I am wondering if those who object to this seller stripping off the parts
from his bike feel as hostile to those like myself who buy a nice bike,
often decide that the components are not what I want on it and change them
around some. If given the opportunity, I would gladly sell any unwanted
parts removed from such a bike for a profit, although I have to say they
usually go to CR List members for about what I figure I have into them
(often less), and no one is getting rich on my end of things.
Obviously there are some bikes that I would not alter, but these are rare
(by definition). That Gios certainly does not rise to my standard of
something so important or rare that it must be preserved as is. Especially
when the "As Is" was nearly certainly defined by a previous owner,
distributor, or bike shop owner/assembler, not some artisan/creator whose
vision is realized in the assembly and construction of the bike. There is a
world of difference in my mind between parting out a rare Rene Herse of its
constructeur parts for profit and stripping a fairly run of the mill bike
for parts. As Chuck said "Parts is parts". I agree with him completely.
For any but the most special of bikes, the owner can do what they want with
it as far as I am concerned. Even for those special bikes, I might resent
their being stripped, but I am not going to appoint myself as the arbiter of
what other bike owners must, or even should do.
This argument can be (and I suspect often is) extended to those who do not
keep their bikes to other's concept of originality. Who knows what is
"right" in these things? These are pretty subjective judgments and without
the inclusive tolerance of other's views any intelligent discussion of the
whole classic bike scene gets pretty difficult.
Perhaps we can all back up a minute, take a deep breath and realize that
while other's ways may not be just the way you would do things, this does
not make the other person any less of a class person, just a person who has
formed different opinions.
Let us celebrate diversity!
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi