Ebay is a mess... Beat up GT Performer frames are going for over a hundred bucks alone, never mind components. Half decent frames or complete bikes are going for a fortune. Why wasn't it this bad, even a few months ago, when I was building my Dyno? The economy is in the tank... who has an extra 200 bucks laying around for a frame that needs repowdered anyways?

Sigh.

Think the prices will come back down, someday?

I thought they were down? But I could be wrong. I've sold 4 bikes in the last month, all I got a decent price for. I thought the prices would be like they were 10 years ago. But with the economy, I guess people are still willing to pay good for a bike.

Then hopefully I'll get some good coin for my freshly powdered Pro Performer f/f/bars/post when I put 'em up.

Sunburn, Buy or Sell, man. If you want to build a bike for yourself, you can.
Do the research and be patient, it all comes around.

If you want to fill your house, garage, guest house, attic, basement, etc with
bikes and parts...climb aboard and damn the price.

I did the fill the house and attic with bikes routine.. Now i'm in the get it down to a reasonable level mindset...

LOL Well, the problem with these bikes is that they're like crack. You get one, and you want more. I should be happy with my D-Tour and the Pro Performer I have at home, but there's this endless desire for MORE MORE MORE!

;-)

Mike


Ahh.. I'm just saving right now for a winter build, sooo it's all good.

Talking of prices - anyone seen the JMC DY on Ebay currently going for 6.6K?

I'm presenly finishing my official last build. A 1983 Skyway T/A.. All I need is a fork. And it's done. I'll be stoked when it is too. No more looking for parts, spending money. I'll finally be happy with my bike stuff. Anything I buy then is something i'm going to ride.

The economy is far from "in the tank". Only thing I've noticed is that gas prices are up. And they're up to stay so get used to it!

1 million iphones sold for 2-300 a pop this weekend...the discretionary income is out there....

I'm watchin' that DY Subwax.....UNBELIEVABLE!

King of Pipeline (Jerry) I GAVE you a Skyway T/A fork for that build back in March. What did you do with it? Did you flip it on ebay?

saC

To me, it seems like stuff is selling for a lot less than just a few months ago. The only time something sells high, is when I'm bidding on it.

I remember seeing a pic of that T/A built up with the unfinished fork that saC sent you (he even paid for the shipping iirc lol). Why not just have that one chromed, then you're done! w00t

double post

Sorry for the random vent here fellas, BUT:

KOP, you DID sell the Skyway fork I gave you!

http://cgi.ebay.com/skyway-fork-old-school...p4011.m14.l1318

Looks like you made out pretty good getting $172 for it. And now you are fishing for other guys to see if they will help you find another one?

Wow, talk about a breach of etiquette! I forsee a 25th Anniversary T/A fork in KoP's 1983 T/A's future, but why not give the other fork back?

Busted!!!

That is one stone cold call-out right there.

Flipping a gift like that...tsk tsk...

wow...

uh oh,

wow.. and i just need a decent fork for my streetbeat....

Should I keep on old Skyway fork, or buy a new retro fork for $170.00?.... These new forks being made are in MINT condition, the fork I just sold was not.. I sold my old Skyway fork to buy one of the new ones being made. I did not profit from it. I made an even trade. Who would not trade and old beat up fork, for a brand new one? If I was trying to sell this fork without anybody knowing I would have sold it on BMX Museum and not Ebay. Of course everybody is going to see a Skyway fork on there. Not sure why anybody cares. I do appreciate you trading me the fork. But the fork by no way was in great shape or anything. About 80% of the chrome was off and the bottom ring on the fork was all chipped away. I actually had the fork on the bike, but I dont have the money to get it powercoated or rechromed. I DID NOT PROFIT. I just sent ALL the money to ColoredTuffs for a new retro fork. THey are making 40 forks. If anybody thinks I did something wrong, which I don't understand, so be it. I'm a bad guy. I traded an old fork for a new one.. wow..

I'm not an economist. Yes i'm basically presently unemployed. No matter what I say i'll get cut down. So I will be selling a few bikes in the next month. So, everybody that can afford this hobby of collecting bikes will maybe get some good deals coming up, So sac, when I sell you the Skyway it will have a new fork on it... I'll lay low for awhile..

It hurts when you give something away and then someone sells it. But I don't see anything wrong with it.

The bmx gods have decided that the fork is worth $172. So I would say saC has some real good Karma coming his way and thats that.

http://www.coloredtuffs.com/shop/index.php...mp;productId=26

He traded me the fork for magazines.. One of which was the Freestylin" featuring the BMX Action Trick Team book.. And I guess according to Sac, other crappy ones...

It's not like I wanted to get rid of that book. That sells for $100.00 on Ebay.. But no matter what I say here, I can't win.. officially out..

http://www.coloredtuffs.com/shop/index.php...mp;productId=26

Should you not have offered the forks back to him first, as a courtesy?

Consider the following:

• War with no proper funding...
• Soaring gas, diesel, heating oil, natural gas, and electricity prices...
• Higher prices for food...
• Partisan politics per usual in a hugely important election year...

and closer to my own home:

• Continued outsourcing of jobs overseas...
• Big Three automakers teetering on bankrupcy...
• Worst state economy in the nation...
• One of the highest unemployment rates in the nation...
• The Mayor AND City Council members of Detroit under federal investigation for bribe-taking, money laundering, lying under oath, abuse of power, and even murder...
• Mandatory pay cuts, mandatory loss of health care benefits...

Well let's clear the air here:

First off, I have known Jerry (KOP) for 23 years. We raced together back when we were 15 at the local track and we freestyled together through the hey days. Now we live 1000 miles apart and have been for the last 15 years. The cool thing is that our bond in BMX has kept us in touch and friends even though we don't see each other more than twice a year - Rockford and MN Faction gatherings. We keep in touch and email each other about BMX stuff all the time. I love that. It's a good thing.

So, back in the day, Jerry raced a Skyway T/A. He has always wanted to build one but commented he could never afford the prices they were going for on ebay. Then one day this Spring, someone at the BMX track had one for sale and he nabbed it for a great deal. Well below the going rate on ebay. Awesome right? But it didn't have a fork.

He told me about the score and I told him I had a T/A fork that had the chrome peeling off and was very specific that he would need to re-chrome or powdercoat it if he wants to "show it." He told me he didn't have any money because he was unemployed and asked if we could do a trade. Great I thought.

Anyone that knows Jerry (KOP) knows that he has EVERY BMX Action, Freestylin' and BMX Plus ever publshed. He has posted many times on here about his collection. And it is well known that he has duplicates of many of them. Now, I didn't want to take anything away from his collection, so I specifically asked him for DUPLICATES he had from 1981 -1986. My mom threw away my entire collection when I went off to college, so I was hoping to get some issues to reference for some of my upcoming builds. Jerry agreed and looked into what he had.

He came back and said he only had 1 issue from that era in duplicate, but had several other issues post 1987. I wasn't looking for anything that new, so I held off.

Then the emails came. "I really need that fork." "I really want to get that T/A Built" You get the picture. So, I started thinking of how important it was to my 20+ year FRIEND that he builds the bike he had as a kid. So, I accepted the deal and shipped him the fork and even threw in a Mirraco T-shirt for him that he asked for.

I get my magazines and they have pics torn out, logos cut out of the ads, etc. These were definitely the bottom of his barrel. The Freestylin book is cool, but most of the pages have pulled away from the binding. No way you would pay $100 as Jerry says for this book in the condition it is in. Unless the seller decided to lie about it's condition.

So in the end, I was cool with the trade, even though the magazines I got didn't do anything for what I wanted them for.

Fast forward a few months: Jerry sends me and STRIKE a few pics of his Skyway build and it has my fork on it. Cool I thought. He's going to have the bike done soon.

Then it all changed. He decides to buy the RETRO fork that coloredtuffs is selling (which only comes in white and doesn't have the correct cutout on the dropout - his frame is chrome). So he decides to flip my fork on ebay to generate money for the new one. It sells for $172.50. That's the story.

It just rubbed me the wrong way. I felt a bit betrayed and taken advantage of. All I was doing was trying to help him out.

BUT, I am no drama queen and I am NOT trying to flame him. It doesn't make sense to do that to a guy you have known over half your life. So I am over it, but I just thought I would take the time to clear the air.

