Why is it hard to sell a Second Hand Mountain Bike in SA

[Me rida my bicycle]

I ride, buy and sell used. Only money spent/lost is on wear and tear items and services.

People buy/chase the new best shiny things or the lightest parts/bikes so there's almost never a shortage of suspension, groupsets, wheels, frames anything in basically new condition. 

One thing to remember is used has no warranty. Buying a 60k bike new and something goes wrong no problem take it in. Spend 60k on a used bike and something goes wrong and you have to swallow that bitter pill. This scares a lot of people who don't know much about what to look out for. 

That's why cheaper sub 25k sells much easier/quicker than 40k + unless it's a serious bargain. 

Upside to new = warranty, peace of mind 

Used = value

 

[love2fly]

1 hour ago, Zebra said:

I am ‘out’ of the regular ‘spread’ of cyclists, but JUST to give you an idea of what is possible; my kit e-Bike - recently stolen - was 20+ years old; my 29”er is a 2014 model - yup, 11-odd years old, my Eroica bike is 1982/1983, so around 42 years old, and my B-U-D-G-E-T Gravel bike is 2023 model, bought in 2025 for silly (low) money… I LOVE it. Just R25k, all in!

ZERO bragging about being a tight-ass, just i do not drink the ‘Koolaid’, and ‘last years hot thing’ is M-O-R-E than sufficient, for MANY of us…

Not really getting why people sell 1 (or2…) year old bikes, to get the next big thing…?

Ride-what-you-got, unless you MUST change…
Chris

You an me both!

[Prince Albert Cycles]

2 hours ago, Zebra said:

I am ‘out’ of the regular ‘spread’ of cyclists, but JUST to give you an idea of what is possible; my kit e-Bike - recently stolen - was 20+ years old; my 29”er is a 2014 model - yup, 11-odd years old, my Eroica bike is 1982/1983, so around 42 years old, and my B-U-D-G-E-T Gravel bike is 2023 model, bought in 2025 for silly (low) money… I LOVE it. Just R25k, all in!

ZERO bragging about being a tight-ass, just i do not drink the ‘Koolaid’, and ‘last years hot thing’ is M-O-R-E than sufficient, for MANY of us…

Not really getting why people sell 1 (or2…) year old bikes, to get the next big thing…?

Ride-what-you-got, unless you MUST change…
Chris

Am with you on this Chris .

Mine

1982 Colnago 

1994 Cannondale F700 single speed

2016 Santa Cruz Highball ( hardtail)

2019 Cannondale Scalpel Lefty .

20?? Farr steel gravel bike

 

Not 1 of them  bought new .
 

 

Edited July 13, 2025 by Prince Albert Cycles

[MORNE]

It’s not hard to sell a second hand mtb (or any bike) if you are realistic, not sentimental, and understand the market at any given time. 

Then, having nice or weird or unique things usually puts the ball in your court…you then just need to find the guy/gal who also likes your weird things.

Otherwise you’re competing against 500 other people trying to sell the exact same cookie cutter thing...to people who likely know they are better off buying that mass produced thing new. 

[cadenceblur]

People also succumb to peer pressure or keeping up with jones’es. 
I have a 2016 PYGA Stage well specced but sometimes ride with someone who is constantly trying to get me to change to a slacker more modern bike - eish very soon irritating 

Roadie is a rim brake Bianchi - again well specced and someone else always questions why I’m not on disc brakes ! 💁

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, cadenceblur said:

People also succumb to peer pressure or keeping up with jones’es. 
I have a 2016 PYGA Stage well specced but sometimes ride with someone who is constantly trying to get me to change to a slacker more modern bike - eish very soon irritating 

Roadie is a rim brake Bianchi - again well specced and someone else always questions why I’m not on disc brakes ! 💁

Or you could be riding a brand new bike, fresh off the showroom floor and some person riding an e-bike will pass you and make the comment about your non e-bike and try to convince you why you're wrong and they're right. 

[MORNE]

4 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

People also succumb to peer pressure or keeping up with jones’es. 
I have a 2016 PYGA Stage well specced but sometimes ride with someone who is constantly trying to get me to change to a slacker more modern bike - eish very soon irritating 

Roadie is a rim brake Bianchi - again well specced and someone else always questions why I’m not on disc brakes ! 💁

You obviously need a slacker, more modern drop bar bike….with disc brakes. Two birds, one stone?. Maybe even put a 30mm suspension fork on it, some early 90s mtb tyres will do too, but i think they now call them 50c tan/skin walls. Should be just enough retro to not make you feel you are riding something modern. 😅

Added bonus is you can wear either your roadie kit or your old outdated mtb kit, or just your old work clothes and look fine. Just remember not to shave.

