Value/Researching Bicycles
Identifying a bicycle
If you’ve arrived at this page then you may have an old bicycle you are researching or wanting to find a value on to sell. Identification of bicycles is not an easy process, sometimes you can get lucky and it is straight forward other times it’s a long search for what may amount to ‘I think it maybe X around X year old’. There is a lot of resources out there and getting reliable information can be tricky.
Value
Let’s face it most of the time value is the first thing people are interested in. Simple answer is whatever the market tells you. You can check places like the American Copake auction house for prices http://www.copakeauction.com/ that may provide a guide, also www.thewheelmen.org have a buy and sell message board you could search, http://www.oldbike.eu/museum/auction/ have an online bike auction, also keep an eye on ebay. If you want a sale detailed photos and as much information as you can helps ensure it sells and for what represents a satisfactory price.
If you are selling it maybe possible to promote the sale through the QPFAHCC please contact us at qpfahcc@gmail.com to discuss
How old is my bike?
Once again depends. Getting a manufacturer is the best starting point if possible that helps narrow it down. Serial numbers can be very useful to ID the bike and age. Bikes like fashion changed regularly, some bikes have parts from other bikes or reproductions etc. There are a lot of reproduction bicycles out there that can convincingly pass for very old and takes a person with good eye and depth of knowledge to ID. Even then there can be disagreement on how old it is. Any providence can help how long have you or your family owned it for? Do you have any old photos etc?
Fakes vs original vs reproductions
A touchy area one person’s fake is another person’s reproduction. I consider a fake that something that is made to be something it’s not. The difficulty is there regularly are much younger bicycles listed as period correct. So how it is presented is critical. Ignorance or false expectations is often the cause of incorrect presentation (and sometimes wildly optimistic pricing) however there will always be people deliberately setting out to deceive caveat emptor ‘let the buyer beware’.
Tips
When searching on your bike it may pay to use all the regional terms either a highwheel/penny farthing/ordinary. Certain people/regions tend to use different terms. A lot of pennies came from America and Britain and there are large sources of information.
There are a large number of ‘children’s pennies‘ on the market. Most were built from the early 1930’s onwards, a lot are converted tricycles. A period correct (1800’s) penny is very rare and will look very similar to an adult penny and be very well made. They generally do not look like they are bolted/riveted together. (there are exceptions to this advice but they are rare see above ‘caveat emptor’). Do a quick search and if you see a number of them that look like yours then it’s likely a younger built bike.
Serial numbers are hard to find you need excellent light and good eyes and a very slow and thorough search every inch of the bike. Sometimes even then there may not be one or it’s covered in layers of paint. Stem, handlebars, steering yoke, cranks, bottom brackets, hubs are all regular places for them but they could be anywhere.
Online resources
There is a lot out there. If you’re on facebook these groups primarily have an interest in early bikes Penny Farthing Brisbane Chapter, Australian Penny-Farthing Community, The League of Ordinary Riders, The Wheelmen, NVCC has a large number of groups for veteran cycles, for velocipedes etc. There are a large number of groups for different retro bikes including Retro Bicycle Riders.
Below are some sites that maybe of assistance in your searches
http://www.oldbike.eu/museum/frame-number-bicycle-dating-guide/
http://www.ehow.com/how_6332070_identify-antique-bicycles.html