English styling with modern components.

The tandem is a large/medium size. The seat tube for the captain is 23 1/2″ (60cm) c-to-center of the top tube and the top tube is 22 3/4″ (58cm). The stoker seat tube is 21 1/4″ (54cm) center to center. I would imagine that the ideal rider heights for this bike are 5’10″-6’2″ for the captain and 5’5″ – 5’9″ for the stoker. The wheels are 27″.

The frame is made of fillet-brazed Reynolds 531 Tandem steel tubing. The paint, box striping and decals are all in excellent shape, but the seat tube decal has partially flaked off.

downtube detail

TA tandem cranks

Arai drum brake

Component highlights include the beautiful TA triple drive crankset and timing cranks. The derailleurs are Campagnolo Rally and Nuovo Record models. The wheels feature early Phil Wood (steel shell) hubs and have 48 spokes laced to Araya rims. The saddles are both from Brooks (B5N model in front, women’s team pro in back). The stopping power comes courtesy of Mafac cantilevers (with Campagnolo levers) and an Arai drum brake with a separate thumb lever on the stem.

Mafac brakes

Brooks saddles

Vintage Campagnolo parts

The captain’s handlebars are Cinelli Criteriums (model 65 in 44cm width) and the cotton handlebar tape has been varnished to give a neat texture and great vintage look. The Honjo stainless steel fenders have a few scratches on them down at the ends, but they still look great.

Used 60cm Titanium Road Bike

Used 60cm Ti bike $1299

How would you like a nice 18-pound titanium road bike for only $1299?
You’ll have to be fairly tall, this one is pretty big with a 58cm top tube. Let’s call it pretty ideal for a rider between 5’11″ and 6’3″ tall.
The components are all in really nice shape. Highlights include a Campagnolo Centaur group, Thompson seatpost, Chris King headset, Campy Proton wheels, Selle Italia gel flow saddle, a carbon fork and Bontrager handlebars and stem.
Admittedly we don’t know who made the frame. It could be a litespeed or a Mongoose titanium from about 10 years ago, or it could be somebody else entirely. Whatever it is, it rides great and is in beautiful shape.

Used Giant TCR Carbon

Used Giant TCR Carbon 3 $849

A Carbon fiber Giant TCR road bike under $1000! This Giant TCR road bike was made in 2010 out of feather-light carbon fiber. Outfitted with Shimano 105 20-speed components including the 5600 series wheels, this sporty bike has high-performance parts all around. There’s an integrated cartridge headset, a carbon-fiber seat post, Shimano 105SL clipless pedals and Race Face handlebars and stem. The Continental 4-season tires are nearly brand new.

The frame is Giant’s size Medium/Large (56cm top tube) and will fit a rider between 5’8″ and 5’11″ pretty well. $849 and it’s all yours.

Used Trek Pilot 5.0

Used Trek Pilot 5.0 $1299

This is a spectacular bike.
It’s one of the first carbon-fiber road bikes available with comfortable “endurance” geometry and a little springier ride. The head tube is extended a bit so the handlebars are in a comfortable high position.
The components are fantastic. There is a Shimano Dura-Ace triple drivetrain, Bontrager Race Lite wheels, a carbon seatpost and a Terry gel saddle (with titanium rails). The bike is ready for winter riding with aluminum Honjo fenders.
This is a medium 54cm size, so it should fit a rider between 5’5″ and 5’9″ quite well. By the way, this bike tips the scales at 18 ponds as it sits (including the fenders). A rig like this would have run you about $2600 when it was brand new. You can buy it today for half of that, only $1299!

1979 Cornelo Super

1979 Cornelo Super

You know, you look just like this bicycle I know. Are you related to an Italian bike named Colnago?

Why yes I am. I’m his step-brother.

In the 1970s, a Dutch bike shop owner named Henk Kokke made frequent visits to Italy. On one of his trips he bought a couple of racing frames from Ernesto Colnago. There was one frame for Henk’s son Corné and one for racer Bart van Est. The exotic Colnagos drew quite a bit of attention in the Netherlands and it became apparent that the Italian frames would sell. Henk decided to start his own imported brand. He came up with an Italian-sounding moniker (rooted in the name of his son Corné) and contracted with Ernesto Colnago to build the bikes. As far as we know, Cornelo frames are still available today and they’re built the same way. The frames are still bought in Italy, painted in Belgium and assembled in St. Willebrord, The Netherlands.

Dura-Ace 7200 EX crankset

1978 Dura-Ace brakes

Shimano slant parallelogram derailleur

This particular Cornelo is constructed much like the Colnago Supers of the era. The Colnago club emblems have been omitted, but the Columbus SL tubing, the build precision and the wonderful ride characteristics are all there.

Cornelo head badge

Brooks B17

This bike, being of such international flavor, is a great showcase for the Japanese Dura-Ace 7200 EX group. This Shimano component group is fairly similar to the popular Campagnolo Record of the time but with two notable design improvements. First, the rear derailleur has the slant parallelogram design first invented by Suntour in the 1960′s. This derailleur design keeps the distance between the top derailleur pulley and the freewheel cogs consistent no matter which gear you were in. Shifting with this design meant that the pull on the shift lever was easier. The other neat little design touch was the crank arm bolts that would double as their own crank arm extraction tool, a labor saving touch that mechanics loved.

Like this bike? It can be yours. This 52cm size (good for a rider 5’3″-5’6″ tall) is for sale out of our museum collection for $1200

1983 Guerciotti

1983 53cm Guerciotti $1000

Guerciotti is one of the great builders from Italy. Always a step or two out of the spotlight held by Colnago or Pinarello, Guerciotti’s bikes have all of the design elements of the more famous bikes but perhaps without the famous riders to bring notoriety. This version is made from Columbus SL tubing and has some great details all around. It is mostly equipped with Campy Nuovo Record components, with slightly more modern Mavic MA3 clincher rims in place of the original tubulars. The wheels are shod with Michelin Pro Race tires, and it even comes with a TA steel water bottle cage. Of course there is a Cinelli Unicanitor saddle and Cinelli bars & stem. The brakes are from Shimano, not Campagnolo. They are the very early Dura-Ace calipers and levers (probably a reaction to the extremely hard pull of Campagnolo brakes of the era).

front end detail

Record crankset

Cinelli Unicanitor saddle

For you serious Guerciotti fans out there, it’s one of the versions with the star cut out of the bottom bracket shell.
The bike has a 53 cm seat tube and top tube so it should fit a cyclist between 5’3″ and 5’6″ tall quite well.
This is not your run-of-the-mill used bike, but the price is still pretty reasonable at $1000.

Classic Eddy Merckx

56cm Eddy Merckx Corsa

Having a classic ride is awesome.
Classic styling, a nostalgic vibe, maybe the chance to have something that you always wanted but didn’t have the money to buy the first time around.
The problem with classics is that you sometimes miss the modern refinements that make current stuff so nice…
Check out this new (vintage) Eddy Merckx. It’s a 56cm frame (good for a rider between 5’7″ and 5’10″). Made from Columbus SL steel tubing, It rides with a snap and springiness that’s as sweet as you remember. We wanted to give this classic ride all of the modern touches that you are used to having, so you can enjoy the vintage soul without being irritated by the vintage quirks.

Upright position, modern handlebar

Regal saddle

Shimano Ultegra drivetrain

So this hot rod has all of the new touches. It has a more upright riding position with a +12 degree stem and a variable-radius handlebar. It has a compact crankset and a Shimano Ultegra 10 speed cassette (so it’s a 34/28 low gear). The shifting has modern precision with integrated brake/shift levers and Ultegra derailleurs. You get to roll around on classic hand-built wheels (Mavic Open Pro rims) that are clad with 28mm Continental tires.

All yours for $1899.

U.S. Cycling Team GT Edge

1998 U.S. Cycling Team GT road bike

This is one of the U.S. Cycling Team bikes from the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

Now, I would never suggest that you buy a pro’s team bike. A bike that gets raced for a living gets power-washed every day. It gets packed up and smashed into luggage compartments on countless flights. It gets sprinted on, pushed to its limits, ridden for hours in the rain and crashed. Team bikes are not a great buy.

This bike happens to be a U.S. Cycling Team spare bike.  Mechanic owned.  It rode on the top of the car in most races.  Rarely ridden in the rain.  Never (that I can remember) crashed.  This is a good deal.

The bike is on the roof racks in this photo

Reynolds 853 tubing

Dura-Ace 7700

This version is a 54cm frame and it will fit someone between 5’6″ and 5’9″ really well.

