Carpenter bike, dating from 1928



zena333

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Jul 22, 2005
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I have a 'hand-made' Carpenter bike, dating from 1928 (number is punched into the frame). Some parts are in good condition, is a good ride, though the leather seat is in shreds at
present & brakes need doing. Is there a market for bikes like this and if so, who would be interested ?
 
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A market? Yes and no. Other than a few museums and an even fewer number of semi-wealthy collectors there is little interest in the classics in the States.

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/builders/carpenter.html

European collectors may express more interest, but unless the specific example was in nearly mint condition and complete it would bring very little money at almost all types of auctions and sales from estate, to antique to sporting.

'If' the example were historically significant in some way or tied to a famous or successful individual (with proper provenance) it might bring more at sale.

The market in my area is just a few collectors/restorers that collect and restore solely for the purpose of keeping the old equipment alive for passing on to the next keepers of the flame.
 
Here is a VERY ROUGH GUIDE to the pricing of the Hetchins market. This is a very nicely prepared price/value guide, as unbiased as I have seen and as well researched as can be found on the web...and it may be completely and utterly inaccurate today.

Remember, condition is everything. Rarity does count. Model popularity counts more.

http://www.hetchins.org/301d.htm
 
90 years that bike was stored... In that ^%^#@!
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Originally Posted by zena333
I have a 'hand-made' Carpenter bike, dating from 1928 (number is punched into the frame). Some parts are in good condition, is a good ride, though the leather seat is in shreds at
present & brakes need doing. Is there a market for bikes like this and if so, who would be interested ?
Wow! I went to the website the other poster gave and that is one nice looking bike, is your frame, paint and chrome in great shape? You have a very unusual and rare bike. Leather seat isn't difficult to find I would replace it with something that looks similar just to keep it looking like original. Personally if the bike fits you why sell it? If I needed to sell a bike that would be the last one I would sell! I guarantee you if you sell that bike a day will come when you wished you hadn't, I know plenty of people including myself that sold a bike they wish they hadn't; in my case I had a 1976 Trek TX900 that I had all Campy Record stuff put on, a year later I sold it to get a better car (girls didn't understand why a guy would have a nice bike and a crappy car!), but I wish now I had kept it.
 
Probably a nice bike. Would be good to see a pic of it. Its a collectable. I'd keep it. Maybe you want the money from it though and it is taking up space. You could just change the seat on it.
 
I would love to see the picture of such a bike. That is a long time for a bike to stay in any let alone good condition. Maybe one day it will be worth a lot of money. Just take care of it, because one day you may be glad that you had it. If not selling, at least it would look nice in a bike museum.
 

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