ebay's ridiculous Raleigh Rapide

[wafter]

I like the idea of a Raleigh Rapide, and as a little indulgence keep an eye on what crops up on ebay.

I've had a search setup for maybe 18 months, and this thing is always cropping up in my emails.

While it looks like a really nice example, it seems that the seller is one sandwich short of a picnic as the bike is constantly listed, pulled, relisted.. with prices bouncing around between anything from £395 and £795.

It's been on forever and I assume would sell if the buyer actually set a realistic price. And didn't behave like a total fruitloop..

 

[Cycleops]

It's lovely and if you want a Raleigh from this era virtually unused would be a good buy at the right price. But what is the right price? As much as someone is prepared to pay, maybe not £800.
It's up to the seller I guess, if he'd prepared to wait he might just get a buyer for that so he thinks it's worthwhile. Ours is not to reason why.

 

[wafter]

It's lovely and if you want a Raleigh from this era virtually unused would be a good buy at the right price. But what is the right price? As much as someone is prepared to pay, maybe not £800.
It's up to the seller I guess, if he'd prepared to wait he might just get a buyer for that so he thinks it's worthwhile. Ours is not to reason why.

It certainly is lovely and I'd very much like it at the right price... while £800 is clearly ridiculous my main issue is the fact that it's relisted every 10 minutes at wildly varying prices; which makes the seller appears somewhat unhinged..

 

[Cycleops]

About par for the course with some eBay sellers...
Get him at his most unhinged and you might get a bargain.

 

[wafter]

About par for the course with some eBay sellers...
Get him at his most unhinged and you might get a bargain.

Indeed.. and sadly the seller's instability seems to be limited to ridiculous prices and erratic behaviour. If this were to extent to more reasonable prices I'd certainly be tempted... although I do already have too many bikes..

 

[Juan Kog]

It’s cheap ………..……………..well it is compared to the other Raleigh the seller has for sale .

 

[wafter]

It’s cheap ………..……………..well it is compared to the other Raleigh the seller has for sale .

Crikey!

Seems like everything they're selling is "optimistic" tbh

 

[sleuthey]

The final sentence in the description contradicts everything above it.

Have a look at the sellers feedback.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Indeed.. and sadly the seller's instability seems to be limited to ridiculous prices and erratic behaviour. If this were to extent to more reasonable prices I'd certainly be tempted... although I do already have too many bikes..

My sense is that he harvesting contact details from those who appreciate such bikes. He is using the same bike as bait to draw inquiries.

Car dealers do the same thing.

 

[wafter]

The final sentence in the description contradicts everything above it.

Have a look at the sellers feedback.

Yeah, he does seem to be a bit of a scumbag from his feedback..

My sense is that he harvesting contact details from those who appreciate such bikes. He is using the same bike as bait to draw inquiries.

Car dealers do the same thing.

Perhaps, although presumably all that's going to get is ebay accounts that he can't really pursue otherwise.

Regardless of what's going on, he seems like a fully-qualified muppet

 

[cisamcgu]

Another here

 

[cougie uk]

Blimey. My bits and bobs on the garage must be worth thousands according to his pricing strategy.

 

[cougie uk]

Another here

They've just cut and pasted the description. Totally different models there.

 

[wafter]

They've just cut and pasted the description. Totally different models there.

Indeed.. the one in the original link is the real deal - IIRC 1984 mid-high end model with 531 tubing, internally-lugged forks, decent components.. the other is a later, much lower spec-offering.

Raleigh seemed fond of cynically re-using the names of their once-great bikes on lower-spec offerings in latter years - presumably to make them look better than they were..

 

[cougie uk]

Indeed.. the one in the original link is the real deal - IIRC 1984 mid-high end model with 531 tubing, internally-lugged forks, decent components.. the other is a later, much lower spec-offering.

Raleigh seemed fond of cynically re-using the names of their once-great bikes on lower-spec offerings in latter years - presumably to make them look better than they were..

Yes definitely about that time. I had the Record Competition and pored over the catalogue endlessly.