In a message dated 12/12/00 1:05:50 AM Eastern Standard Time, radiant@gci.net writes:
<< The price of Classic parts is only going to go up and get in shorter and shorter supply. What seems pricey now will seem cheap ten years from now.
As far as "sniping" is concerned anybody that bids any other way is a fool
as far as I am concerned. Ebay is business and I am certainly not going to
play games running the price of the object up before the end of the auction.
>>
On target, Mike!
Precisely my sentiments.
While occasionally we may be amazed how much someone else is willing to pay for a particular part/bike, that person has an absolute right to pay whatever they choose.
The kinda sour grapes response I frequently hear is that "These high bidders are running the prices up and arbitrarily inflating the market." The cold hard facts are that there is barely a market at all! How many Masi engraved TTT bars have you seen on eBay?
I am also a little impatient with bike folk, especially those in major urban centers who state, "Oh those _____are a dime a dozen; I can pick those up for nothing at a swap meet every weekend." Geez, either these guys/gals are fulluvit or they need to shut up and go buy those items and resell them to those of us who rarely if ever see those goodies.
The harsh reality is that the supply of vintage parts is rapidly screeching to a halt and the most mundane and common parts (viewed from our old mindset) are soon going to be unobtainium. This is certainly a part of the reason Mike Kone is slowing down his business and others are having to be more energetic in turning up cool old stuff. And why BC's fire at Renaissance was tragic.
I was reminded of all this in a recent search for one of my bike shop customers for Weinmann brake hood covers. Common as dirt, right? Not only are they pretty much gone, but the replacement DiaCompe (yuk!) are in scarce supply. Those used to be like kleenex but now, in months /years to come, are going to end up selling for $20-30 IF you find them somewhere! Who woulda thunk it.
By the way Mike, I frequently sell in CDO the newest ITM handlebars for $100.+. I can get as many as I want! I think that Mai-TTT bar wasn't a bad deal at all.
Dale Brown