Built from Reynolds 853 steel tubing and outfitted with Shimano Dura-Ace components this bike tips the scales at only 17 pounds. I have upgraded the bike over the years to Dura-Ace 7800 equipment as well as clincher Cane Creek wheels and Chris King headset and bottom bracket. Originally this bike had Dura-Ace 7700 (9-speed) equipment and tubular Mavic rims. Buy the bike in it’s current incarnation for riding, or I’ll transform it pack to the original sponsor-correct spec. Either way it’ll be $2500.

Used and Vintage Parts

Trying to restore older bikes with original equipment can be tough. Trust us, we know.

’82 Super Record rear derailleur $100

We have a variety of random old parts here at the store. We’ll show off some of the cooler items here. If you need something but don’t see it here, come in or call. We may have the part tucked away in a box somewhere, or know where you can go to find it.

We have only a couple of rules concerning old equipment: First, there is no warranty. Bike parts typically only have a one year warranty from their manufacturer, and some of the companies involved have been gone for decades. Second, you have to be patient. If we offer to look through our personal stash for you, it takes a bit of time.

While we would prefer to sell these items to you in person, we can also send them to your door. We use U.S. Postal flat rate shipping and will ship only within the United States. Postage for small items run $10, medium size flat-rate boxes run $15 and larger items are $20 and up.

Available parts
New mid ’90′s Shimano M535 pedals $100
Late ’80′s Araya 32 hole tubular rims $100 for the pair
New early ’90′s Time Sierra pedals $100
Assorted vintage freewheels $20-$100
New Modolo Morphos brake/shift levers $150
New Cinelli Spinacci clip-on aero bars $40
Assorted Cinelli model 64 and 66 handlebars $20-$80
Assorted Cinelli XA and 1A stems $40-$60
Used Dura-Ace 7900 crankset 172.5mm x 39 x 53T $199
New XTR M950 front derailleur 31.8 clamp $95
Used ’87 XT M730 front derailleur 29.8 clamp $50
Used ’92 Shimano 600 (Ultegra) rear derailleur $50
Used ’82 Campy Super Record rear derailleur $100
Used XTR M950 rear derailleur $150
Used XT M739 rear derailleur $40
Used Dura-Ace 7400 29.8 clamp front derailleur $40
Used ’92 Campy Mirage rear derailleur $80
Used XT M750 rear derailleur $50
Used Suntour VX rear derailleur $10
Used ’99 Campy Veloce rear derailleur $40
Used Campy Victory 29.8 clamp front derailleur $20
Used Campy Mirage braze-on front derailleur $40
Used Campy Chorus crankset 170mm x 52t x 42t $40
Used ’85 Modolo brake calipers (not recessed bolts) $20
Used Campy Nuovo Record 36 hole hubs (rough cosmetic shape) $40 pair
New ITM Goccia 120mm quill stem $60
Used Girvin alloy 1″ quill flex stem $50
Used Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork $50
New 170mm track single-speed crankset and bottom bracket $50
Used ’92 Campy Chorus threaded 1″ headset $50
New Bionx PL-350 motor wheels $100 (no warranty)
Used mid ’80′s Shimano 600 brake calipers $40 pair
New Paul components chain guides $30
Used ’99 Campy Veloce rear derailleur $40
Used Fox Float R rear suspension can 6.5″ overall length, 1.5″ travel $90
Used Shimano 6400 Ultegra crankset w/b.b. 170mm x 52t x 42t $40

