Chuck,
Too true. I too could never afford those top-line parts in my youth, but can now - as you say, even allowing for changing income levels, inflation, and the value of currency today.
Nevertheless, I would sure like to have got my grubby hands on those bins of discards (at the time they were apparently never resold or used again) now for my own use and for distribution to all my dear friends on the CR list, of course!!! I guess some enterprising mechanics in those old shops took those buckets of bits home with them and are now happily keeping us all supplied.
I remember in the day that mates of mine used to get peach baskets full of Campy odds and ends from the local police auction for next to nothing!!!
Cheers,
Paul.
Paul Williams,
Ottawa, ON, Canada
>
> On Apr 12, 2006, at 1:00 PM, Paul Williams wrote:
>
>> A few years ago I remember talking to a chap from the Netherlands, who
>> was working in a bike store in my home town (Kingston, Ontario), who
>> remembers stripping NR and SR parts off bikes while he was a mechanic in
>> Holland and simply throwing them into large bins in the back of the
>> shop. This used to happen at the end of every race season as riders
>> would upgrade to the new year's parts. He remembers that in most cases
>> there was nothing wrong with them. Made me weep when he told me that -
>> oh that I had a time machine!!!
>>
>> Paul Williams,
>> Ottawa, ON, Canada
>
>
> Paul, you're not appreciating what a golden time you are living in. The
> reality (from someone who was there) is that it is much easier and
> cheaper to get anything you wanted from back then NOW. EBay is like a
> virtual pro bike shop (candy store actually); there was never a store
> like it back in the day.
>
> That stuff "thrown into large bins at the end of the race season" is on
> eBay literally day in and day out for very cheap prices. And the NOS
> stuff is actually cheaper now that it was new figuring in inflation and
> the value of the dollar.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, Southern California
>
> .