Help! To sell bike or get it fixed up?

[Loops]

I've got a Wisper 705se which is about 4.5 years old. I posted a few months ago about the battery starting to get weaker and was considering buying a new battery at the time; however in the past couple of weeks I had one of the rear wheel spokes break on me and when I took the bike into the shop to get it replaced, the guy discovered that another spoke was broken too and there's also a crack starting in the metal on the rear wheel.

So the question is, would it be worth getting it fixed up or maybe just selling the bike and buying a new one? I figured that for a new battery and the work that needs doing, I probably wouldn't have much change from £450 as I'm not very mechanical so wouldn't be able to fit a new rear wheel myself. If I put it up for sale, I'd be honest and say it needed work, but not sure what a fair price to ask would be, so if anyone could help with that, I'd be grateful. I know there's a classified section on the site, but figured that a bike needing work is probably better on Gumtree or something. What do you think? Are people using this site likely to be interested in an older (and more tired!) bike like this? Thanks

 

[Scorpio]

Hi, just for info - I was very happy to pick up an older non-working electric bike a few months ago to use as a base for a new project.
There's no harm in advertising your bike on here as there's a good chance someone will be willing to spend time fixing it up or maybe using some of the working parts to keep their bike working.
Normally I would suggest looking at the prices of new bikes in the January sales but this year has been very strange and I have no idea what to suggest. Hope you find something that suits you.

 

[vfr400]

Where do you live?

 

[Nealh]

A new rim and spokes max £50 to buy the parts, then just needs someone to lace and true it for you, one could also speak to a Wisper dealer.

Your battery will cost about £300 for it to be re-celled with likely better cells today, Jimmy at ebikebatteries.co.uk provides a D2D service and you will get more capacity to boot as well probably another 30%.

 

[Loops]

Where do you live?

Thanks everyone, I'm near Cambridge, so bikes usually sell quite well around here. I don't really know how much to advertise it for - I was thinking maybe around £200, but if someone snapped it up at that price, I'd be wondering if I could have gone a bit higher - I guess I could start a bit higher and bring the price down if it doesn't sell.

 

[vfr400]

I would say that £200 is a fair price. Maybe try £300 first. If you fixed it, you'd have a working bike for £450. If you sell it and get £300, a new bike is going to cost at least an additional £800. The decicion therefore comes down to how much your Wisper suited you and how much money you can afford to spend.

 

[Nealh]

4.5years old isn't very old and as vfr has eluded £1100 gets you a new good bike, it will boil down to funds available and how you like the current bike. The hardest part is finding someone or a shop nearby that will lace and true a dc hub motor into a rim.

 

[Loops]

After reading your replies, I'm thinking that it would make sense to try and get it fixed up as it's been a good bike and I've enjoyed riding it. I was even thinking of getting another Wisper if I did get a new one, so probably a bit daft to give up on this one so soon - it does a lot of miles so bound to have problems from time to time. Thanks for the advice

 

[slowcoach]

If you like the bike you have, then I suggest you repair it.
I had an Ezee sprint years ago. Loved it althpough it was just a twist and go bike. After 12 years it got to the point it needed battery refurbishment (I had done this once before) and a bit more maintenance so decided to replace it with modern technology. Gave it to a transport museum who were very delighted to get it.
Big mistake. I have gone from a very trustworthy bike to one that is rubbish. I will not mention a name at present as I hope to get the mess sorted with the manufacturer. (Dealer went bust)