Cherry-pick components from outgoing bike, or sell as is?

I’ll cut a long story short. Recently I acquired a second hand Madone SLR 6. Excellent condition, light use, good price. I’ve wanted a ‘proper’ aero bike for ages and this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

It has mechanical Ultegra, which is fine if unexciting, and Bontrager Comp wheels, which while aero, weigh the same as a small child.

I’d like to upgrade the groupset to Di2 and the wheels to something less weighty, though neither is terribly urgent.

However, I now have too many bikes (n+1 now = s, for those familiar with The Rules), and selling one would also recoup some money. The obvious sale candidate has Di2 and Hunt carbon wheels.

Now what I could do is swap the groupsets and wheelsets over, leaving the Trek upgraded, and the outgoing bike with the Ultegra groupset and Bontrager wheels.
Advantage: this has the bonus of upgrading the Trek for nothing (except labour, as I’m not transferring over the Di2 myself).
Disadvantage: this reduces (likely substantially) the sale price of the outgoing bike.

What I’m trying to work out is is it likely to be more financially efficient to swap the components/wheels now, or to sell the other bike ‘as is’ and then look for bargain Di2 components and a set of suitable wheels on Ebay over the next few months?

The only further consideration is that I’d like to have wheels a bit deeper than 33mm on the Trek, so I could just swap the groupsets, and sell the other bike with the Hunts. That would probably be a halfway house option.

What do you think?

In my experience, you’d be better of keeping the groupset (not the wheels if you truly don’t want them) and selling it somewhat cheaper. Often times, upgrades like that matter less to a buyer and you won’t get full value…

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Do you have all the necessary Di2 parts to do a really neat install on your Madone? I’m thinking about junction box placement, cabling, battery position?

I’m doing a Di2 upgrade on my Tarmac and have ended up needing things I hadn’t anticipated (such as new bars) to get a nice, clean, clutter free install. Would it be worth taking both bikes to you LBS and making sure you can do it nicely before making a decision?

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Good point. I’ll do that.

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Option C: Put the Di2 on the Madone but then sell the other frame and all the components separately. You’ll usually net more $$ that way. A bit more of a hassle, but full bikes w/ mechanical groups tend to generate low interest.

Do you genuinely think that’ll net more? That option hadn’t remotely occurred to me - thanks.

Historically, it has always netted me more…but it has also been a few years since I have done it.

You culd check and see what the individual components are selling for on ebay and do some rough calculations…but also factor in the cost of rebuilding the other bike, too. I couldn’t see spending any extra $$ to rebuild a bike that you are going to sell, esepcially if parting it out nets more $$ (or at least close to it).

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On average you make more money parting out bikes. It just depends on whether it’s worth it to you to do all the work. For example, you’ll get the most money if you clean the parts so they look spotless.

I’ve ended up with free frames a couple of times after buying a whole bike and selling the parts and wheels.

I don’t mind stripping it down and cleaning stuff at all; that’s a day pottering in the garage :smile:

I suppose its the hassle of Ebay auctions and posting stuff that puts me off tbh. There seem to be a lot of jokers and chancers on there atm.

Also, what do you reckon is a fair price for a LBS to charge for putting the Di2 on to the Trek and transferring the Ultegra to the other bike?

I think I’d probably split and build one top bike. Would clear some space and tbh I just like poking my bike!

Sell me your Madone

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Lol. I’ll sell you the Bontragers if you want them :rofl:

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I had those Aeolus Comp (formerly the Aura 5). They’re heavy but decently stiff as I recall.

My shop charged me $125 to install my entire Ultegra 8050 group back in the day, so I’d imagine di2 only is cheaper

At the moment you can pretty much name your price for bikes and someone will buy it!! My mother-in-law sold a folding bike for more than she paid for it!!!

Do shops charge extra to build an internally routed Madone? I have no clue about the Madone specifically but wouldn’t it be half a day, at least?

Maybe. Di2 makes it easy just push one or two wires through the integrated bar system and done. Mechanical Madone is a half day job