Re: [CR]re: ebay outing: gios super record..sad

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme)

From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 22:58:47 -0800 (PST)
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]re: ebay outing: gios super record..sad

Chuck, I'm saying (and rightly so), that if people are chop-shopping bikes then perhaps, just perhaps, it's because other people are hoarding boatloads of spares that haven't a chance in hell of being used in the next decade (if campy stuff is as reliable as its supposed to be.)

I don't object to having a display bike on the wall with original components. I do object to seeing someone with 100+ vintage parts sitting in a drawer, because to me, that's probably 5 bikes that have been chopped up to make the parts drawer full of spares. And worse than that, it's serving absolutely no purpose. For me, that's on par with the Guiness Book of World Records for biggest mizer - that old lady worth several million who still saved craps of soap in a small tin !

I tried to conduct my collecting in a way that does not encourage chop-shops from partting out bikes. That means that most of my spares are typically not OEM equipment, e.g. stronglight 144 bcd rings, euro-asia hoods, tange levin spare races for that campy headset, etc. You can do it if you try.

Do you conduct yourself with the same respect for our hobby ??

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA