Down Into The Memory Hole

I used to be studying Dave Moulton’s weblog not too long ago, which in flip introduced me to this Bicycling overview from 1989 of one in all his Fuso Lux bicycles:

that’s a hell of a pleasant wanting bike. I ponder if as we speak it appears as haggard because the Faggin:

Anyway, the overview was by John Kukoda, who additionally wrote a recent overview of the Vengeance Bike:

And trashed the moustache bar on the X0-1:

Studying trendy bike critiques makes you silly, however studying outdated bike critiques is edifying as a result of it provides you a brand new perspective on the current. (And sure, studying as we speak’s silly bike critiques can be equally edifying in 35 years.) In a method issues have modified rather a lot (the body supplies, the gear altering programs), however in one other approach they haven’t in any respect (pseudoscience seasoned with intelligent turns-of-phrase). And naturally it’s enjoyable to see what stuff price, as was the case right here:

There’s a commonly-held notion that bike stuff has by no means been as costly as it’s now–a notion I’ve already kind of debunked utilizing pseudoscience and intelligent turns-of-phrase. The above is additional proof of this, as in response to an Web inflation calculator that Fuso Lux body as we speak would price about $3,500, which is just about consistent with a high-end body and fork as we speak. I imply sure, in order for you a motorbike from a residing legend like Richard Sachs it prices like $30,000 and also you’ll have to attend for no less than 50 years, however I’m pretty positive $3,500 is what the modern-day equal of the potential Fuso buyer of yesteryear could be spending on a “frameset” as we speak.

And what about that Campagnolo seven-speed alloy freewheel, which price a whopping THREE HUNDRED AND TEN American Freedom Tickets again in 1989? Holy shit, that may be like $775 as we speak! That’s much more than SRAM’s XX XY AXPLS EAGLE GRVL ASPLD whatever-it’s-called, which matches for like $600:

I used to be dumbfounded when SRAM found they might market a cassette that costly, so the truth that Campy had them beat approach again within the final century was humbling–although I suppose a freewheel is a extra subtle part than a cassette in that it additionally incorporates the pawls and all that stuff, which as we speak dwell within the hub. So in that sense it is sensible {that a} stupid-expensive freewheel could be dearer than a stupid-expensive cassette. However nonetheless.

Because the creator of the Pistadex and somebody who’s broadly thought to be the biking world’s Warren Buffett (although admittedly this has much less to do with my enterprise acumen and extra to do with the truth that I’m additionally outdated and frail), all of this naturally led me to marvel if the alloy seven-speed Campagnolo freewheel could possibly be a brand new monetary instrument. Had I inadvertently found the brand new bitcoin? So I headed over to a preferred on-line public sale web site and checked the costs. Sure, they had been ridiculous, however clearly these items had not appreciated in worth:

And even probably the most unique specimens had been properly underneath a thousand {dollars}:

Clearly in the long run investing in Campagnolo freewheels is just not going to beat the NASDAQ.

Nonetheless, in perusing the aforementioned auctioning website I did bump into this little bit of treasure:

The Nishiki Cervino is likely one of the most obscure manufacturing bikes ever, uh, produced. It’s so obscure that it’s not even a cult merchandise, and it makes bikes just like the XO-1 and the RockCombo appear to be Schwinn Varsities compared. Consequently, to be a Cervino proprietor is to know nothing of your individual historical past, since so far as I can inform Nishiki solely provided it in 1982, and you may’t even discover a Nishiki catalogue for that yr anyplace on the Web, which fairly frankly I discover extremely suspicious–virtually like somebody desires the Cervino erased from the collective reminiscence:

By the best way, it’s fairly daring of this vendor to just accept returns on such an obscene merchandise:

As anybody who peddles smut is aware of, rule primary is that you simply don’t settle for returns, for apparent causes. However I suppose the Web has all however destroyed the marketplace for adult-themed printed matter and the sellers don’t have any different alternative, for even Playboy distributors at the moment are taking backsies:

In any case, so determined was I to be taught concerning the origins of the Cervino that I briefly thought-about spending the $54.99. (Particularly, since as we’ve simply established, I might return it instantly afterwards.) However happily the vendor had included pictures of the entire rattling factor and so I didn’t should:

This rookie mistake might have price him a sale, nevertheless it netted me the priceless expertise of confirming that I’m in actual fact the kind of one who is not going to settle for lower than the perfect:

If you happen to’re a classic bike dork, there may be most likely no higher useful resource than this fashionable on-line public sale web site–not as a result of you should buy stuff on it, however as a result of it’s probably the most full reference for bikes and bike elements on the earth, all due to capitalism and the human impulse to attempt to get cash for our outdated crap. Would I ever have discovered {the catalogue} entry for the Cervino if some nutjub didn’t assume he might get $54.99 for it? Nope. Would I ever have discovered precisely what was incorrect with the C-File derailleur on the Vengeance Bike if I couldn’t take a look at all the opposite C-File derailleurs listed on the aforementioned website, examine the pictures, and work out what had damaged? Additionally nope. Sure, each bike half you possibly can presumably consider, all lovingly photographed from each angle within the hope of creating a sale, is there on your perusal due to the basic power that’s commerce.

As for {the catalogue}, along with advertising blather and geometry specs regarding my Cervino, it additionally had data for the brand new Nishiki rider, and it was right here that I made my most vital discovery: