Well, while all that is true, I think that manufacturers unwilling to supply spares should support and encourage alternate sources like CyclArt, and I think Jim has indicated that some manufacturers do, but others have been indifferent or downright hostile, if I recall some past posts on the subject. Attitudes such as Reynolds exhibited in the mid-80's are particularly inexcusable IMHO. They were still producing the decals but would not supply them on the basis of some reasonable documentation, like a receipt for a 531-tubed bike or a request from authorized dealers of such bikes or from a reputable framebuilder. Of course the decals could be misused, but by forcing legitimate owners to produce repro decals, they created the possibility for much wider misuse.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Harvey M Sachs wrote:
> The discussion has been very helpful, but I think there are a couple of
> other issues that should be raised, in defense of manufacturers' unable or
> unwilling to supply decals.
>
> first, in my modest experience, the older water-slipped decals don't have a
> good shelf life. they simply crack and decay in some storage
> conditions. I've tried keeping some decals for a decade or two...
>
> second, from the manufacturers' perspective, even if the things last
> forever, these small orders can be a real nightmare, for several reasons:
> --> How do you represent the value of these "trivial" things on your
> books? This is an issue for all sorts of things, like chainsaw and
> appliance parts, and my understanding is that "rational" manufacturers are
> driven to dump old inventory, because the cost of maintaining it is higher
> than the sales or goodwill value.
>
> --> How do you fulfill the order? Do you have staff dedicated to
> determining which decals went with which model, and whether the customer
> really has that model? what responsibility do you want to accept. There
> is a joke that there are now far more Pontiac GTOs than were ever
> manufactured, as so many people have "upgraded" LeMans models.
>
> So, as much as I would like to be able to call Schwinn or Waterford for
> decals, it ain't likely to happen. So, I'm just happy that there are some
> people who want to do the right thing and thus reproduce the decals, as a
> service or to make a living. Seems like a pretty good solution to me...
>
> harvey (anyone have some Moulton decals) sachs