Bargain?

Thargor

http://www.adverts.ie/321651/bikes/hybrid-trek-71-fx-price-drop/

Im going to tell a friend to grab that as their commuter, they cant do the CTW scheme, am I right? I think its a good price anyway and we're in Galway aswell. Is it a good bike? Its a perfect size for him anyway.

uberpixie

Thargor wrote: »

http://www.adverts.ie/321651/bikes/hybrid-trek-71-fx-price-drop/

Im going to tell a friend to grab that as their commuter, they cand do CTW scheme, am I right? I think its a good price anyway and we're in Galway aswell. Is it a good bike? Its a perfect size for him anyway.

Tis a good bike. Anyone I have worked with who picked up a trek FX series bike has really liked them.

enas

I don't know, 300€ seems pretty expensive I must say. This bike doesn't cost 450€ new, rather around 400€ indeed (and possibly less for an end-of-line and with bargaining). This bike is good to be sure, but is pretty basic stuff. I reckon their is room for bargaining (second hand bikes lost a lot of value with the CTW scheme). I personally wouldn't buy it for more than 200€. I have a 7.5FX, which I'm extremely happy with, that I bought second-hand, almost new, for no much more than the asking price. But that was an extremely good opportunity, but still shows you the gap.

manwithaplan

I'd agree with Enas. Your friend could buy this new for less than the asking price by availing of the CTW scheme (depending on their tax bracket obviously).

BostonB

Thargor wrote: »

... they cant do the CTW scheme...

???

enas

BostonB wrote: »

???

The fact that it can be bought around €300 new with the CTW scheme decreases the second-hand value of this bike to much lower than €300, regardless of whether the OP can avail of the scheme or not. So yes, I do believe this is not a bargain at all.

BostonB

No-one who can get CTW will buy a 2nd hand bike so its irrelevant. The 2nd hand price is dictated by what people not on the scheme will pay.

That said I don't think its a bargain. A bargain for me would be 50~60% of new price. Assuming its in mint condition. That said I don't think theres a lot of decent 2nd bikes around. Most of them are trashed.

enas

BostonB wrote: »

No-one who can get CTW will buy a 2nd hand bike so its irrelevant. The 2nd hand price is dictated by what people not on the scheme will pay.

No-one, except those who do Like for example if the second-hand is in mint condition and even cheaper than what you would get with the CTW scheme (which is precisely what I did with my 7.5FX, as previously mentioned).

BostonB wrote: »

A bargain for me would be 50~60% of new price. Assuming its in mint condition..

So we actually agree, second-hand has to be cheaper than CTW price. I'd say (and it's what I've been observing in the second-hand market in Ireland since the CTW scheme) that the market for second-hand bikes at CTW prices for people not on the scheme is tiny tiny. The seller just won't manage to sell his bike at €300 (unless he's very lucky).

Good bargaining!

funkyjebus

BostonB wrote: »

No-one who can get CTW will buy a 2nd hand bike so its irrelevant. The 2nd hand price is dictated by what people not on the scheme will pay.

That said I don't think its a bargain. A bargain for me would be 50~60% of new price. Assuming its in mint condition. That said I don't think theres a lot of decent 2nd bikes around. Most of them are trashed.

its also dictated by all the people selling their cheap BTW bikes, therefore fludding the market and decreasing the individual bike prices. The BTW scheme has cleary altered the second hand market, which should be evident to anyone who has been looking at second hand bikes in the last two years (I never stop looking!!).

enas

funkyjebus wrote: »

he BTW scheme has cleary altered the second hand market, which should be evident to anyone who has been looking at second hand bikes in the last two years (I never stop looking!!).

Good to see I'm not the only one!

manwithaplan

Im going to tell a friend to grab that as their commuter, they cant do the CTW scheme, am I right?

I didn't parse that sentence correctly. I thought the OP was asking whether the CTW scheme could be availed of to buy a second hand bike. I now see that the OP was saying that his friend can't avail of CTW. If people would just learn to punctuate correctly.

enas is still right!

BostonB

I don't agree at all.Theres very few mint used bikes out there. Bikes shops aren't interested in used bikes anymore, and don't really stock them anymore. The CTW scheme has pushed the price of new bikes up not down and a lot of 2nd hand bikes I went looking at were pretty rough, even if not very old. Even the whole fixie craze has jumped the price of of old bikes, and reduced the supply of old bikes.

With a result theres big interest in mint used bikes and they usually sell quickly. If you dropped the price of yours for a quick sale thats a different thing entirely. My point about a bargain was that a lot of them aren't bargains. So personally I wouldn't be interested. Thats not to say they won't sell.