Jay wrote, in part:
" An arguement against a recent thread about declining values of vintage
bikes and components:
> http://ebay.com/
> or as item# 3673094682 An early '70's Colnago Super-sized, selling for
$1,658.00
>
> The blue chip bikes (not to be confused with investments) are still
achieving some healthy returns.
> Jay Van De Velde,
> Seal Beach,CA
>
In my experience these early 70s Supers, while made and exported to the US in fairly large numbers (hundreds? Thousands? Surely thousands by the end of 1975 or so?) are very hard to find now in clean, original condition. Many have been repainted, and those that have not, are often in near-trashed condition..people raced most of these bikes hard, and after that, rode them to death. My sense with the Supers from late 1972 through early 1975 is that while there may be a lot of them out there, most are not too attractive cosmetically..and, that said, you *still* don't see these come around for sale that often. Not as often as often as Carlsbad Masis, for instance, and many fewer of those (with the pressed lugs) were put into the market.
Plus, this orange Colnago had several things going for it. The color. The condition, and the size (if you're 6'4" and you want a Super, you might not see another one that tall in your lifetime, and certainly not in that condition)
In short, the rare early 70s Super that's clean and original is always going to fetch a good price, and probably will fetch even more as the years flow by.
Charles "you can't have too many early '70s Supers" Andrews Socal