Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
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For Sale H. R. Morris complete road bike ( a one off )
- Thread starter Emmo
- Start date
KondratievsBike
Dave Yates Fan
Mary Mother of God that’s beautiful!!!!!!!
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
I'm beginning to wonder about Retrobike.... This is solid buy for anyone who's into British collecting. And at £3k, cheap. You're never gonna lose any money on this bike, and HR Morris is only going to get rarer and examples like this probably count them on one hand.
On another forum I've noticed people only really put their hands into their pockets for two reasons: 1. It's a stone cold bargain and 2. It probably can't be bought or found anywhere else (especially on a well known auction site, which really doesn't do 'auctions' anymore.
This HR Morris definitely meets the second category. There are other sellers on RB, putting out dubious collectable bikes (and by that I mean they're not really very collectable, or particularly interesting) for similar sorts of money. This is in a different league from 99.99% of anything you'll find elsewhere. Certainly the most impressive 'find ' to come up on RB for many a year, and yet.... Not even an offer!
I've a pal made advances to Les Rigden (of Brighton) to commission a similar frame with hand cut lugs, though to be fair to Les he was talented, but not a thoroughbred artisan like HR Morris). Les came back with an 18 month build time and £3400.
British bikes aren't really my zone of interest, so I'm out. But surely there's a collector out there who'll give this a good home. It's doubtful if you could even commission a frame of this stature for less than 5k from a contemporary builder.
HR is long gone, and it's unlikely we'll see his likes again.
Do yourself a favour - buy it!
On another forum I've noticed people only really put their hands into their pockets for two reasons: 1. It's a stone cold bargain and 2. It probably can't be bought or found anywhere else (especially on a well known auction site, which really doesn't do 'auctions' anymore.
This HR Morris definitely meets the second category. There are other sellers on RB, putting out dubious collectable bikes (and by that I mean they're not really very collectable, or particularly interesting) for similar sorts of money. This is in a different league from 99.99% of anything you'll find elsewhere. Certainly the most impressive 'find ' to come up on RB for many a year, and yet.... Not even an offer!
I've a pal made advances to Les Rigden (of Brighton) to commission a similar frame with hand cut lugs, though to be fair to Les he was talented, but not a thoroughbred artisan like HR Morris). Les came back with an 18 month build time and £3400.
British bikes aren't really my zone of interest, so I'm out. But surely there's a collector out there who'll give this a good home. It's doubtful if you could even commission a frame of this stature for less than 5k from a contemporary builder.
HR is long gone, and it's unlikely we'll see his likes again.
Do yourself a favour - buy it!
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Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
£3k is a lot of money for a lot of people. Not saying it's a bad price.
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
£3k is a not a lot of money, for a lot of people. It does make me question if there are actually any bona fide collectors out there in RB land. I lived in Spain for nearly a decade, and there are literally hundreds of very serious bicycle collectors, some with collections worth millions of euros (I've seen a few of em, it doesn't half put you in your place!) There are very specific collectors also on the continent. I've seen a collection of over 100 ex pro time trial bikes, each with it's own team helmet and skinsuit. The guy will regularly pay 20k for a rare example. I'm a member of a Vespa club (I've got a 70's version) and people regularly drop 5-10K on desirable, collectable, and above all rare bikes.
Like I said, 3k is nothing to a lot of people, and if you are really serious about collecting British bicycles, it makes no sense not to snap this up.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Trust me it is a lot of money for a lot of people in the world I live in. We're not on the continent. You've obviously got loadsamoney.
Apologies to op, gorgeous frame.
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
I'm in a regular job, and I ride with a regular run of the mill cycling club each Sunday - I don't think there's a single person (out of 50 riders) who's on a carbon ride less than £2k. There are more than a few riding Pegorettis and other top end bikes that are coming close to 20 grand. Location has nothing to do with it, people are spending more on bikes than they ever have done. When I first started in the late 80's, a good road bike was £300, a top end 753 was £800.... Look how it's changed!
So 3k is pretty much standard for an average club bike nowadays. For a collectable like this, it's a no brainer.
So 3k is pretty much standard for an average club bike nowadays. For a collectable like this, it's a no brainer.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
You were the one that mentioned Spain and the continent. I'm so glad £3000 is disposable income for you.
As I said not saying it's a bad price. Just a lot of money.
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
I'm having trouble believing there are serious collectors in this manor! Take for example the US seller with the Colnago Arabesque, nos Campagnolo 50th Anniversary group: He's asking equivalent 8 grand for it.
It's chrome plated FFS! A regular bog standard Arabesque, on reasonable condition will burn you £5-6k for a good example. A full 50th group, new old stock another five. To replicate the build (if you could actually find another fully chromed Arabesque, doubtful) your looking at £12-13k!
There are at least a dozen guys in our club who have regular road bikes worth 8K, so clearly it's not about the lack of money in circulation (because there's evidently a lot! I'm best friends with the owner of our LBS, who confirms they've 'never had it so good'!)
So, either there aren't any serious collectors around, or there's a lack of taste and discerning buying. This Morris is clearly a very rare thing indeed, compared to other bikes in the For Sale section, of dubious value, and/or concept, it's a stone cold, no loss investment and a thing of beauty to own.
It's chrome plated FFS! A regular bog standard Arabesque, on reasonable condition will burn you £5-6k for a good example. A full 50th group, new old stock another five. To replicate the build (if you could actually find another fully chromed Arabesque, doubtful) your looking at £12-13k!
There are at least a dozen guys in our club who have regular road bikes worth 8K, so clearly it's not about the lack of money in circulation (because there's evidently a lot! I'm best friends with the owner of our LBS, who confirms they've 'never had it so good'!)
So, either there aren't any serious collectors around, or there's a lack of taste and discerning buying. This Morris is clearly a very rare thing indeed, compared to other bikes in the For Sale section, of dubious value, and/or concept, it's a stone cold, no loss investment and a thing of beauty to own.
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
I'm simply pointing out the economic reality we the British public find ourselves in - when your average club rider can blow £3k on a Sunday ride carbon bike, clearly it's not a lot of money to an awful lot of people.
