Mike Wolfe of American Pickers & FELT Bicycles create the "Red Wolfe" Bike

[B607]

If I had to guess what has driven the price of vintage stuff up I might have to blame the Internet more than anything else.

I disagree and you should "guess" again. I started restoring in '85. Parts were hard to get and you about had to buy whole bike to get the part you needed. Memory Lane parts were really high for hard to get stuff like tanks. Lots of bike guys were out there but didn't know about each other because of no internet forums and finding them to trade parts was hit or miss.

When ebay came along, I found most of those "rare" parts were not so rare nationwide and I could get them for cheaper than local...or just get them at all.

Also, the truly rare parts, which I had never even seen or knew about were now available on ebay. **Ebay is what got this hobby off and running like it is. (with old bike stuff)**

I also agree that Wolfe is a capitalist and more power (and $) to him. I just wish he would have capitalized on another hobby besides mine. He has no doubt effected the marked.
Gary

 

[oldfart36]

I don't get all the grief about it. You want people to be successful but not too successful? I'd rather watch that show than all the hillbilly "reality" they're pushing now but I don't have cable anymore so only see it at friend's houses now. I'm with the camp that Felt went to them to do the deal instead of the other way around. Felt does special editions all the time. The only opinion I have about the styling of it is that I would have done a springer front.

I use to watch the show. But after my expieriences with the show, it's just not much fun anymore.

I love the way they call it "Free Style Pickin". Don't know bout you all, but I've been picking and gathering for years now, and never had a production staff pre-screen items on a "Free Style" Thier way of "Frestylin" is a producer spending an afternoon at your house, interviewing, taking pics, and seeing what you will sell and won't. When they told us the production asst. was coming by, we took alot of things out of my shop and put them in the house so they would not be seen. Needless to say by the time it was all done, I told them I would prefer not to do it. I think I kinda made them mad in the end, one of they're questions was "Who would you like to meet more, Frank or Mike?", I said Danielle

All smoke and mirrors, hopefully the bike is more real.

 

[DJ Bill]

Yup, reality is that reality tv isn't. The auction shows have really gone out of their way to prove that.

 

[Rat Rod]

I think the only "reality" show that is close to being real and probably lead to the creation of all of these other shows is the Antiques Roadshow on PBS. They may hand pick who get's their items appraised, but at least it appears that it's all happening unscripted.

 

[gato'sbikes]

+1 on A.rs on pbs!!!

 

[Rat Rod]

I disagree and you should "guess" again. Gary

I'd like to go round and round with you over this for 6-7 pages, but I've got to mow the yard.

 

[MazdaFlyer]

I've never met Mike Wolf, Frank or Danielle and never been to their shops. I do watch the show and still find it interesting scripted or not. The Special Edition Felt bike looks pretty good, if it were someone's Bonine bike it probably get some votes. Price seems high but you are buying a bike with a logo.
I like the old 30's to 50's cruisers, but their geometry seems more keyed to youth than adults. The new cruisers are more adult oriented. I have a couple of Electra's, a steel frame Felt and an Aluminum frame Felt. They all ride better than my vintage "kid sized" 26" cruisers.
Hopefully Felt and Antique Archeology are paying their fair share of taxes. Somebody will buy the bikes, if not maybe they will be a bargain down the road like the left over Hot Wheels bikes.

 

[B607]

I'd like to go round and round with you over this for 6-7 pages, but I've got to mow the yard.

We can agree to disagree and save bandwidth! Gary

 

[irideiam]

I like their show a lot, but this bike is just another ordinary Felt frame with different paint and logos...boring

 

[dragnusa]

I actually like watching the show, you just have to remember its entertainment plus you get to see really cool stuff. For those not sure if it has an effect on bike prices I would have to say they do to a point. The other day I stopped to look at what was clearly a early 90s cruiser that had little going for it other then its lack of rust and I asked what the woman wanted for it and the first thing out of her mouth was Ive seen bikes like this go for alot on that pickers show then told me she would take $50 for it. All I could say was good luck on finding a buyer and walked away. As for this bike I would put a laid back seat post and a double sprung seat on it and ride it all day long.

 

[BikeNerd]

$50 doesn't seem like a bad deal for a late-model cruiser. Was there anything else wrong with it? It's true, though, that way too many people like this woman selling this cruiser still watch way too much TV. I'm actually surprised that this medium is still in existence in the age of the Internet. I haven't watched TV in years.

