Dave:
I also remember hearing that Bill had stopped parting out bikes and was concentrating on his two (!) other professions. His parts flyers just stopped arriving.
Additionally, I think that it was getting harder and harder to find bikes in sufficiently good condition at a low enough price to make any money at it - the so-called "low-hanging fruit" had already been picked at that point. IMO Bill's grading was slipping a bit at the end too - when you don't have a picture of something, you've got to be dead accurate with your description (or even conservative) to keep people happy. I had to return a Raleigh 753 Team Pro frameset to him that wasn't even close (IMO) to the description - seized adjusters, peeling clearcoat, scratches, etc. I had to eat the shipping both ways - about $50 at the time - not very tasty.
(How many times have I had something returned, one might ask? After hundreds and hundreds of deals (maybe over a thousand - dunno actually), exactly one - a $30, used Nuovo Record BB. The gentleman that bought it took it to his LBS and asked them to install it. They told him it had a flaw in one cup when viewed through a jeweler's loupe (interesting that they had one on hand...), and preferred to sell him a new BB from stock, so he asked if he could return mine - I refunded the $30, plus postage both ways, plus a buck for his Money Order purchase cost...).
Bill was also very non-electronic, i.e. no fax, computer, etc. Snail-mail and telephone calls only. Then Al Gore invented the Internet, eBay came along, and, well.....
Cheers,
Greg "bought quite a bit from Bill in the 'old' days" Parker
A2 MI USA
> Message: 1
> From: Bikerdaver@aol.com
> Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 14:56:29 EDT
> Subject: Re: [CR]Bill Ward
> To: Wood_23793@msn.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
> Ken-
> Last time I checked, Bill got out of the Bike biz because other
> professional
> concerns took over. In my opinion, Bill was the best supplier of vintage
> parts, and the the most knowledgeable as well. Easily on par or greater
> than
> our king-of-vintage-bike-knowledge, Aldo Ross. Bill still dabbles in the
> bike
> biz when time allows, but nothing like his former efforts. Cheers,
> Dave Anderson
> Cut Bank MT