New (in 1992) Time Sierra pedals $100

Araya tubular rims, 32 hole $100 pair

Cinelli bars and stems of various sizes and ages

Mid ’90′s M535 pedals

Modolo Morphos shifters

New vintage freewheels

N.O.S. Cinelli Spinacci bars

XTR M950 31.8 clamp front der. $95

XTR M950 rear derailleur $125

Deore XT M750 rear derailleur $50

Deore XT M739 rear derailleur $50

XT M730 29.8 clamp front derailleur $50

Campagnolo Victory 29.8 clamp $20

Suntour VX rear derailleur $10

Shimano 600 brake calipers $40

Paul components chain guides $30

Nuovo Record 36h hubs $40

Campy Mirage braze-on der. $40

Campy Mirage 170 53×39 crank $80

Mavic 501 29.8 clamp front derailleur $30

ITM Goccia quill stem 120mm $60

Black ITM 100mm quill stem $40

Dura-Ace 7900 172.5 53 X 39 crankset $199

Dura-Ace 7400 29.8 clamp front der. $40

Campy Chorus 170 crank 52 X 42 $40

Fox Float suspension can 6.5 x 1.5 $90

New Bionx PL350 motor wheel $100

Alloy quill Girvin Flexstem $40

Ultegra 6400 crankset 170 52×42 $40

170mm Track crank with b.b. $50

’99 Veloce rear derailleur $40

’92 Shimano 600 rear derailleur $50

’92 Campy Mirage rear der. $80

’91 Campy Chorus 1″ headset $50

’86 Modolo brake calipers $20

Used 1988 Masi Gran Corsa

1988 Masi Gran Corsa road bike

Here’s a great old road bike that would be ideal for retro bike rides like L’Eroica, or with a few new parts, a stylish classic road bike for everyday riding.
This is a 58cm (56cm top tube) frame, and it should fit a rider between 5’8″ and 5’11″really well.
It features a butted Reynolds 531 steel frame and a chromed fork, Shimano Ultegra components, new Continental tires and Italian Balleri bars and stem.
The bike looks brand new, and we’ve given it a full tune-up.
You can buy it from us today for only $1500.  If you want us to outfit the bike with modern parts, we can do that too.  With new Shimano Tiagra or 105 parts, the  bike would probably end up running between $1800 and $2300.

Used 2013 Specialized Roubaix Elite

Used 2013 Specialized Roubaix Elite $1799

This is actually a new bike.

A new 2013 Specialized Roubaix Elite in fact.  It’s a large frame (56cm) and should fit someone between 5’9″ and 5’11″ quite well.  The frame is all carbon fiber, the components are Shimano 105, and the wheels are from DT Swiss.

The best thing about this Specialized?  You don’t have to walk into a Specialized dealer’s bike shop to get it.  You can get it from us.

All yours for only $1799 (originally $2700).

Trek Equinox

Used Trek Equinox triathlon bike $1700

We have a slightly used Trek triathlon/time trial bike for sale.

This is the same model that Lance Armstrong used in the middle years of his Tour de France (cough, cough) domination.  It is a medium size, appropriate for a rider between 5’8″ and maybe 6′ tall.

Full carbon frame and fork.  Renn disc wheel in the back, aero spoked wheel in the front.  Ultegra components with a Bontrager (Sram) carbon crankset.  Vision aero bars and the Selle San Marco Aspide Triathlon saddle.

New, this bike cost around $4800.  We are selling it used for $1700.

Used LeMond tri bike

Used LeMond Limoges

A great deal on a fast tri bike.

This is a LeMond Limoges triathlon bike from around 2004.  A super aerodynamic design that still climbs well, it features a mix of carbon fiber and hydroformed aluminum tubing.

The bike is outfitted with Shimano 105 components, FSA cranks, Vision carbon aero bars, and Bontrager Race X Lite wheels with DT hubs.

This is a medium-sized 54cm frame, and will fit a rider between 5’5″ and 5’10″ really well.  New, this rig would probably run you around $2500.  Buy it now for only $979.

1940′s Colson Flyer

1940′s Colson Flyer

The restoration project.

Everybody loves good before and after photos.  A bicycle restoration project is great at showing the damage that the decades can do, and you get to watch as that damage is erased with fresh paint or new chrome.

A while back, this balloon-tire cruiser came to us as a rusty old relic.  The years were not kind to the old Colson.  While the rust was not deep, it was everywhere.  The owner, a fellow named Gerald Taylor, had a history with the bike and wanted to return the Flyer to its former glory.

Colson Flyer “before”

Gerald’s father had purchased the bike upon returning to the Seattle area from the second World War.  Affordable cars were hard to come by in the months following the end of the war, and Gerald’s father figured he could get around on these two wheels just as well as he could with four.  The bike served as a trusty commuter for a number of years before transitioning to recreational use, and finally retiring to the back of the garage.

The crankset “after”

The crankset “before”

The wheels were beyond repair.  By removing the head badge and the reflectors, we were able to find clean bits of original paint, so the new colors would match.  Parts were stripped off of the frame, and the dents were rolled out of the fenders.

Off to the painter (CycleSmith) went the frame, fork, fenders, and chainguard.

Into the recycling went the chain, pedals, and wheels.

The fenders “after”

The fenders “before”

Rusty bits like the chainring, seatpost, fork struts, handlebars and stem made their way to the chrome shop (Art’s chroming in Bremerton).

