All this talk about prices and value... I guess it's worthwhile to recall or find out how much you'd pay for these machines NEW thirty odd years ago. Unfortunately very few cycle catalogues had prices and the "suggested retail price" sheets seem elusive as well. All I know is that a) I couldn't afford to buy these beauties then and b) I sure couldn't afford to buy them now at 1970s prices adjusted for inflation. Heck, I think Raleigh Professionals cost just shy of a grand in 1976!
My personal bike "value" barometer is stuck in the 1970s based on my newspaper route earnings. None of this was any bargain 30 years ago.. even a Brooks B72 cost $20 and that was serious money. A PX-10 c. 1972 was about $240... you could sail to Europe in the S/S FRANCE one-way student fare for less. Those were real choices, at least for me back then.
Maybe Mick Butler can tell me how much my 1948 RRA, which cost an astounding 39 guineas new, would cost in today's pounds?
Of course, I hasten to add I am like the rest of you... I want to pay $500 tops for anything that strikes my fancy. Anything more, of course, is a bona fide rip-off.
Peter Kohler Washington, DC USA
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