[CR]Follow-up, Prices and Ebay

(Example: Racing:Wayne Stetina)

From: <LouDeeter@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:57:46 EST
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Follow-up, Prices and Ebay

After thinking about what Jan Heine said about how prices are so reasonable right now for classic lugged steel with Campagnolo, I have concluded that for the run of the mill, production type bicycle from the 70s and early 80s, that Ebay has actually caused the prices to go down, not up. An explanation would be that whereas prior to ebay, the buyers didn't see many of these bikes in as relative a sense as today and felt compelled to pay higher prices just to grab the ones they did see. Now, the buyer can be much more selective as patience will pay off with the right bike in size, condition, and price. And, all these pictures being shared surely acts as a soothing salve to our collective juices. And, because of all of this, the collectors/riders are getting what they need/want, then exiting the market to be much more selective with their purchases. That logically leads one to believe that since most current riders are not riding lugged steel, that the demand is not keeping up with the supply when it comes to an 'average' lugged steel bike. I put in that category, the many late 70s, early 80s Italian frames, Paramounts, PX10s, and the like. For excellent examples, there seems to be spirited bidding, but still, there have been a LOT of bikes that didn't meet reserve and the high bid was left at a much lower price than many of us would have perhaps thought. Early morning in Orlando, Florida, Lou Deeter