Some of the parts that you find on old bikes are still made today.  No problem getting a Wald kickstand, and the reproductions of the pedals and saddle are well worth the price.  Appropriate fasteners are just a quick trip to the hardware store (no allen bolts or torx heads on sixty year old bikes, thank you).

The head tube “after”

The head tube “before”

Jeff, who started collecting balloon-tire bikes decades ago, dug up some great matching wheels and tires from a “donor” bike.  Fresh grease for the hubs and some new spokes made them roll and look just right.

Now, I’d like to say this was a quick project.  But it wasn’t.

Sometimes it takes a while to find the right parts.  You have to get on a painter’s schedule (some have months-long backlogs), and it takes a while to get chrome done (Art’s is actually quite fast).  You may have seen the car and motorcycle restoration shows on television where things move lightning fast.  They use an editor.

The headlight “after”

The headlight “before”

I truly wish we were able to finish this bike sooner, as Gerald missed the opportunity to see his beautiful bike all spruced up.  Gerald fell ill and passed away a few weeks before we were able to finish the project.

The “After” photo is the way this bike would have looked when Gerald’s dad first brought it home.

This bike is for sale from the museum collection.  It can be yours, fully restored, for $2500.

1991 American Road Bike

1991 American Manufacturing Road Bike

This American road bike is a great example of the new materials and ideas than took hold of the bicycle world in the 1990′s.

Don’t know how the ’90′s treated you, but Aluminum had a great time.  Aluminum tubing was fairly new on the bike scene, and it was an instant star for being light, cheap, and durable.  These attributes made it the real miracle metal of the decade (no matter what Titanium says).  American Manufacturing out of St. Cloud, Minnesota put the aluminum tubing to good use here, with sparkly mid-sized tubes (compared to skinny Vitus frames or fat Klein and Cannondale bicycles).

The few people who still remember American mountain bikes are probably surprised to know that they made these cool road bikes too.  ABM didn’t sell a lot of road models, and as far as we know, this bike didn’t even have a model name apart from “road bike”.

Aero position more extreme than the drops

STI levers brought the shifting to your fingertips

Some of the parts on this bike were fads that came and went.  Some of the ideas were pure genius, and took the bike world in new directions.

Shimano Total Integration (STI) moved the shift levers off of the frame and joined them with the brake levers.  A stroke of genius that made road cycling safer, more fun and certainly faster.

Scott’s LeMond Drop-In aero handlebars introduced the idea of aerodynamic body positioning for everyday riding and racing.  Unfortunately, the extreme position wasn’t very comfortable and offered questionable safety.

The Flite saddle was a comfortable option under 300 grams

Dura-Ace 7400 raised expectations for how a bike should shift

Selle Italia’s Flight saddle was an intant hit with its narrow nose and light titanium rails.  Really the first comfortable (believe it or not) bike seat to break the 300 gram barrier, and a catalyst for changing comfort and performance expectations in saddles.  Selle Italia still makes this model today, and there are dozens of similar bike seats on the market two decades after the Flight first appeared.

18 and 20mm wide tires made their way onto road bikes like this one in the ’90′s.  The goal of the skinny tire was to reduce rolling resistance, but the narrow width made for a harsh and sometimes twitchy bike that suffered a lot of flats.

Great looking wheels with some surprising qualities

Spinergy’s Rev-X wheels have unusual status in bicycle history.  They were one of the earliest bicycle wheels (besides discs) made of carbon fiber.  They were a commercial success, and were followed into the marketplace by countless carbon-fiber wheel manufacturers.  The unusual part is that while they were marketed as more aerodynamic and lighter weight than wire spoked wheels, they were actually neither.  Few people bought these for their best attributes.  While they looked flimsy and harsh riding, the Rev-X’s were actually pretty robust (as long as you didn’t crash) and rode with a great springy feel.

Nostalgic for the 1990′s? This can be your new (classic) bike for only $1991.

1964 Bianchi

Used 1964 Bianchi

Own a little piece of Italian cycling history.

This Bianchi is from 1964, and while it is in nice shape, it isn’t quite as sharp as a couple of the other Italian bikes that we have from the ’60′s, so we’re letting this one go.

This is a 54 cm frameset, and should ride really well for a cyclist between 5’7″ and 5’9″ tall.

The bike comes equipped with Campagnolo Valentino derailleurs, a Nervar crankset, Universal brakes, and an Ambrosio stem and handlebars.

Bianchi head badge

Nervar crank, Campy derailleurs

Ambrosio Stem and bars

This celeste time machine can be yours for only $1250

2003 Mondonico Pista

2003 Mondonico track bike

Antonio Mondonico made this bike for us in 2003.  We asked him for a modern track bike that would steal some attention from the antiques on the walls.  He delivered. 

This Italian gem comes from a small workshop just outside of Milan.  Built for sprint distance and mass start track events, it is made of extremely springy nivacrom steel, silver brazed into Mondonico’s custom lugs.  The orange paint is about as subtle as a traffic signal.  A bit of chrome here and there to remind us that this is not a plastic bike.

Aces, Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds

Antonio Mondonico head badge

The machined quill stem matches the fluted seatpost

Custom Selle San Marco Rolls saddle

Columbus EL - OS Nivacrom tubing

The parts are a mix of modern classics.  Paul Components made the gambler’s crankset, with the four card suits machined into the chainring.  A fluted seatpost and machined stem harken back to the 1970s, while the paired-spoke design of the wheels says this is a modern build.

Antonio spent decades building bikes, and many famous Italian racers rode Mondonicos (even if they were painted in another brand’s colors).  Unable to interest his son Mauro in taking over the family business, Antonio retired from bike building in 2007.

This bike is for sale from the museum collection.  It is a 56cm frame, a good fit for a track rider between 5’9″ and 5’11″.  $3000 will buy you this fantastic bit of Italian craftsmanship.

1990 American M-16

1990 American Bicycle Manufacturing M-16

American Bicycle Manufacturing made beautiful, cutting-edge mountain bikes in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Well known in the mountain bike world for producing polished and anodized aluminum bike frames at a time when painted steel was the norm, American was ahead of the curve.  Their bikes were light and distinctive looking, some built with such novel ideas as having adjustable head angles, Beryllium tubing (2 pound mountain bike frame for $26,000), and replaceable derailleur hangers.

“Toothpaste” welds and replaceable derailleur hanger

IRD Switchback, a precursor to “V” brakes

Look closely. That’s a suspension stem and early hydraulic brakes

Outfitted with Shimano’s first off-road clipless pedal

American was the original sponsor of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in nearby Hayward, Wisconson.  The festival today is one of the biggest and oldest off-road races in the world, drawing over 2500 participants into the woods each year.

Unfortunately, American Bicycle Manufacturing did not survive the mountain bike boom.  As a builder for other manufacturers as well as for their own brand, American sometimes lost market share and intellectual property to their own customers.   In 1993, a deal to produce tandems for Specialized fell through, leaving American with over 200 tandem frames they couldn’t sell…

Want an old-school mountain bike for yourself?  This bike is for sale from the museum collection for $1600.

Bike Appraisals

Have an old bike that you’d like to get appraised?

We can help, but we have a few guidelines that we’d like you to understand.

First, we have no idea what your bike is worth without seeing it. We’re just not that smart. Don’t call us and try to describe it over the phone. Serial numbers do not help. Instead, you can send us an email with some pictures attached or bring your bike in to the store.

Take a photo from the “drive side” in front of a neutral background

To make the appraisal more accurate, prepare the bike and take photos like you would if you were going to sell it. Clean the bike, remove any broken or rough-looking accessories and put some air in the tires.
Take pictures straight on in front of a blank background, and take close-up photos of areas that may generate interest (or confusion).

There is no “Blue Book” value for bicycles. Bikes are simply worth what someone else is willing to pay for them. Bicycle values tend to be highest when the weather is warm, in places where it’s pleasant to ride, and wherever there are a lot of people who like bikes.

Badges or labels on the tubes help with identification

Close-ups of the parts tell a lot about your bike

You know more about your bike than we do. If you just bought a bike for $50, you have just established the value of the bicycle (and you are not likely to be able to sell it for $2000 to somebody else). You know when you bought it, so you have a good idea of the age, and you know if it was a high-end racing model or a basic bike from Walmart.

Rarity rarely helps determine value. If you have a one-of-a-kind bicycle, it may mean that no one has ever heard of it and/or nobody is looking for one.

Popularity is no indicator either. Bikes that were sold in large numbers could fall into one of two camps. You could have a bike that will never sell (Schwinn Varsity) because there are still thousands of them out there, or you could have a bike that will cause a bidding war (Bridgestone MB-1) because people rode them into the ground and they want another one.

If what you’re really after is to get rid of an old bike, keep us in mind. While we don’t buy bikes outright, we’ll likely take your old bike as a trade-in for something new….