A website has launched offering cyclists the opportunity to buy their WorldTour race-winning heroes' old race bikes. Alongside the more everyday business of buying used bikes and selling 'certified used' bikes, Italian brand Bike-Room has struck a selection of deals with WorldTour teams and their sponsors, allowing it to sell teams' old race bikes to the public.
The Bike-Room company has already been in operation for around a year, and via its previous website has sold bikes from Team Cofidis, EF Pro Cycling, UAE Team Emirates and others throughout that time. However, a recent relaunch of the website sees the addition of a number of bikes from other teams, including the Pinarello Dogma F12 ridden by Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) in 2019, a Wilier Zero SLR ridden by Omar Fraile (Astana), Bianchi bikes ridden by various riders from Team BikeExchange in 2021, and BMC bikes ridden by AG2R Citroen riders.
At the end of each season, very rarely do professional cyclists get to keep their race bikes. They are given back to the team, and in most cases, the team gives them back to the sponsor that supplied them; usually the bike brand itself. Once those bikes have been received back by the brand, a select few – usually any that win high-profile races – are kept. They might be gifted to the rider that won the race, sent to a museum, or kept on display at the brand's HQ alongside other memorabilia. The rest of the bikes, of which there are usually hundreds, will be sold off to recoup some of the costs.
They sometimes go for sale via an online auction, and on more than a few occasions, we've picked up the stories here at Cyclingnews. For example, in 2020, Caja Rural's bikes were sold via the team's own website, and in late 2021, many of Jumbo Visma's bikes were sold at auction. During the latter, a pair of Wout Van Aert's bikes (Cervelo S5 and R5) fetched a whopping €35,000 combined. That's more than they would sell for at their original RRP.
Ahead of the Tour de France, we asked the question "how much does a Tour de France bike cost?" and concluded that to own the same model of bike as a pro cyclist, you'd need at least £11,000 / €13,000 / $13,000, and as much as £37,340 / €43,350 / $45,600. Based on the audience numbers we see on those types of stories, there's a lot of interest in the cost of - and opportunity to buy - pro bikes. Until now, aside from the occasional online auction, there has been no outlet to enable people to do that, but now there is. And you can not only have the same model, but the exact bike ridden by your favourite pro on the Champs Elysees, Mount Etna or the Alto de L'Angliru. Even better, the costs are actually comparatively low.
What's more, given the current ongoing bike and parts shortage affecting our industry over the past few years, the market for used products is booming and with that comes its risks. We've highlighted a number of those in our guides to buying a used bike and selling a used bike, but the most pertinent of which surround being scammed. Not unlike how The Pro's Closet works in the USA, the introduction of Bike-Room's 'certified used' program could help countless people avoid those risks when selling their old bike or buying their next new bike.
