My dad recently passed and left behind about a dozen bikes. One of his friends tells me that at least 3 of the bikes he spent between $10k – $15k; the Bianchi, an S-Works, and a Pinarello were the 3 he remembered. Another one of his friends texted me and specifically asked if he could buy his Bianchi. I remember my dad telling me that it was a famous riders bike that he rode in the Tour de France. The name on the bike says J. A. Flecha.
If I were to sell him this bike, I wouldn’t want to ask too much money from a friend for it, but I also wouldn’t want to sell his favorite bike for too much less than it’s worth. What would be a fair asking price to a friend, and a fair asking price to a stranger? Thanks!
by heavyspells
9 Comments
Max $1000, old(er) frame, rim brake, heavy wheels,…
Was fancy 15 years ago, now just mweh…
For reference: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Antonio_Flecha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Antonio_Flecha)
First off, sorry about the passing of your father, he had an amazing taste in bikes.
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**As for the bike itself.**
This is a Early 2010’s ( 2010-2013 ) Bianchi Oltre XR
good news/bad news
I’m ignoring the connection to it possibly being an ex-pro riders bike, because I dont’ know enough info to talk on the potential value of that.
good news, is yes, when that bike was new, it was a professional grade bike, and certainly in the ballpark of costing 10k+. When this bike was new, it would be hard to buy anything better than this. This brand ( Bianchi ) also has a bit of a cult following, and ups the collectability of it a bit more than bikes from other brands of this era.
bad news, is by modern standards, its outdated and obsolete. Bike tech has changed drastically since then, and while it still has value, and is still a good bike, its no longer a top level race bike, and no one serious would be using it as a race bike either. Modern bikes have just gotten too good to compare this to. It still has value, but its not anywhere worth 10k anymore.
A bike like this you’ll need to find the right kind of buyer, its not old enough to be a classic collectible, but too old for someone who’s wanting to buy a high end performance bike, as its a bit outdated. Someone buying this bike isn’t going to buy it to be their main performance bike, it will be a collectible to mostly hang in a garage.
In my area, I’d say that bike would be listed at about $1500-2000, and probably end up being awhile before finding a buyer. Some may think thats low, but if you’re shopping for a bike, and have a 2k to spend, you’re starting to get into the price range of good modern bikes that are faster, better performance, and the features that are not obsolete. It would be hard to justify buying this over a similarly priced, but more modern bike.
its kind of like a luxury car from 20 years ago, when it was new, it was awesome, but compared to a 2026 basic toyota, the toyota willl drive nicer, have more features, and be more comfortable in comparison. Someone who needs a car for day to day driving, will go with the new toyota, not the old luxury car. You gotta find the old guys who swear the old luxury cars are still better than new modern cars.
The other bikes he had certainly still have some value around that price range as well. At the very very least, I’d take some pictures and contact a local bike shop, or post them on reddit as well for us to give you some more information on those bikes, and a fair value.
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**As for it possibly being an ex pro bike**
Now with all that being said, doing some quick googling, there are many pictures of Flecha riding near identical bikes to yours online. Flecha did win a TDF stage, but it wasn’t on this bike. This appears to be a bike he possibly rode during the world tour, but not TDF, as the team he was on during the TDF was riding a different brand bike. But a world tour bike is still really cool.
Sometimes, old/retired racebikes are sold to the public, and that could be where your dad bought it from.
If I owned it and were selling it, I would market it more as a race collectable rather than a bike for someone to just go ride around on, hoping to find someone who is willing to spend some money to have this hanging in their garage or on display to never or rarely be ridden. ( my area has plenty of cyclist with deep pockets who would be interested in collecting something like this )
Honestly, I’d take some good pictures, and try to find him on social media and reach out to him, or maybe even reach out to some of the mechanics on his team if you can find out who they were, good chance he may could verify if it was one of his bikes, and may could give you more backstory to it. A bike with a sticker of a pro cyclist name is cool, but a bike with a verified story is much much cooler and marketable.
As far as the value of it if it was indeed his bike, There is some additional value, but not much more, but I do think it would be worth your time to find out some of the history of the bike if you can. We are not talking about a bike worth 2k, suddenly being worth 200k, but maybe a few hundred bucks more to the right buyer. What you have is very cool, but unfortunately, nothing extremely valuable.
From a collectors point of view, I’d ask you to not remove or clean anything on the bike, leave it all as-is. Let someone who knows what they are doing make those types of decisions. If its a true race bike, a collector would want it to be as original as possible as to when it crossed the finish line.
i’m sure someone who knows much more about race history from that era than I do will chime in and give more info.
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**As for your dad and his friend**
last part, is if I were you, even if you don’t really care too much about bikes, I’d at least tell your dads friend that you’re going to hold onto it for now, that you are going to do some proper research and see if you can find out some more of the bikes story before deciding to sell, and if you do sell, that he would get the first chance to buy it. Or maybe just ask your dads friend. I’m almost certain your dad would have told all his cycling buddies the story of how he got it, and could give you some more of the bikes history.
It could be a very nice thing to sell it to your dads friend, regardless of price. I don’t think he is trying to rip you off, I think he is trying to save that bike from being lost to someone who won’t appreciate it, or your dads memory, for a few hundred bucks. If I owned an ex-pro bike like this, I’d certainly be bragging about it to my friends, and i’m sure your dad would much rather see a friend take care of his bikes than be sold off to some stranger. Bikes are very personal things to cyclist, and we develop deep emotional attachments to them, the miles we put on them tell stories, memories, good and bad times. Your dads friend would remember those stories, selling to some random stranger, they will be forgotten.
If one of my friends had passed, and knew a family member was going to sell off their bikes, I’d reach out to buy them in a heart beat, and keep that memory of my friend alive by keeping it as a memento of a hobby our friendship shared. I’d try my best to offer them a fair price, but also would understand if the family needed as much money as they could get for them if I were unable to afford them.
FWIW, I also worked for an estate sale company for several years, and know the difficult decisions family members have to make when someone passes, when it comes to selling off their possessions. Again, I’m sorry for your loss.
Those bikes would be hanging on my garage walls forever. They were probably $10,000 new but are worth 10% of that now. Your sentimental value is worth more.
The Bianchi is beautiful, if the others arent as special, id sell them.
J.A. Flecha was the man back then.
Good solid rider, good attitude, and no big scandals.
Very cool piece of cycling history.
Awesome bike. Campa groupset and everything.
Take a look at the parts. There’s an Oltre XR frame on eBay for $700+. And a NOS Vacansoliel frame set for $900+. Similar FFWD wheels for $500. Campagnolo Super Record 11 spd EPS groupset for $800. Asking $1500-2000 for the bike isn’t out of the question. It’s going to be up to you and the buyer.
The Campagnolo bits, if they are in good condition, will go for a fair bit on eBay. These parts are only going up in value. If you sell them as part of a full bike you will get far less for them.
u/heavyspells
800