A few years ago I bought a bike to race Cyclocross. Nothing special. Nothing new. Not disc. And I was not near competitive but I wasn’t last, really. Not all the time. I bought wheels, used, but nice and tubeless capable. dedicated saddle. Good bars and tape. And then I see how much it depreciated in stock value since then, according to the Bicycle Blue Book.
It was used. It was seven years old. Disc was the new thing in cross bikes, UCI race approved just the year before I bought it. So after three years, the stock fit price is about 27% of the fair price that I paid for it,a sudden drop (10% of overall new price). All I can do is add on the parts and watch the program dismally discount those parts when I know they sell for more individually.
I love cars but they have zero return of any kind. Bikes I fear are far worse unless what you have turns into something made of gold thirty years later. Like a Team 7-11 Huffy branded Serotta.
Woe is me. Perhaps I’ll just strip the parts to convert a recently acquired CAAD9 frame into a basement trainer bike.