I had a table full of vintage goodies at the T-Town Velodrome swapmeet a couple of years ago. Among the things I was selling were a few pairs of Batas and I couldn't give them away! Perhaps I should have filled up my backpack with them and taken my track bike out around the streets of NYC (or leaned it on a wall somewhere along Bedford Ave.) and sold them for top dollar to the newbie fixed-gear/messenger types. Matthew Bowne Brooklyn, New York
>From: "Anderson, Robert" <randerson2@grey.com>
>To: "classicrendezvous@bikelist.org" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]"Track" sells!
>Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:32:42 -0400
>
>Check out this completed auction for a pair of Bata bikers:
>
>http://ebay.com/<blah>
>sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
>
>Or ebay # 220004591258
>
>Someone paid $92.50 for "Vintage Bata Cycling Shoes NOS Track / Fixed /
>Toeclips"
>
>I find this amusing because I regularly search ebay for Bata bikers. They
>come up fairly often and rarely sell for more than $20. But put the word
>Track in there and you reach a much larger audience and the price goes up
>5-fold. No matter that they're touring shoes.
>
>I use mine for commuting/errands and I do get a lot of comments on them
>from
>the messenger/fixed-gear crowd here in NYC. Maybe some company should
>re-issue them.
>
>Rob Anderson
>Brooklyn, NY