Original Message: ----------------- From: Chuck Schmidt chuckschmidt@earthlink.net Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2004 12:17:47 -0800 To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Colnago Super Price...$2200? Outrageous!
"I bought my Raleigh Pro Mark IV (full Campagnolo) from Cycle World bike shop in San Marino, California, April 1976 for $506.00.
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California"
Chuck... sorry I meant 1979 not '76. Retro Raleighs has a '79 catalogue with the prices and within three years it was something like $990.00... lest we every forget the 'orrible inflation of those years.
Richie Sachs tells me a Colnago sold for $550 in 1971 when a Raleigh Pro was about $360 and a PX-10 $220-240-ish. And while a Colnago could never hope to be a Chevy Vega, did those not sell for about $1995 when introduced about the same time? Even it burned twice as much in oil after two years.. do the math. $550 for a bike in 1971 was big league serious money.
It's sobering I know guys but the stuff we covet was made THREE DECADES AGO when taking a city bus cost 35 cents not $1.50. The Washington-New York shuttle one-way was $25 then; today it's $240. I'd still rather have paid the $550 for a Colnago than $1995 for a Vega anyway even then... and it sure held its value a lot better.
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/