Actually that's not correct at all. A guy I know named Enno Roosink is a manager of one of the major Presto shops in Amsterdam and told me this story. When he started managing the shop about 6 years ago he heard from one of the old timers that about a year before the previous manager had thrown out BOXES of new and used Campy stuff. His reason was that it was just a bunch of old stuff that never sold.
When we were living in Belgium I heard similar tales at least three other times. 99.99% of cyclists over in the low countries couldn't give a damn about old stuff. Folks into classic stuff are very few and very far between. Even the folks at Gent's Plum shop didn't give a damn about the stuff really. They had old Campy on display and some for sale, but they still looked at it as just old stuff.
I do think this is changing a bit. The main reason this is changing is Ebay and everyone having access to the internet. best, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives Coeur d'Alene, ID.
> Just a small reality check here... "Subject: throw-away Campagnolo
> parts"... you can bet if it was a shop in Holland with Campagnolo
> parts thrown into bins, they weren't "throw-away Campagnolo parts"
> okay? And I think you all know what I mean, right? No urban myths
> here. Parts is parts, and expensive Italian parts is expensive
> Italian parts whether it is the end of a racing season or no.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, Southern California
>
> Galen wrote:
>>
>> I'm sure that there were well-sponsored amateur racers who could
>> afford to throw away last season's equipment and replace everything
>> for the next year. But when I started racing in the mid 70s, most
>> of us bought our own gear, and with rare exception treated our bike
>> (usually singular) and components with respect. Not many of us had
>> neurosurgeons for fathers who could buy us the best and most
>> expensive stuff. We worked in bike shops for pocket change and a
>> 10-20% discount on tires and parts. I'll never forget the first
>> time I ordered something from Nashbar because I could get it for
>> less than my discounted price at the shop! It sure pissed off Dave,
>> the owner, because he was working hard to make a living in a very
>> non-boutique shop in Urbana, Illinois. No one I knew discarded
>> perfectly good equipment at the end of the season. We were just
>> glad to be able to get to the race, because gasoline was starting
>> to hover around a dollar per gallon!! Oh well,
>>
>> Galen Poole
>> Jackson, MS
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Williams"
>> <castell5@sympatico.ca>
>> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 3:00 PM
>> Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Unfortunate Victims of Boutique Bicycle Buying
>>
>>> 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