I don't know anything about bikes - can you help me sell one?

August 8, 2013 8:24 PM

A couple of years back, spouse came across a bike frame and assorted bits at a tag sale and brought home the whole megillah. This is a bike frame, seat, gears, and probably some other things I know nothing about. It's sat in the attic, as we had grand thoughts of getting the other bits and having a very fancy bike, but, no. So now, we're clearing out various stuff in the attic. I would like to sell these bike parts, but again with the ignorance of bike culture. I'll put the whole shebang up on eBay for a rock bottom price and no reserve, but I don't know how to describe the bits or the condition of the bits. Can you tell me what I'm looking at, and what to check for? I'd be happy to give a real cyclist a fantastic deal, but I need some help.

The frame itself is Klein - Q Pro Carbon. The seat is Selle Italia and the post says Bontrager. The gear bits are Sumana Ultegra.

Again, I don't know how to judge condition and if it's not easy for a layperson to figure out, I will sell the whole thing as-is. But I do need to describe it! Halp!

posted by heigh-hothederryo to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (15 answers total)

Describe it as "Bike Parts" and put up photographs.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:29 PM on August 8, 2013

FYI - the gears are Shimano, not Sumana :)

i would recommend looking for a bike flea market, if such a thing exists in your area. that way you can talk face to face with people looking to purchase and negotiate deals. i would also clean it up a bit before selling.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 8:30 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Klein Q Pro Carbon frameset for sale.
***FULL ULTEGRA DRIVETRAIN***

You're looking at a genuine Klein Q Pro Carbon frameset, size XX centimeters (look for a sticker that says "56cm" or "58cm" or something). Included in the price are Shimano Ultegra 9-speed 53-39 175mm cranks, Shimano Ultegra 9-speed rear derailleur, and Shimano Ultegra front derailleur.

The bike also comes with a stem, handlebars, both front and rear STI shifters/brake levers, Bontrager aluminum seat post and Selle Italia Flite saddle.

Please note the sale does not include a fork, headset, cassette, wheels, or pedals, but the drivetrain is FULL ULTEGRA and this bike is ready to fly. Serious offers only.

***FULL ULTEGRA***
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:33 PM on August 8, 2013 [11 favorites]

Best answer: I was writing up a reply explaining what the parts were, but spikelee above has the right idea. Go post that up on craigslist for like $400 and see if you get any offers or just full price bites. Just the frames have gone for that much recently, but they don't always.

The drivetrain components(shifters+brake lever combo units on the handlebars, derailleurs, cranks, etc) are worth another easy $200.

Selling the frame and components separately would probably yield more money here, as i bet you could get $300 for the frame and $200 for the components. But if you just want it all gone, someone will probably easily buy it for $400-ish and just flip the parts if they don't want them(or deal with the irritating process of flipping individual little parts and keeping the specific ones they want)

I'd say just put the whole thing up using spikelee's script and be done with it. Selling stuff like this can get irritating fast.
posted by emptythought at 8:37 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

And if you can take a better picture of the rear derailleur, basically zoom in on the lower right corner of this pic, and get a model number, that would confirm if it's 9 or 10 speed Ultegra. If it's 10 speed (and I don't think it is) you'll probably get a little more money for it.

If it says 6500, it's 9 speed. If it says 6600 or 6700, it's 10 speed.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:38 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Holy crud, I love the green. Thanks, guys.

Cristina - thanks for the correction. And I'd totally clean it up, but I, uh, don't know how.

spikelee and emptythought - snikes, that's fantastic. I'll hang it all out on eBay for ~$350 and see who wants it. Another silly question - should I do local pickup or is there some magical way to ship this?
posted by heigh-hothederryo at 8:44 PM on August 8, 2013

Best answer: Local pickup is the best option, but if you want to ship it, the magical easy solution is to drop it off at your local bike shop and tell them you want it packed to be shipped. They can probably ship it for you. My shop charges $50 for this service, but since we wouldn't have to disassemble anything we'd probably end up charging you like $10 or $15.

You can usually ask for a bike box from a bike shop and they'll give you one for free. Not always. You can use lots of packing material to protect it and box it yourself, but it's going to suck if you don't do it right and that Q-Pro gets snapped by UPS. Whatever you do, insure the hell out of it.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:48 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, to clean it, mild soap on a wash cloth with water. Wipe it down, think about polishing the fine china or cleaning the coffee table. Don't use a hose, just wipe it down to make it look nice in the pictures. Scrubbing the chain rings (the gears in the front) to get the grime off will make it look nicer.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:50 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

spikelee..., you're a treasure :]
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:54 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

If local pickup is what you're looking for (and I agree with spikelee that it is) then Craigslist is the way to go in my opinion, not eBay. Craigslist doesn't skim a piece of your profit or charge you for the ad, most of the people who will look at your ad will be locals, and for me and all the bikey people I know it's the go-to place to look for used bikes in general. Put it up for $400 like emptythought says -- it's probably worth at least that, and you might well get the full price. Craigslist prices get haggled down, unlike eBay's which are auctioned up.
posted by Scientist at 9:23 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Depending on the size and price, I'd buy that off you right now. Check your MeMail.
posted by d. z. wang at 5:39 AM on August 9, 2013

Yeah, I started to get twitchy reading slmtdahcjrm's ad there*. To the right person, this is a pretty good deal.

*don't worry hon, not buying.
posted by bonehead at 6:20 AM on August 9, 2013 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Spikelee - it's 54cm and the rear derailleur is stamped 6600. I'm going to make someone on eBay very happy, I hope. Spouse says he thinks it's missing a rear sprocket. Anything else I should look for, so I don't disappoint someone? There are nicks in the paint here and there, but I don't see any obvious dents or cracks.

Thanks again, all.
posted by heigh-hothederryo at 3:08 PM on August 9, 2013

The gears in back are missing, and that's called the cassette. It's also missing a chain. Really I'd just include the line "What you see is what you get" and change the description from 9-speed to 10-speed.

Good luck, and let us know how much you get for it. Anyone buying this should fully expect some scratches.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:29 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also look on the inside of the crank arms to see the length. On a 54cm bike they're probably 170mm. Update the description accordingly.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:20 AM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]