By "ceremonial" lock ring tool, I assume you mean the ceremony of opening a beer bottle. Rather odd a nation better known for wine than beer would have conceived such a truly brillant multi-use tool. Maybe the Helicomatic stuff was made in Alsace.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
Fred Rafael Rednor <fred_rednor@yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Emanuel Lowi wrote:
>
> Charles wrote:
> >
> > When you have a bit that's rare, and you know it's rare,
> > and you have only one of them...or maybe even two...it's
> > probably smart to just keep them.
> >
> > Because, inevitably, sure as the sun rises in the East,
> > you're going to need that very rare bit someday, and
> > you're going to wish you had it.
> >
> > And keeping such things, even if you don't have a use for
> > it right away, is almost never bad from a financial
> > point-of-view. Extremely rare and desired items like con
> > denti pedals will just keep going up in value. The
> > longer you hold them, the more they're worth.
> >
> > Now, if a person needs the money, for whatever reason,
> > far be it from me to say they shouldn't sell something.
> >
> > But I can't tell you how many times, until the last
> > couple of years, anyway, that I have sold some very rare
> > bits, and regretted it later. More than a few times.
> > And I probably never really *needed* the money, except in
> > the cases of a couple of very valuable bikes that I don't
> > regret selling. The money came in handy, and I don't
> > miss them.
> >
> > But, in general, when it comes to things like con denti
> > pedals..I'd keep such beasts until I knew I was leaving
> > the vintage bike biz completely.
> >
> > For all the people here who may be looking at some very
> > rare bit and wondering if they should sell it..I say,
> > think VERY hard about it...and then keep it. Because,
> > more likely than not, you'll regret selling it.
> >
>
>
> And then there is that hazy yet dangerously life-altering
> moment when the collector who owns the collection becomes
> the collector owned by the collection, the signifier
> defined by the signified, Chatwin's Utz metamorphosed into
> a miniature Meissen figurine.
>
> There are consequences -- secret obsessive thoughts,
> financial misjudgements, creeping insanity, abandonment by
> loved ones.
>
> As someone who once collected many things and became, by
> force of habit if not by nature, a collector, I recall now
> with considerable relief those days when I sold off my
> precious objects bit by bit or consigned them to some
> faraway auction house. The feeling of liberation that came
> with getting the monkey off my back was worth every instant
> of short-lived post-partum angst, a sentiment that seems
> more and more pathetic as the distance between it and me
> lengthens...
>
> For me, finally, a bike is a thing to ride, with the wind
> in my hair and the sweat dripping off my brow, muscles
> screaming for more. I'll never be a bike collector just
> like I'll never stop riding until I simply cannot swing one
> old leg over that Brooksian slab.
>
> Emanuel Lowi
> Montreal, Quebec.
Exactly! You have to be careful or you can find that the little parts you're saving for those special future projects become collections unto themselves. That is, many of you (myself included) will wake up one day and discover you have something like a world class BB spindle collection, or a track axle nut collection, or a Nervar chainring collection, or a Stronglight lock ring collection or whatever... Then what?
I'm happy to say that at least I've sold off my Maillard Helicomatic collection to a couple of list members, although I've retained a "ceremonial" lock ring and lock ring tool. Anyway, just make certain your heirs know about the CR list. Cheers, Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
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