There are still some NOS parts that are resonable enough that they make sense to buy simply because they have more life left in them or because excellent used parts are difficult to find. Cafe de Velo, Bicycle Classics, John Barron, Peter White, and European eBay stores like Vintage-Bike offer quite a few reasonably priced NOS parts, although other pieces can be very pricey. These are the NOS parts I buy, as I ride all my bikes. Other rare NOS parts at 10 times the cost of a good used one simply don't make sense to me, because once they are mounted, they are no longer NOS. I don't have a firm rule, but I'll usually buy an NOS part for 150% of very good used, maybe 200%. But at 5 or 10 times as much, I'm not interested.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Bid spring, Texas, USA
> From: jim abt <jamesabt@charter.net>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] NOS the TRUE value?
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Friday, January 22, 2010, 5:47 PM
\r?\n> Let us not forget the other breed of
\r?\n> us like myself. I am of the caliber of cyclist that is not
\r?\n> only passionate about the ride (7,000 miles annually in a
\r?\n> nasty climate...especailly winter) but also of the machines
\r?\n> themselves. The way that I share that passion is to take the
\r?\n> old uncared for (most of them that are old) and overhaul
\r?\n> them right down to bloody fingerprints clean and then share
\r?\n> those parts with those that need them for building their
\r?\n> rides (or pieces of art...whatever). I get a big rush out of
\r?\n> seeing the before and after. Almost to a fault because if
\r?\n> one was to have the smallest preconceived notion that I am
\r?\n> becoming rich (God forbid) in this venture, well, you may
\r?\n> want to give it a try and see for yourself, but maybe you
\r?\n> will want to save yourself the time and effort and take my
\r?\n> word for it, I am NOT. For me to take the parts that I had
\r?\n> spent countless hours on and then put them all back in the
\r?\n> frame of a bicycle and then take the photos of the bike and
\r?\n> try to be the "merchant" would even be less worth it.
\r?\n> Especially if all the i's aren't dotted and all the t's
\r?\n> crossed. I have a very beautiful Frejus that is simple and
\r?\n> honest proof of all of that. I am not saying it is wrong or
\r?\n> right I am just saying that it is.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> There are just a couple of things that I can not sit still
\r?\n> for....a bike that hangs and doses not roll....and one that
\r?\n> does that is abused and not taken care of. If you have the
\r?\n> ones that are orphaned please send them to me so that we can
\r?\n> give them a good home. These perfect peices of man's msot
\r?\n> important invention, the wheel, deserve that. They deserve
\r?\n> to spread their wings and fly. Just ride
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Jim Abt
\r?\n> Wausau, Wi. USA