In the second-hand market, you can find bicycles of a very diverse range. Mountain, road, gravel, with carbon frame, electronic shifting, 29" wheels, full suspension... However, not all bicycle models have the same sales success.
Trends regarding builds, components, or wheel sizes change over time. Brands and manufacturers release new features each season to update their bicycle models. And these changes in the new bike market end up being reflected in the second-hand market.
In recent years, this has become especially noticeable in two features: wheel size in mountain bikes and the number of cassette speeds in road bikes. Road bike models with 10-speed cassettes are hard to sell in the second-hand market, unless their price is especially attractive. This is because most cyclists and cycle tourists looking for a used bike prefer one with 11 speeds. Something similar happens in the mountain bike segment.
Bikers looking to buy a mountain bike practically reject models with 26" wheels, except for very specific uses, such as downhill bikes. What types of bicycles have been the most successful in second-hand sales in 2018? And which models were the best sellers?
At Tuvalum we have created a report that gathers the activity of the used bike market. Below we present the conclusions.
'Roadies' prefer them in carbon
Let's start with the road segment. The best-selling used road bikes in Spain last year had a series of common features: carbon frame, Shimano Ultegra or Shimano 105 11-speed groupset, and a maximum age of 3 years. Nearly eight out of ten road bikes sold in 2018 in the second-hand market were carbon (77%). And almost nine out of ten had a Shimano groupset (88%). The 3 best-selling models in this segment were:
Front suspension and 29" wheels
As for mountain bikes, Spanish cyclists opted last year for bikes with aluminum frames and 29" wheels with cross country or XC geometry. By wheel size, 57% of the mountain bikes Second-hand bikes were mostly equipped with 29" wheels. This is a high percentage, but lower than in previous years. This is because more and more cyclists are opting for 27.5" bikes for enduro riding or for technical routes on trails and rocky paths. As for the type of suspension, more used bikes with front suspension (59.2%) continue to be sold than with full suspension (40.8%). Regarding the groupset, 71% were equipped with a Shimano groupset, with the XT being the most in demand. However, throughout 2018 there was an increase in the number of cyclists looking for a bike equipped with a SRAM groupset, mainly NX or XX1 Eagle. The 3 best-selling mountain bike models were:
The top-10 best-selling used bikes in 2018
Speaking of brands, Specialized and Orbea were the brands that led the used bike market last year in Spain. More than one in five bikes sold were models from one of these two brands. And they were not only the best-selling brands. They were also the most sought-after, especially in the case of Orbea. The star model was the Orbea Oiz, which became the most sought-after bike by cyclists. The average price of a second-hand bike sold in 2018 was 1,146 euros. The most expensive were the triathlon 'cabra' bikes, or long-distance bikes, with an average price of €1,580. The 10 best-selling second-hand bike models last year were:
- Specialized Epic
- Specialized Tarmac
- Orbea Orca
- Orbea Alma
- Scott Spark
- Giant TCR
- Orbea Occam
- Berria Falcon
- Specialized Allez
- Scott Scale
