Ways to sell a 'bent

[CAMRAMan]

I'm trying to sell my HP Spirit on a thread on the For Sale board. I've had very little interest* for what is basically a very good example of the bike, albeit  the 16/20" wheel version.

I've priced it around £700, though I've asked for offers. Is that too high? It doesn't seem like it to me, but I have a vested interest!

If you have the time to check out the ad, I'd appreciate any feedback and/or alternative places to sell it. I really don't want to go down the fleabay route just yet, though I do have an account. It's already on the CTC & Velovision boards.

*Kevin from D-TEK did get in touch, but I know from a previous conversation with him that he'll offer between £4-500, and that just seems too low, although I realise he has overheads to pay & a profit to make.

TIA

[rwa.martin]

I sold my Giro 20 via the velovision forum. Took quite a while though but went in the end.

[oncemore]

thebay is the only sensible route to sell anything with such a niche market - simply a bigger pool of potential buyers (including the curious newcomer who won't be trawling Forum Classifieds for one).

[Charlotte]

I reckon the Spirit is very much a newb's 'bent - a lovely bike, but one that someone dipping their toe into the dark side for the first time might go for.  If it were a Grasshopper, I'd have your hand off.  The problem with a newb's bike is that there's a limited supply of newbs.  Were it a Streetmachine or a Speedmachine, you'd probably sell it quicker because someone already into 'bents would buy it as soon as they saw it on the basis that they'd been looking for one for a while.

£700 is a fair price.  Probably worth getting as good a bunch of pics as possible up onto all the right forums and just waiting for a couple of months.  Someone will come along  

[Torslanda]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Wise words.

If you don't need an instant sale then just hold your nerve - and your price . . .

[CAMRAMan]

Thanks for the advice. There's no great rush to sell, though it's in a garage with 8 other bikes and 3 kids using some of them, so will inevitably suffer some scrapes. I'm optimistic the spring will bring a few buyers onto the market, so I'll get some pics done & add them to the forum ads. eBay really would be a last resort if only for the exhorbitant fees they'll ask for.

Had I known how twitchy the 16" front wheel would be, I'd have jumped deeper into the bent pool. I suppose that's why they now do them with a 20" front wheel.

[Cheysintow]

Why do people use the term new riders? I do not understand.

I've never ridden a bent, but like other things if I am fit enough I buy the best I can exploit the potential of.

Do I really need to start with a beginer bike then sell it once I get better?

[EdinburghFixed]

Some require more getting used to than others. My first exposure to the genre involved a mass try-out session in a park, and it was conspicuous how some bikes I could jump right on and ride, others involved a lot of vectoring off into the grass!

However, I also don't really understand who can afford to buy such expensive bikes with the anticipation of growing out of it in short order. I went directly to a 20 degree reclined lowracer because I couldn't ever justify it otherwise. I couldn't even ride it without first trying the dealer's less extreme models to get my eye in! 

[CAMRAMan]

I was almost put off bents when I first tried & bought (!) a Linear recumbent. USS & SPD pedals, neither of which I'd used before & feckin' looooong! It was not a good introduction and it sat around till I sold it at a significant loss. A sore arse on a tour on an upwrong told me it was time to try again, and the Spirit appeared on Velovison, I think it was. To me it's neither fish nor fowl and the twitchiness of the ride doesn't help either. A 40MPH descent last week was distinctly hairy, when on my Orbit it's 35MPH & rock steady.

[Kim]

Why do people use the term new riders? I do not understand.

I think it's generally accepted that LWB and ASS are less of a brainfuck for people who've never ridden a 'bent before.  There's a similar argument for trikes.  It's not surprising that people are more likely to be drawn to a machine they feel reasonably confident about riding.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that if the bike's right, the learning curve is worth it - even if that does involve blood, swearing, embarrassment and so on.  But I've the sort of personality that enjoys learning curves for their own sake. A lot of people want things that just work.

I'm wary of calling something like the Spirit a newbie's bike though.  While I can see it appealing to newbies in a way that something really low or with USS might not, that doesn't seem to me to be the point in the bike.  I haven't ridden one, so I can't comment on how well it achieves it - but on spec, the Spirit appears to be designed as comfortable, practical bike that handles well and gives good visibility in traffic, and doesn't require any great feats of strength, flexibility or balance to mount/dismount or wrangle when not being ridden.  A Raleigh Twenty of recumbents, as it were.

To me it's a general-purpose utility bike for People Who Don't Like Saddles.  It looks like quite a good one.  

[ruggtomcat]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that if the bike's right, the learning curve is worth it - even if that does involve blood, swearing, embarrassment and so on.

I had this opinion when buying my first bent, I went for the one that was the hardest to handle but held the greatest promise (fuego) and Im really glad I did, now i can get it round corners without falling off (sometimes) I can really appreciate its ability to carve and its stability at speed.

[CAMRAMan]

Why do people use the term new riders? I do not understand.

I'm wary of calling something like the Spirit a newbie's bike though.  While I can see it appealing to newbies in a way that something really low or with USS might not, that doesn't seem to me to be the point in the bike.  I haven't ridden one, so I can't comment on how well it achieves it - but on spec, the Spirit appears to be designed as comfortable, practical bike that handles well and gives good visibility in traffic, and doesn't require any great feats of strength, flexibility or balance to mount/dismount or wrangle when not being ridden.  A Raleigh Twenty of recumbents, as it were.

To me it's a general-purpose utility bike for People Who Don't Like Saddles.  It looks like quite a good one.   

I'd tend to agree with you, Kim. Although Velotechnik do sell a mid-frame pannier rack & claim it's sort-of OK for touring, it isn't really. It's an about-town runabout and the full ssupension does a great job of soaking up the bumps. I assume they got negative feedback about the 16" front wheel and changed it to a dual 20" set up, as it can be rather twitchy.

Another factor is that at >£1500, it really isn't priced as an entry level machine and there are alternatives out there that are much cheaper and better/different entry machines.

I think I'll have to follow you over to see Kevin eventually and find something that's a better fit in both senses of the word. I've also discovered that I am not a Person Who Doesn't Like Saddles, but I am a person who doesn't like the wrong saddles, as I've now found one that seems to suit my fussy rear end after an exhaustive & expensive quest.

[Kim]

Another factor is that at >£1500, it really isn't priced as an entry level machine and there are alternatives out there that are much cheaper and better/different entry machines.

I think that probably does count as entry-level by HPVelotechnik standards

But yeah, that does end up making it pretty niche.  I suspect the main market ends up being people with back or flexibility issues.  It's a pretty good bike in that context.

[CAMRAMan]

It's gone! No great sadness in its departure as it was never used enough.

I'm building an upwrong at the moment and am unemployed, so it'll be a while till I dip my toe in the recumbent waters again.