Edited July 14, 2025 by MORNE

[DJR]

14 hours ago, Zebra said:

..........Not really getting why people sell 1 (or2…) year old bikes, to get the next big thing…?............

I am with you on this.

My youngest road bike is 25 years old and nobody ever has to wait for me........well........not because of the bike anyway.

Edited July 14, 2025 by DJR

[Kom]

Mountain biking hasn't disappeared, but it's lost cultural momentum to road and gravel riding for a few key reasons. Gravel, in particular, offers a lower barrier to entry — less gear complexity, broader terrain access, and a more community-driven race scene. Meanwhile, MTB fragmented into multiple sub-disciplines (XC, trail, enduro, downhill), each with different gear, skill sets, and venues, making it harder to sustain unified event calendars.

As MTB events declined, so did the sense of purpose for many recreational riders — no races, no upgrades, no group motivation. That, in turn, eroded resale demand and made full-suspension bikes feel like high-risk purchases with limited return. So yes, concerns about maintenance and resale are real, but they're symptoms of a deeper issue: the sport lost its common narrative, while gravel and road found theirs.

[PhilipV]

22 hours ago, LukeForce said:

Ever

So it raises the question:

Is mountain biking only for people who can afford to buy new bikes every year and take a massive financial knock when selling the old ones?

In South Africa, where the economy’s tight and many riders save up for years to get a good setup, it just doesn’t make sense. Yet, the second-hand market feels broken.

I’d like to explore this with you:

why do you have to replace your MTB every 1-2 years? Or 4-5years?

Why do you feel you need to buy new every time? 

 

 

[NotSoBigBen]

4 hours ago, MORNE said:

You obviously need a slacker, more modern drop bar bike….with disc brakes. Two birds, one stone?. Maybe even put a 30mm suspension fork on it, some early 90s mtb tyres will do too, but i think they now call them 50c tan/skin walls. Should be just enough retro to not make you feel you are riding something modern. 😅

Added bonus is you can wear either your roadie kit or your old outdated mtb kit, or just your old work clothes and look fine. Just remember not to shave.

🤣🤣

No man, bloody coffee everywhere!

Laughed so loud my wife woke up

[NotSoBigBen]

I honestly believe that recovering all the money spent on upgrades and 'weird' bits and pieces is mostly not possible. This despite how one may have painstakingly researched the tech and saved the ZA rondts

A little story, sort of related ...

A few years back I bought a car and traded in an Audi with just a few small upgrades over the time, wheels/tyres and sound system (still a fair few rondts). The sales guy told me quite clearly that those upgrades made no difference to the price I was offered as a trade in. Unbeknownst to him I had kept all the original bits, there was a week delay while waiting for the new car. My son and I used that time to put everything back to original. 

When I arrived to collect the new car he was visibly pissed off at that let me tell you! A short meeting with the dealer principal quickly sorted that, got a call a few days later with an offer for the stuff I'd taken out 😁

[Mook]

Friday seems lightyears away 😂

Many a truth penned in the above comments. As @Zebra and many others, my collection is 94 HT Gary Fisher, 2015 29r Dual Carbon and a 2014 29r HT carbon pimped to Gravel. Recently sold my 2007 road bike purely because I do not foster a death wish. Honestly, my lower back just said NO !

I have learnt that consumerism fanned by marketing BS and mankind's desire for instant gratification keeps the bike market alive. Rather than buying a good platform(frame) with potential to upgrade over time, most riders want the latest bling and fall prey to the mainstream psycho games that drives this particular market. My trusted 94 Steel HT has recently had it's 3rd major makeover, and given my mood, still trumps any tech the market could throw at me.

Call me a sentimentalist old fart 👨‍🦳

The Jones' suck ..................................

 

[Guest Mike Dewing]

23 hours ago, LukeForce said:

Ever noticed how tough it is to sell your mountain bike second-hand? You spend R60 000 or more on a decent bike, and a year or two later you’re lucky if someone offers you half of that. Most buyers want to pay next to nothing, and the shops? They won’t even consider a trade-in.

It feels like bike dealerships could boost sales if they accepted trade-ins or created a certified pre-owned program. But they don’t—probably because they also struggle to sell second-hand bikes. So now, you’re stuck with a great bike, well looked after, but no one wants to pay what it’s worth.

