Bike Industry on Cusp of Major Changes
A new Toyota Yaris is $14000. A Honda Fit can be had for $15000. A Chevy Sonic is $14000. What does any of this have to do with bikes? Stick with me. The car industry does not exist on new car prices alone. A massive and vibrant market for used cars not only exists, it funds the new car business. The big flashy dealerships full of shiny new cars would not exist without this secondary market. In fact, twice as many used cars are sold compared to new cars in the US every year. The used car market alone is bigger than the entire home improvement market. Again, what does this have to do with bikes?
A new Trek Emonda SLR 10 is $15740, Specialized wants $20k for its McLaren super bikes, even a run of the mill Dura Ace mechanical bike can set you back $8000. The price of bikes today approaches the price of a new car and it has totally out paced the traditional used bike marketplace. Riders today have too much money invested in their bikes to guess-timate used bike values or just let the bike get dusty in the garage while they pay full pop for a new carbon wonder toy. Used bikes have an enormous amount of value and they deserve a secondary market that respects this and leverages it.
At Bicycle Blue Book we want to help create this secondary market. We want to help you fully leverage the enormous value your used bike has. There are number of ways we want to do this.The first is of course our used bike valuation tool. By taking data from millions of used bike transactions we have created a valuation tool that helps you quickly find out exactly how much your used bike is worth. No more guess-timation, no more selling your bike to a buddy for next-to-nothing, no more ignoring the whole thing because it’s just a hassle. This is where our used bike marketplace comes in – list a bike and know it will get a fair price, be a fully backed transaction and be a simple process from start to finish.
But we won’t stop there. We want to see a legitimate trade in process created, a process where you can take your 2010 Trek Madone or 2009 Cannondale CAAD 9 to your local shop and trade it in for a fair price on the latest and greatest. We’re working on all of this – creating partnerships with the country’s best shops, keeping our valuation tool current, and helping riders utilize the incredible value of their used bikes. Along the way we want to help riders in the used market find bikes that are properly priced and fully vetted for quality.
We also believe in stand alone bike insurance. It’s important for riders to understand that their home owners insurance may not cover a $10,000 race bike and new bike specific insurance is affordable and designed to handle theft, race incidents and expensive Italian art on wheels.
In short the bike industry is on the cusp of major change to finally create an environment that respects the enormous value used bikes have and helps leverage that to purchase a new bike. It’s a system that keeps the massive car industry spinning world wide and a system Bicycle Blue Book is working hard to create for riders everywhere.
Bicycle Blue Book is the web’s only accurate valuation tool and the web’s most trusted marketplace to find used bicycles for sale. Posted by pelotonmagazine.com.
