I kind of agree with the premise, but not the examples.
In the first place, the best sources of old stuff were shops that believed in carrying inventory. There was a paradigm shift away from inventory as UPS came in, importing improved and the sourcing of parts and bikes in general became more liquid. Mail order hurt the desire to carry inventory also. At one time, businessmen who had money tied it up in inventory, bought in volume, tried to anticipate shortages and demand etc. I guess the really best sources of stuff were shops that carried irrationally high inventories. Well run shops went from being full of stuff to having enough stuff.
Rims have two markets, new and replacement. So there would be a lot of lag demand for 36 hole rims and a decent shop could figure out the mix from year to year.
Maybe hubs would be the purer example. Plenty of 28s still to be had.
Stems, like shoes, you had to stock a range of sizes in order not to disappoint the extremes. Its pretty easy to find old shoes if you need size six or thirteen because you always got stuck with the damn things but somehow you always got sucked in to ordering a range. I guess you bought one size 6 and one size 13 and damn if you didn't still have them five years later.
Toe clips were a sea change.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch, NJ
> Here's my axiom: The desirable stuff that everyone wanted is no
\r?\n>
\r?\n> longer to be found as New Old Stock (NOS). The NOS stuff left
\r?\n> behind
\r?\n> and to be found today was the not so desirable stuff.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Obvious example is 36 hole rims. When everyone switched from 36
\r?\n> hole
\r?\n> rims to 32 hole in the early 1980s that left plenty of NOS 36
\r?\n> hole
\r?\n> rims left behind on the shelves and used up the supply of 32
\r?\n> hole
\r?\n> rims. Same thing with toe clips (tons available after intro of
\r?\n> LOOK
\r?\n> pedals). Very short or very long handlebar stems.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Anyone?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chuck Schmidt
\r?\n> South Pasadena, Southern California
\r?\n> United States of America
\r?\n> http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)