If the component makers (shimano, campag, mavic) and resellers (bike shops, distributors) can charge market rate for the 1970s era $20.00 hoods today:
http://westegg.com/
What cost $20.00 in 1975 would cost $71.30 in 2003. Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2003 and 1975, they would cost you $20.00 and $5.61 respectively.
Anyone willing to pay $71.30 for a pair of disposable 'world' gum hoods that will last a few years? Note though, that any retail price will need to be based on standard production runs and current channels of distribution. And how big a market are we- a couple of thousand tops- for vintage bike collectors worldwide? I would gather the hoods would be made in their Record carbon crank factory, with a more craftsman level workforce, a la e-ritchie. How much would Mr. Sachs charge for vintage 70's RS logoed hoods? Imagine Richard halting his work on someones frame to slave away over a brake lever hood mold, pouring- by HAND!- hot liquid latex into the dies? I suspect they would not be cheap. (Hey, maybe I gave RS an idea for a new market to exploit- I want 10%!)
Gumwall tires on the other hand are a completely different game. 27x1 1/4" tires are sold by the hundreds in bike shops every year. These are of course low end replacement tires for schwinns and Boom Bikes. The demand for AM replacement gumwall tires has never gone away since millions of bikes were made for years and years, and still is. Even an upper end tire in that size in skin wall, while not easy, is still obtainable. Panaracer, IRC, Hutchinson all still make these tires available in their catalogues.
Same thing goes for brake pads. Hey- you can buy better made Kool Stop and Fibrax brake blocks for your old Campag and Mafac calipers today for $15 for a set of 4. (KS-CR: available at any bike shop with a few days notice).
Happily with one less box of random bike parts post Veloswap,
Tom Martin
Oakland CA
> I am wondering if someone like Sheldon, Greg Parker and/or the redoubtable
> E-Ritchie (I sure hope redoubtable is the right word...I was dying to use
it
> in a sentence and I have worked it in twice now in the same one) might be
> able to have these things made under their name. One would not be able to
> put brand names like "Campagnolo" on them with out permission, of course.
> Seems if a small market can support lugs perhaps it could support those
> parts that wear out... like gum wall tires, brake hoods, brake pads, etc.
> With E-Ritchie's design genius, Sheldon's marketing expertise and Greg's
> Engineering background, they would be a threesome to be reckoned with.
The
> fact that they all have considerable cache and name recognition wouldn't
> hurt, either.
> Just daydreaming, I guess, while I watch the street for the DHL truck and
> delivery of my new (old) Masi.
> Tom Sanders
> Lansing, Mi