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Bikes and cycling accessories sold for huge discounts including road bikes for £110 as Moore Large stock auctioned

Moore Large's £35 million stockpile, including 35,000 bikes, is being auctioned by John Pye after the distributor entered liquidation earlier this month...

The auction of liquidated distributor Moore Large's remaining stock began on Friday, with bargain hunters already snapping up bikes and accessories at heavily discounted prices.

Bicycles from brands such as Forme, Vitesse, Barracuda and Emmelle are just some of the products going for well below recommended retail price (RRP) in the first few days of auctions by John Pye. Accessories such as wheels, lights, inner tubes, mudguards and tyres have also been auctioned in bulk.

> Bike industry turmoil continues as Forme bikes and Lake cycling shoes distributor enters liquidation

Sonic balance bikes have been going for as little as £24, a reduction of 62 per cent on RRP, while other children's bikes as well as five-product multipacks of ETC lights (RRP £150) and lots with three Kenda Pinner Pro ATC tyres have all gone to successful top bids below £40.

Moore Large auction (John Pye)

Barracuda children's bikes worth £209 have been auctioned for £50, with Emmelle Snapdragon children's bikes also going for £54, a reduction on retail of around 75 per cent.

In the adult market, Barracuda's steel Corvus road bike model has been available for around £100 and its MTB models for less than £200, while Flite Rapide women's bikes have been going for half of retail price.

Moore Large auction (John Pye)

Forme bikes have been snapped up at big discounts too, the Hartington model sold for £129, £260 below retail, and the Buxton Pro e-folding bike sold for around £700, half of retail price.

One of Vitesse's Stream folding e-bikes, retail £1,100, went to a bid of £443, while the brand's Advance e-bikes have gone for as little as £430, well below the £999 RRP.

At the top end, Forme's e-MTB Alport model has been available at discounts of more than 50 per cent, successful bids of around £1,250 for the RRP £2,900 electric mountain bike were spotted on John Pye's online auction house.

It's worth mentioning these prices don't include the "25% Buyers Premium + 20% VAT" you have to stump up if your bid is successful, but even adding this on top, many of the sold prices plus the levies would be much lower than RRPs. 

The auctions come after the long-running Derby-based distributor, which formed from the bike shop opened by John Moore in 1947, entered liquidation earlier this month, less than a year since board directors bought the business from the Moore family.

It was announced that administrators had been appointed to sell off remaining stock and would be auctioning bikes and cycling accessories through John Pye, starting last Friday.

The remaining stock of around 35,000 bikes worth an estimated £25 million as well as £10 million worth of cycling accessories will be available to the public.

"We have the systems and knowledge in place to ensure we can sell the Moore Large & Co. stock with the highest level of efficiency and return for its creditors," John Pye's joint head of business and property Charles Loake commented.

"Our UK-wide footprint of close to 1,000,000 sq ft of sale space and a nationwide workforce of over 700 staff ensures we can handle the largest of insolvency cases. Since Covid, cycling as a hobby as increased exponentially, so this an opportunity for enthusiasts to potentially secure some big-name bikes and accessories at a great price."

All lots available to bid on, as well as those completed, can be viewed on John Pye's website.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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9 comments

Avatar
Off the back | 11 months ago
3 likes

To put it bluntly, if you're hoping to get a bargain road bike , simply put - you won't! The only real quality road bikes are the Forme and they were close as possible to being not much more than cost anyway. Nothing is really going to sell for much less than the sum of its parts. When you consider how difficult it's been to source basic components at the moment, a complete bike is going to be an attractive prospect just to strip for its groupset and wheels if they are of a decent standard (say 105 or better). 
 

I reckon there is going to be so much competition for the top bikes if they ever materialise you're not gonna get anything really worthwhile. As is already said. VAT, commission etc is going to make it difficult 

Avatar
Secret_squirrel | 11 months ago
0 likes

Not sure how this article can get it so wrong. 

There are virtually no bargains to be had because as IanMK has said and as I said both here and on cycling twitter (including Simon Mac and Road.cc accounts) that when you add the 50% auctioneers uplift and delivery they are virtually retail prices for something that comes with no comebacks and no guarantees/Waranttees

Poor show Road.cc

Avatar
IanMK replied to Secret_squirrel | 11 months ago
0 likes

Maybe, I got this wrong. I thought you only paid VAT on the commission? That's effectively an uplift of 30% on bid price.
I think HMRC are a preferential creditor so they will get their cut from any funds first.

Avatar
IanMK | 11 months ago
2 likes

Not entirely fair, commision is 25% + VAT. So a bit of £400 is in fact £520 + Delivery.

That doesn't of course mean that if a Monsal Pro come up with a massive discount that I wouldn't have a bid, and of course I'm just going to tell the wife what I bid for it not what I paid.

Avatar
jonb replied to IanMK | 11 months ago
1 like

It's a bit more than that.. from the auction site "You will pay 20% VAT and 25% buyer’s premium on the hammer price. VAT will also be applied onto the buyer’s premium. In total this would be 50% of the hammer price."

So a bid of 400 would be...
400 + 25% (buyer's premium) = 500
then 500 + 20% (VAT) = 600

As long as you can keep thinking that when looking at the hammer price you might get a bargain  3

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to IanMK | 11 months ago
0 likes

There is also a delivery charge.  In the end there are no baragians. 

Avatar
AidanR | 11 months ago
1 like

I had a look, and there are no decent bikes for sale (except arguably a few Forme e-bikes).

Avatar
kinderje replied to AidanR | 11 months ago
3 likes

This!

I registered with them in the hopes that they had some Forme road bikes. Also, couldn't find any Lake shoes.

At least it saved me from explainng how what I'd bid was different to what I'd paid.

 

Avatar
Global Nomad replied to AidanR | 11 months ago
0 likes

no decent parts either...and even the low end stuff looks poor 

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