Thank you, Charles, and everyone else for offering their advice. I have had quite a few very knowledgeable folks email me advising me to reconsider the auction, and I am, but I do want to give it some thought before I do anything. I suppose I am more like Emanuel -- I don't think of myself as a bike collector, despite having several collectible bikes, now. I guess I do have the collector impulse, though, because I have some bad feelings about parting out pedals that are original to the bike. It's a little bit like cutting up an old book of maps because they sell for more individually -- I wouldn't do that.
On the other hand, I really bought the bike to ride rather than to show, and I'd feel uncomfortable using pedals that were worth that much for fear I'd scrape them. So I'd just wind up keeping them in storage. I figure by selling them, I'd offset some of the cost of the bike, and I have a nice pair of "correct" track pedals to replace these con denti ones with. The other thing is, the pedals were more of a cool surprise when the bike arrived, not something I was expecting to be on there.
Well, I really am torn, but it's great to hear other CR members' opinions on this. I truly appreciate all the great advice and the collective wisdom of the folks on this list.
Thanks,
Gene Balk
Seattle, WA