Manufacturer warranty only for original purchaser
- Thread starter konea420
- Start date
champignon
New Member
This sort of warranty is very common across many industries. What it shows is that the manufacturer or dealer wants you to have enough confidence in the bike to part with a lot of money at the time of purchase, and not feel exposed to warranty issues. On the other hand, they couldn't give a rat's ass about your resale value later.
Let's forget about your specific situation and let me throw in one of mine. I have a ~7 year old Giant CF "acoustic" bike, that I bought at a reduced price about 6 years ago. I paid around $4500, and weighs ~17.5 lbs. A friend of mine who follows these things told me that many CF road bikes now weigh between 8 and 12 lbs; that turns my $4500 bike, which doesn't have that many miles on it, into a thrift shop donation. Such is the nature of technical evolution in this era, whatever you buy now that you think is the top of the heap, is going to be a garage sale item in 3-5 years. That's just a fact.
So yeah, maybe the lack of warranty coverage for a subsequent owner will reduce your resale value, but the real risk is the constant march of progress, which makes anything several years old look like a cast-off.
Everyone drools over a $6,000 to $10,000 bike, like an R&M. Most people won't buy one, either because they can't afford it, they think it isn't worth it, or they fear depreciation. I think that a better strategy is to buy a little lower down on the food chain. There are lots of $2500 to $4000 bikes you can buy that are really good but maybe don't have all the features or prestige of the true top of heap bikes. Those $2.5K to $4K bikes can be bought on sale when the seasons change, at a discount, and you can use them for a few years and unload them without the huge loss you would have on a R&M or something similar. Whether or not the warranty is transferable will be a secondary matter.
Otherwise, you just dump the cash on exactly what you want and you resign yourself to losing a lot of money on resale. We all buy cars and know that they won't be worth much at trade in time, so it seems that there just might be a parallel with these expensive highest end e-bikes.
Let's forget about your specific situation and let me throw in one of mine. I have a ~7 year old Giant CF "acoustic" bike, that I bought at a reduced price about 6 years ago. I paid around $4500, and weighs ~17.5 lbs. A friend of mine who follows these things told me that many CF road bikes now weigh between 8 and 12 lbs; that turns my $4500 bike, which doesn't have that many miles on it, into a thrift shop donation. Such is the nature of technical evolution in this era, whatever you buy now that you think is the top of the heap, is going to be a garage sale item in 3-5 years. That's just a fact.
So yeah, maybe the lack of warranty coverage for a subsequent owner will reduce your resale value, but the real risk is the constant march of progress, which makes anything several years old look like a cast-off.
Everyone drools over a $6,000 to $10,000 bike, like an R&M. Most people won't buy one, either because they can't afford it, they think it isn't worth it, or they fear depreciation. I think that a better strategy is to buy a little lower down on the food chain. There are lots of $2500 to $4000 bikes you can buy that are really good but maybe don't have all the features or prestige of the true top of heap bikes. Those $2.5K to $4K bikes can be bought on sale when the seasons change, at a discount, and you can use them for a few years and unload them without the huge loss you would have on a R&M or something similar. Whether or not the warranty is transferable will be a secondary matter.
Otherwise, you just dump the cash on exactly what you want and you resign yourself to losing a lot of money on resale. We all buy cars and know that they won't be worth much at trade in time, so it seems that there just might be a parallel with these expensive highest end e-bikes.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- A Demented Corner of the North Cascades
I don't know if the whole resale value thing makes sense for e-bikes.
At this point I have enough battery life and endurance that the limiting factor on how far I can ride is more about the durability of my butt and less about battery life. So newer higher-capacity batteries don't really help me.
My e-bike travels at (to me) acceptable speeds and is able to climb stupid steep hills. So I don't really think a more powerful motor is going to help me very much.
A substantially lighter e-bike would be nice, but isn't strictly necessary. All other things being equal when in the distant future I replace my e-bike I hope I can find something lighter.
Honestly at this point if I purchase another bicycle it will likely be an acoustic bike. Not because I don't love my e-bike but for some situations an acoustic bike is a superior solution.
At this point I have enough battery life and endurance that the limiting factor on how far I can ride is more about the durability of my butt and less about battery life. So newer higher-capacity batteries don't really help me.
My e-bike travels at (to me) acceptable speeds and is able to climb stupid steep hills. So I don't really think a more powerful motor is going to help me very much.
A substantially lighter e-bike would be nice, but isn't strictly necessary. All other things being equal when in the distant future I replace my e-bike I hope I can find something lighter.
Honestly at this point if I purchase another bicycle it will likely be an acoustic bike. Not because I don't love my e-bike but for some situations an acoustic bike is a superior solution.
