Principia.

[dezza]

I have a 20 year old Principia rS6 superlight in a wonderful deep blue, unmarked with full dura ace /mavic kysrium wheels. Virtually unridden and stored in my loft.
Bought for me by my wife for my 50th.
It needs to go but I don't know how much for.
It cost around £2k.
The first of a few quality bikes which need to go, all in immaculate condition.
Any advice would be please welcome.
Regards,
Steve.

 

[Fatal Swan]

No replies to this so I thought I'd add one... I like Principias and I occasionally wish I hadn't sold my Ellipse. There's a fair amount of respect around for their frames but they don't have the wider appeal of some other brands so there's not a lot of money attached to them in the second hand market. The problem on that front is mostly the age and the material - not old enough to be vintage and not new enough to rival the better modern road bike gear unless you kit it out with all new parts - which is actually worth doing though if you really like the frame. But overall there's just not much interest generally in old alloy frames.

If you're looking to maximise what you can get out of it and it's got a 20 year old DA groupset in very good condition then stripping the groupset and selling the parts individually will almost certainly be the way to go. Then you'll have wider interest selling the frameset on its own to someone who can either upgrade their cheaper frameset, or an enthusiast wanting to make a nice tourer/commuter/winter bike out of it possibly with more modern parts (which is what I'd do).

Framesets alone often go for something like £100 but it probably would fetch a bit more if it's in nice condition and a popular size. But most of the money will come from the DA parts (and maybe wheels depending on the model/condition).

 

[dezza]

Thank you for your response which is very generous of you.
Yes it is a very attractive bike with it's shiny wet look finish, deep race blue frame.
Everything is pretty immaculate.
I was hoping that I would get at least £750 but it seems not.
I think it is too good for a winter bike but thereagain what do I know.
Again thank you.
Regards,
Steve

 

[Fatal Swan]

Hi Steve

If you post a photo or two you someone might be able to give you a better sense of the likely price. In the current used bike market anything goes but I think the parts might make money more reliably than the whole bike. My guess would be that Principias aren't appreciated enough to make £750 as a whole bike but if the parts really are in exceptional condition then there's a chance that either someone will buy it for a vintage DA groupset in that condition, or you could split it yourself. If you managed to get really top-end prices for every part you might not be too far off that figure, I would guess something like:

Frameset £150
Wheelset £150
STI £120
Mechs £60
Chainset £80
Cassette/chain £60
Plus bars/stem/saddle/seatpost, depending on what model

But then pricing of used parts at the moment is very difficult to judge!