Quote:
Originally Posted by look 171
No way. A Medici frame 25 years ago was a 500 dollar frame. Campy Super Record gruppo was 500 bucks. Where was the shop? Even the shop in Brentwood couldn't sell stuff like that. 25 years ago, I know where all the pro shops were around LA county. Back then people who purchased pro quality road bikes knew exactly what they were buying.
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Yes way.
It was in Fullerton, Ca. Part of the Mulrooney group of shops. 1979 or 1980 IIRC.
I rode with team Paramount.
The true bikers knew exactly what the stuff cost, but once in a while we'd get a "you get what you pay for" type of guy who buys bragging rights from buying the most expensive stuff he could find. One just happened to walk in the door that weekend.
It was a Medici frame-set, it was definately columbus tubing but was custom painted.
$500 for the frame set sounds about right back then, maybe $600.
IIRC we were getting better than $500 for a full campy set. Prolly closer to $650 retail but it was a long time ago.
Add in the seat, handle bars and stem, chain, wheels, tires, etc. it all adds up.
$1600 was actually a very good price for a bike like that in the OC.
EDIT: one thing of note, at that time NOTHING could compete with campy. Everything else was junk. Phil woods hubs were good for touring or tandems but that was it.
Later on, lots of really good Japanese high end stuff came on the market, some from shimano.
Their pro stuff was darn near as good as the italian stuff.
As QC got better and the competition got stiffer, that drove prices down for a while instead of up.
I got out of that business in 1981 so didn't follow it as closely after that.