The quote about a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing, goes right to the heart of this matter. Ebay decides the price of something, and this is a direct reflection of market forces, supply and demand, current hipness and advertising successes. We are often offended when market forces decide that something will cost an amount of dollars that is out of reach for ourselves and deserving others. This is capitalism and free markets creating its own order of values. In our society, market forces determine that almost everyone will be able to afford food, but shelter and legal or medical care falls outside the budget of many. The problem is that market forces function outside of imposed ideals of what should and shouldn't be.
In the case of bicycles, a wealthy investor or collector can afford all the Herses and Simplexes that his desire may draw him too, but he may not understand the soul of what he purchases. All these items have "soul" for those that grew up with them, spent hours with them in our youths or understand the history and philosophy behind them. For someone who has a past filled with dreams and adventures involving bike equipment, these parts and frames are not investments or just beautiful, but symbols of our very lives. We understand the "soul" of something because our "soul" has been touched by it. To reconstruct a piece of bicycle history is sometimes to reconstruct ourselves. It is to erect a sculpted monument to our inner life. When you truly value your own history, you place enormous value on those things that seem to most embody it. The "intrinsic value" of cycle art is the same "intrinsic value" of the man who loves and lives it. Who can place a value on a man's (woman's) life?
In a world where trends create overnight sensations and overnight flops, we see real value in things that are timeless, beyond hype, and celebrate human aspirations. A hand built frame, meticulously caressed, reflects a human life, examined and profoundly loved. Be happy that you have found something that touches your soul, for a man that has limitless wealth but no life to breathe into his day's activity, will always wonder why simple things delight you. Garth Libre in Surfside Fl.