 

[dragnusa]

$50 doesn't seem like a bad deal for a late-model cruiser. Was there anything else wrong with it? It's true, though, that way too many people like this woman selling this cruiser still watch way too much TV. I'm actually surprised that this medium is still in existence in the age of the Internet. I haven't watched TV in years.

It was a girls frame and had been stored in a really dry place way to long so everything was dry rotted beyond use.

 

[naturephotoboy3]

99.9% of ALL bikes are over priced. How is it that we are worried about this Felt Bike being too much yet there are many people ou there willing to pay $1000 for some rusted ol Schwinn Krate junk pile?? It's all in the eyes of the beholder I guess. Or at least the beholders that have too much money to spend on Bikes. There is NO bike worth this much money. I dont care what the AGE or rust value. It's more of an ego thing with bike people..I got this and you dont.

 

[rickpaulos]

Here in Iowa, they are running Mike Wolfe ads on tv for the state lottery. "Mike's Picks"

http://www.ialottery.com/Games/Scratch/IN844MikesPicks.asp

 

[ADRNLN]

I should rephrase,
did they build it over seas to hit that price? If made in the USA, that's in the ball park for a modern, sturdy bike. That being said, I would buy 7, 50 yr. old Chicago rustbuckets instead.

 

[JimMendel]

The reality of the situation is that not everybody can bring a 50+ year old bike, that was previously owned by a kid , back to rideable life. So they make these quasi-vintage bikes like that Felt. I love my old Schwinn, but honestly it was a lot of work to make it a rider.
I can't imagine paying some dude to do all that stuff. Would have cost way more than $750.

 

[mikeeebikey]

The last post was ironic! And truth!
Not many people can restore, anything! Most are better at breaking them!
The ironic thing for me is, it takes x amount of dollars worth of paint, parts and labor, but Mr. Schmuck will offer $10.oo or more less than you say you have in it.
I told a guy my bottom dollar was $100.oo, he offered $80.oo!

 

[oldfart36]

The last post was ironic! And truth!
Not many people can restore, anything! Most are better at breaking them!
The ironic thing for me is, it takes x amount of dollars worth of paint, parts and labor, but Mr. Schmuck will offer $10.oo or more less than you say you have in it.
I told a guy my bottom dollar was $100.oo, he offered $80.oo!

As to the show affecting prices, it curtainly plays a part!! As to restoration it plays a bigger part, making people think that "Hey wow Mike said on the show"

Does anyone remember the episode this pic was taken from? "These Elgins are worth Thousands" !! Elgins, or anything that looked similiar, rusted in pieces came out of the woodwork.

 

[DJ Bill]

Yup, I didn't see that actual episode but there are those out there who think any bike in similar condition has got to be worth megabucks..simply because it is old.

It is the same mentality that a lady at a yard sale this weekend had... She had some old ammo boxes that could be bought at any surplus store for $10-20 and she said she looked them up on Ebay and wouldn't take any less than $25 each at a yard sale. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
I doubt they sold.

 

[Rat Rod]

99.9% of ALL bikes are over priced. How is it that we are worried about this Felt Bike being too much yet there are many people ou there willing to pay $1000 for some rusted ol Schwinn Krate junk pile?? It's all in the eyes of the beholder I guess. Or at least the beholders that have too much money to spend on Bikes. There is NO bike worth this much money. I dont care what the AGE or rust value. It's more of an ego thing with bike people..I got this and you dont.

You could really carry this over into a bunch of different products, not just bikes. Why does it cost $6.00 for a bag of chips at the store? Why does one place get $20 for a large pizza and another place charges only $5.99? Why would you buy a new Cadillac instead of a new Kia? It's the the beauty of a free economy. Make what people want and sell it for as much of a profit as the market will allow.

You have to break the process down to see the steps of profit along the way. The manufacturer in China is gonna charge Felt $100/bike to make them. Felt turns around and sells them to the dealers for $350-$500 each and then the dealer marks them up. Those are obviously not exact amounts, but it does show the profit chain. Then you have to throw in licensing, employees, insurance, taxes and all of the other overhead each company is responsible for and each step isn't making as much as it seems.

There's a good reason that Felt uses the same frame design on all of their cruisers....new designs are expensive. The fact that they are able to pull off these limited run theme bikes is pretty amazing in itself.





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