Ken,
I thought that the list might enjoy looking at these bikes, and be interested in what is sometimes available over here. I didn't think that anyone would be interested in bidding, what with the extra shipping costs, and the seller's hesitation to ship overseas. I would forward them at no cost for my labor (I would probably have to break the bike down after it arrived at my location, and pack it). With the less than cheap starting prices, and even if nobody else bid, it might not be worth it after the shipping to the US at around $300 I estimate. Plus, there is the shipping to my location from the seller. I think that the Merckx is in great shape, and the Cinelli is certainly something that you don't see everyday at the auctions.
By the way, you can reasonably understand some foreign language pages by using a translation site. (Japanese to English is OK). Paste the foreign web page address to the 'translate a web page' box at the translation page. Choose the language and it only takes a few second. The translation isn't perfect, but you can get the idea. If it asks for a ID at the Japanese page, I think that it means that the auction has ended. Here is one translation page that works for Japanese to English:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
As of this note, the Cinelli is at a starting price of about $1650, and the Merckx at around $1300. Neither has had bidding activity.
Dennis Young Hotaka, Japan
>
> both those auctions state (what little I could read) said 'will not ship
> internationally' and course most of the script is in Japanese so all of us
> non-Japanese fluent have no clue as to what the current bid prices are!
>
> The do appear to be bikes of interest however!
>
> Ken Sanford
> Kensongton, MD.