Then you get one or two companies that buy used bikes—but they offer you up to 60% less than what you’re asking. That stings.

So it raises the question:

Is mountain biking only for people who can afford to buy new bikes every year and take a massive financial knock when selling the old ones?

In South Africa, where the economy’s tight and many riders save up for years to get a good setup, it just doesn’t make sense. Yet, the second-hand market feels broken.

It’s a buyers market and if no one’s willing to pay 60k for your bike, I hate to break it to you, it ain’t worth 60k.. things are only worth what someone’s willing to pay for it.. 

and I agree, buying a new bike every couple years just like if you were trading cars every couple years, you gonna take massive knocks each time.. thing is you just transfer that loss to the new finance and it doesn’t hurt so bad.. we are not likely to out ride bikes from even 10 years ago.. post makes no sense

Post edit.. “why are so many people selling perfectly good bikes for next to nothing 🤣🤣.?! “

Edited July 14, 2025 by Mike Dewing

[quade]

As a 2nd hand buyer (too many kids) I often have the opposite thoughts 

Why do people think their bikes are worth more than they are?

In the car world, you loose double digit percentage as soon as you drive it off the courtyard

As previously mentioned new bikes are.

1. Over priced compared to other countries 

2. Loose lots of value as soon as you ride it once 

3. Too much stock,.and massive reductions are impacting 2nd hand market 

My brother owns a massive shop in Europe, at the start of the season he dropped his usually millions of euros on stock, but by the end of the season the bike companies were selling the bikes for trade cost at such a low cost, that they appeared in the show rooms for less than he bought at trade cost, so has had to make a loss last year just to clear stock 

COVID really screwed up the bike market and it's still not fully recovered 

For 2nd hand bikes, it's a massive risk, I've been stung where a new chain was beyond 50% warn and ended up needing a drive chain replacement, and poorly maintained shocks needed new stanchions etc ..... 2nd hand bikes are a big risk and most people don't know what they are looking for, that coupled with older tech etc gives you some of the reasons why.

Moving forward, I don't see huge jumps in geometry etc, so maybe we are now in a similar space where we once were with smartphones, and small increments on technology means diminishing returns on upgrade costs

My 10 Year old Scott genius is basically todays Scott spark ultimate with shock travel, but not worth buying a new one quite yet.

Perhaps those that can afford to change their bike every 1-2 years probably don't care about the drop, because when factoring in the cost of new components, bearings, wear items etc Vs new bike, it's less painful?

 

 

Edited July 14, 2025 by quade

[Mamil]

I agree that people generally seem to overvalue their goods - I think it's an emotional thing. "I don't want to take small money for something I've valued so much". I'm the opposite - I'm inclined to give things away for less than they are worth because I want to share the love --- but then I'm a genuinely nice guy!! 

I agree also that the small advances in tech make upgrades less desirable ---- this is the cue for 32" wheels to make their appearance .... all those new geometries that we will need, and hubs and and and....

 

 

48 minutes ago, quade said:

As a 2nd hand buyer (too many kids) I often have the opposite thoughts 

Why do people think their bikes are worth more than they are?

In the car world, you loose double digit percentage as soon as you drive it off the courtyard

As previously mentioned new bikes are.

1. Over priced compared to other countries 

2. Loose lots of value as soon as you ride it once 

3. Too much stock,.and massive reductions are impacting 2nd hand market 

My brother owns a massive shop in Europe, at the start of the season he dropped his usually millions of euros on stock, but by the end of the season the bike companies were selling the bikes for trade cost at such a low cost, that they appeared in the show rooms for less than he bought at trade cost, so has had to make a loss last year just to clear stock 

COVID really screwed up the bike market and it's still not fully recovered 

For 2nd hand bikes, it's a massive risk, I've been stung where a new chain was beyond 50% warn and ended up needing a drive chain replacement, and poorly maintained shocks needed new stanchions etc ..... 2nd hand bikes are a big risk and most people don't know what they are looking for, that coupled with older tech etc gives you some of the reasons why.

Moving forward, I don't see huge jumps in geometry etc, so maybe we are now in a similar space where we once were with smartphones, and small increments on technology means diminishing returns on upgrade costs

My 10 Year old Scott genius is basically todays Scott spark ultimate with shock travel, but not worth buying a new one quite yet.

Perhaps those that can afford to change their bike every 1-2 years probably don't care about the drop, because when factoring in the cost of new components, bearings, wear items etc Vs new bike, it's less painful?