Now let's get back to Vintage BMX!

saC

I understand your side..
I did have the Skyway put together with that fork I got from you. I still do have every issue of BMXA and BMX Plus. But not duplicates of those early years you speak of. Seems like all those early BMX magazine years have been going dirt cheap on Ebay these days.
But I guess the fork I got from you had most of the bottom headset ring chipped off.. And the bottom headset piece didn't sit well on there. When I heard of the retro forks being produced ( only 40 now ) I just thought instead of putting money into the fork I have, I'd try to get enough to trade for a new one. I'm sure not trying to make any money off it.

And for the record, yes you did help me out, by trading me the fork. Also yes, I just don't have the cash or space anymore to build bikes. This is officially my last old school part i'm ever dealing with.

My magazine collection takes up too much space. As you know i've even been selling alot of those lately, post 1987 duplicates of course.

But to end the story, I just wanted a better fork, for no extra money. I didn't want to cause any ruckus. I just didn't think anybody would care. I even posted the auction on the site here. Sorry if I caused some bad vibes. Not my intention at all. I really don't know much about building these old bikes, right now I just want to get it done with.

That's about the shape my old "Freestylin' the book" was in when it disappeared about 20 years ago. Good for reference material, but not good enough for resale. Where mine went always was a mystery to me, considering I still have every one of my magazines from bitd (at last check that is).

I know for some reason you guys ( sac strike )think i'm some kind of low life liar, if your hinting I stole that book, your wrong.

lol not at all man, I honestly have no idea where it went. I brought it to school a couple of times, it could have been someone there, there were also a lot of people hanging at my house too. I was just waxing sentimental about that book, that thing is the epitome of stokage. Maybe saC will sell me that one? I don't care what shape it's in, I just want to see some awesome pictures again.

Relax Jerry. If I or we (STRIKE) thought that, we would have ignored you a LONG time ago.

Fact is, I enjoy how we are still stoked on BMX after all these years. And I always look forward to your emails and calls.

It's good that you are getting the fork you "want." I just had to vent a little and now it is over.

So back to the real topic of this thread. Who else has seen some ebay prices that are getting ridiculous?

i bought an 84 ta from sac , thanks for helping me out. So in jerrys defense i bought an 83 skyway ta to build up, the chrome was a little better than jerrys, when we were going to trade i noticed the chip on the one jerry had. I told him i couldnt do it . He told me about the new ones coming out. I told him with the time and money you'll have into this one you might as well buy the new one. In a big way sac you still helped jerry out and i know he's thankful for it.

p.s. jerry works for me and he's a good worker. Please still help us out with parts.

oh and I have a mint one of thoughs freestylin books around, trades

I've got loads of stuff in my collection that has to go back to the guy I got it off if I ever decided to sell it. Or offered back to him at least. I think its a way of avoiding the problems above.

Does anyone else deal like this too?

I sold a Haro that I really like to OS-BOB-O and later that year he offered it back to me. I declined, but the offer was on the table and I appreciated that. With some insignificant parts I wouldn't care if someone built a bike up and later sold or traded the parts, but with the good stuf it is just a nice courtesy. Lifes too short to wreck a freindship over a part though. It's for real that some things never change... our fondness for the bikes back then is the same as now and so is the passion that goes along with them.

Prices are getting outrageous agan... why?

The only real answer is to this age-old question is: People want to sell what they have for as much as they can get for it, and someone is willing to pay that price.

I really can't think of another answer!

Yep, if you want something someone else has bad enough, you gotta PAY to PLAY!

Things always are at their best before the end. I`ve talked to many collectors in the past few months and all agreed that the prices will go their highest within a year or two then it will start dropping. I see it that our ago group have 4-5 years of this hobby then it`s time to enjoy another part of our life. Hate me for what I say but it`s my opinion.

Click to view attachmentKOP you should have just had the original forks rechromed...But i have nothing bad to say about white forks on a chrome bike.....

This thread has been certified an official VintageBMX "Topic On Fire," earning sunburn1972 a limited edition T-Shirt for starting the thread.


Please PM with the following info:

Size: M, 4X, 5X, 6X (Other sizes back in stock on 8/1)
Screen Name (I know, I have it already, but helps me keep track)
Name:
Shipping Address
City, State Zip

Please also include a link to the thread in the PM


Congrats!

Best,

M

I just don't want to stick anymore money into it.. Different colored forks are the rage these days..LOL