Ricardo Bulissimo an Intro for some of you.
As promised, I thought I give you a little more info about myself, now that I have raised my balding head and stuck my nose into the CR party. I had been lurking infrequently for years, but now I am quite busy with the task of clearing out a lifetime's worth of bicycle stuff. From everything an earnest 14 year old keeps for no certain reason, to the self-indulgent toys an old guy can afford, but certainly doesn't need.
I first became aware of lightweight multi-geared bicycles when I lived in France and a retired bicycle racer let me borrow his bike. I was ten at the time, and it is debatable who was the more foolish: me for riding it improperly (once through a muddy field and I clogged the works and nonchalantly returned the bike to him in that condition) or he for allowing an inexperienced American kid to use his valuable bike. I guess he forgot I wasn't raised around bikes like the local kids were. Sadly, I remember no specifics of the bike or its mechanisms, brand, etc. I do remember seeing bike races from the back of my dad's car, as he fumed about the temporary interruption to our family's weekend outings by closed road courses.
Flash forward to Reno, Nevada in 1966 when I was give an English 3-spd and bought drop bars for it to emulate the "10-speed" look, then sweeping America. A coworker at my first job sold me a Falcon with Wienmann/Huret and a Reynolds tube frame. Shortly later, I then discovered bike shops, and a knack with tools and adjusting brakes and gears which landed me a job in a shop that sold high-end cycles. I drooled daily on the owner's Bianchi Specialissima team-issue inexplicably set up (I only later realized) with racks and panniers!
After working in and/or starting a succession of bike shops for others, I opened my own little store in 1972, and among my dubious distinctions: Customer #2 of Specialized, sold Bob LeMond a Cinelli for his kid's first real bike, belonged to the first amateur racing club allowed to carry the sponsors advertisements on the club jersey (Reno Wheelmen-Cynar Italian Aperitivo), watched Roland build Della Santa #1, watched Greg lap the field at Nevada City as a junior, and laughed out loud at the first Japanese lightweight bike I saw, with a Suntour "skitter" rear derailleur.
Along the journey, I stashed stuff away. Never thought too much about it; hindsight is crystal clear. How I rue the opportunities missed to save things which would later become priceless. I eased out of the bicycle business in the mid-80's went to architecture school and established a practice concentrating on residential work. (That's why I use my faux Italianized name. I save my real name so when my potential clients google me, this stuff won't come up.) Some of what I did save is priceless, other things of dubious value. From the handwritten-on-notebook-paper 1975 Specialized catalog (Sinyard was too cheap to use a copy machine, so he hand wrote them out for his customers, all ten of them) to the Masi water bottle now causing a stir on E-bay, I have some weird and wonderful stuff.
I know it can be contentious on this list to discuss what a "fair" price is. As an old guy once told me, ".the only fair is over on Wells Avenue - the County Fair". I hold the belief that the best and fairest and fastest way to establish a price for something is via auctions. I know some things go for outlandish prices. So too does real estate or anything else (as Will Rogers put it) they ain't making anymore of. To the earnest collectors and restorers out there, I'm simpatico, but alas, I need the money. But I will try to give you a heads-up at least. And let's not forget, sometimes things slip by and bargains are not unheard of.
With some recent health setbacks, I have mostly suspended my professional practice, and finally have time to assess what is out there in the "vault". I need to strip down the accumulation by about 99%. I'm keeping my "as original" Cinelli (the red one on Campyonly), and my contemporary race bikes & the Meridian tandem. I'll keep some spares for the Cinelli as well as set of showboat toe-clipped pedals, etc. I am NOT going to mess with this stuff like a business, other than to move it out of here and to finally have time to spend riding my bike while I can. Italy, Provance, .heck, Napa-Sonoma, New England, they all beckon.
I do respect the phenomenal body of knowledge contained in the collective list members heads. Every time I think I know the helpful answer, I am scooped by someone more knowledgeable than me. That's why I have a cover over the "reply" key to keep me from shooting from the hip. I will speak up as I deem appropriate. Thanks for all the effort you folks put in to keep this stuff alive. It truly deserves it. So there. I've enjoyed the ride.