I think you misunderstood Brandon. I'm talking about when the stuff was contemporary, not years later. Supposedly the stuff is taken off the race bikes at the end of the season and thrown in bins (to be tossed?).
And the folks at Plum didn't give a damn about the obsolete stuff because their customers did want to buy the stuff. Just business...
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
Brandon"monkeyman"Ives wrote:
> 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