What are these Silver Kings (& a Harley Davidson) worth?

[Georgeediii]

I have the opportunity to buy 3 Silver Kings, 1 Men's and 2 Women's. Truth is I feel like his asking price is a little high as I haven't seen the women's bikes going for much lately. Here is the picture he sent me. What would you pay for the 3 of them?

 

[Chips_Mahoy]

Hard to say with everything crammed in a corner. What else is in there?

 

[Jpromo]

Yeah, tell the guy that picture is BS. If he wants to sell his crap, he can take 5 minutes to roll his other crap out of the way. Unless you're seriously interested...then don't tell him this.

Doesn't look like any of them have any particularly special parts or accessories. One lady has aluminum bars, one may have the aluminum truss rods; no bars on the other two. No seat on men's. Ladies seats both look rough. Tell him they look like 300$ but you can only offer 250$ because of the 50$ copay to see the optometrist for eye strain.

I'm in a special mood tonight! What's he asking?

 

[Georgeediii]

Hard to say with everything crammed in a corner. What else is in there?

Here is the other picture I have, supposedly the red bike next to the Whizzer is an old school Indian. In the first pic the stepthru motorcycle frame is some name out of England I had never heard of but tucked behind it is what he claims is a pre-1920 Harley Davidson bicycle with HD sprocket and headbadge. A little hard to believe that this is the way he stores bikes like that but I am headed there on Sunday to see for myself. Anybody know where I can get a quick education on early Harley and Indian bikes??

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The guy is obviously a collector, so he's probably got a good idea of what he's got and what it's worth. I wouldn't expect to get a great bargain unless he's tired of it or hard up for cash.

But you never know! Good Luck.

 

[Jpromo]

Really no quick and dirty way to discern a true HD bike. There are many fakes out there and if he thinks it's real, that doesn't necessarily mean it is. Harley's were predominately made 1917-21 and had several models. Most (or maybe all) were built by the Davis sewing machine co. A good Davis indicator is a lugged bubble on the tubes coming out of the headtube. The existence of this is a step in the right direction, but not the only indicator. Attached picture shows a Davis frame with these lugs.

Another thing to check is the shield HD headbadge should be brass. These have been faked up the wazoo. Look for what look like bubbles or little divots in the brass.. this would denote a faked badge that was cast brass, while the originals were stamped. Unless his prices are low, it may prove to be a very expensive mistake if it's fake, so be wary!

 

[Georgeediii]

Really no quick and dirty way to discern a true HD bike. There are many fakes out there and if he thinks it's real, that doesn't necessarily mean it is. Harley's were predominately made 1917-21 and had several models. Most (or maybe all) were built by the Davis sewing machine co. A good Davis indicator is a lugged bubble on the tubes coming out of the headtube. The existence of this is a step in the right direction, but not the only indicator. Attached picture shows a Davis frame with these lugs.

Another thing to check is the shield HD headbadge should be brass. These have been faked up the wazoo. Look for what look like bubbles or little divots in the brass.. this would denote a faked badge that was cast brass, while the originals were stamped. Unless his prices are low, it may prove to be a very expensive mistake if it's fake, so be wary!

[/quote
Thanks that's good info. I am not as concerned with getting a steal of a deal as I am concerned about me overpaying or getting ripped off. The only reason he is looking to sell is that he sold his property and has 30 days to clean up his place and move out.

 

[Jpromo]

No problem; there can be some serious money involved in HDs but the truth is there is a fine number of real ones remaining. Even seasoned collectors would hesitate on an HD. It takes a well-informed, sure bet to drop any serious coin on it. If you weren't sure but interested, you could take some high quality pictures including close-ups, post them over on the other bicycle forum thecabe.com and somebody there can surely assist.

 

[Nickinator]

the best way to value a bike is to get tons of pictures, cracks, missing parts, ect. if you head to thecabe. you might get a better idea of prices but, you would still need a full picture of each bike to know for a fact how much they are worth. I would be interested in some of those bike if you decided to flip or pass on them. Nick.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Man I understand the alloy frame pull, the Monarks are so pretty! Don't be burned by lust!
Get a good look at them, I have been shown a half dozen suposed Harley bikes over the years, one was at Gilmore car museum, it was real....

 

[Georgeediii]

Well the Harley was a fake! I truly think he thought it was real, at least when he bought it and he wasn't too excited to agree with me. Glad I got the info I did first. He wanted a bit too much for the Silver Kings but I got him to throw in some other parts and I took them home. Any thoughts on the fork on the ladies without truss rods? The bike is sporting 26 inch wheels and aluminum fenders. It also has skiptooth drive train (including monark sprocket) and a matched wheel set.

 

[deven_science]

I thought those were all 24", so it's interesting that there are 26" wheels stuffed in there. Also, I don't think that those were skiptooth.

Those fenders are a good find, though. I'm on the lookout for some fenders for mine.