Is there a market for reproduction parts?

[d8mok]

So to explain further my question.....

I have a good friend who has a CNC shop who I’m talking with about reproducing a few retro parts. It’s whether it stacks up and is worth it.

 

[Hotwheels.]

Do you think there is a market for reproduction parts which are identical to the originals minus logo?

Most of the repro's I've seen have been made with the logo's on them; onZa grips, IRD posts etc.

 

[KermitGKona88]

I've seen this discussed a few times, with both positive and negative opinions.

When it comes to small parts to get things working again i.e. suspension fork parts, various shims, adaptors, ferrules etc, etc, I don't think many would argue that this isn't a worthy cause. There's clearly a market for such things already and they keep the old parts from the scrap heap.

Moving on to actual components opinions are divided. I have bought a couple of repro seatposts in the past, which appear identical to the originals and are definitely well made. These come at premium prices but I'm sure a lot of work goes into producing them.

A good example to consider would be a repro Cunningham rollercam brake. Originals are highly sought after and fetch big, big money. Of course these are no longer manufactured so a repro isn't trying to compete with a currently marketed product but I can see why owners/fans of the original components would get pissed that someone is making copies of such rare and valuable items. If such products hit the market there's the issue of repro's being passed off as originals, whether intentionally or unknowingly.

It's a right can of worms!

I know this is going to sound weird to start with but hang in there.

I watch the TV show American pickers and they deal with a lot of classic American motorbikes, Indian, Harley, Henderson et al.... They always try to buy original parts in whatever condition as they are inherently more valuable than reproduction parts, also they can tell the repro parts a mile off...

I think it would be sensible to mark the repro parts in a subtle way so they could not be passed off as original. I have often looked at the prices of some of these rare parts and thought to myself surely you could get some made cheaper than that, so think there may be a small but lucrative market for certain parts....

Just my 2 cents

 

[raidan73]

I know this is going to sound weird to start with but hang in there.

I watch the TV show American pickers and they deal with a lot of classic American motorbikes, Indian, Harley, Henderson et al.... They always try to buy original parts in whatever condition as they are inherently more valuable than reproduction parts, also they can tell the repro parts a mile off...

I think it would be sensible to mark the repro parts in a subtle way so they could not be passed off as original. I have often looked at the prices of some of these rare parts and thought to myself surely you could get some made cheaper than that, so think there may be a small but lucrative market for certain parts....

Just my 2 cents

i have a reproduction skateboard deck that was made in very limited numbers in the 80’s and never sold to the public. As a prospective buyer I was involved in discussions through the design and production period and it was unanimously agreed that the repro was, as you suggest Mark, subtly marked to identify it as such. Of course that could be sanded out/grip taped....

 

[reindeer]

Don‘t know about reproduction parts but things I miss are:

- Reasonable cable hangers/stops for 1‘ fork quill stems (22.2 mm clamp). The only ones you can get are Paul Funky Monkey. In the end I gave up and paid the 50 € for it.

- Simple computer mounts with a 22.2 mm clamp for handlebars - not available. I had to buy a K-Edge time trial mount, rotate the insert 90° and reverse the clamp.

- A nice holder for quick-fix handlebar bags (not those ugly plastic ones) so you don’t have to mess around with decaleurs and front racks. My solution are frame bags.

 

[d8mok]

I would agree that some parts should be marked at Repro. Purely for when they hit the second hand market.

Im going up one day next week with a small selection of parts to work out rough costs to produce. Mainly things I own as that’s a easy starting point. If it actually worked out I’d start to take requests maybe from folk.

The other thing I’ll look into is some tools too. As some tools are looking hard to get now and could be made easily.

 

[2manyoranges]

Hmmm....if it walks like a duck....KB torched the original Race frames, then they moved to the Cannery, and others started to fabricate in the workshop. Couldn’t tell the difference between the frames, other than the very early frames did some evolution in details. Then Bontrager became Bontrager (Trek) and you really could tell the difference.

Upshot...if machinist x produces exact copies of component y, and they really are indistinguishable (ignoring the licensing issues) then I would not treat them as second-class, despite the difference in provenance.


Prima facie case - if someone was to produce white Porcs which were identical to the originals, I bet the mad market in antique ones would pretty much collapse back to a sensible level. Thinks: if someone gave me a Daytona which is indistinguishable in every way from the Ferrari original, I’d probably like it quite a lot and it would probably be worth a lot of money.

 

[hookooekoo]

I think this business idea would be most likely to be successful if a new brand were to be created that specifically focuses on the retro look. Reason - there are massive quantities of cheap alloy bike parts coming out of countries where it is cheap to produce. If you have the same manufacturing costs as Paul Component, who are a top-end CNC manufacturer, but your products cannot be readily associated with a quality manufacturer, then I fear it will be difficult to establish a niche and make it profitable. If you make something that looks like a Ringle part, and has CNC manufacturing costs equal to a Paul Component, then you probably need branding and marketing to set yourself apart from all the stuff being cheaply mass produced in Asia. Hope Tech, White Industries, Phil Wood, and Paul Component would all be interesting case studies in terms of establishing a premium CNC aftermarket bike parts business. However, when some of those businesses were established, the MTB market was somewhat different from what it is now. I suppose it could be argued that the founders of Hope Tech and Paul Component were both in the right place at the right time. Then again, I don't know much about design, marketing, and product placement, so it might be wise to ignore my ramblings. If you do decide to try and establish a product range, then I wish you well with the process.

 

[hookooekoo]

Just a thought. Quite a few retro people might like to see a reproduction of X-Lite perches.

 

[d8mok]

This wouldn’t be a business per se. My friend has his own business and I’m employed elsewhere. It would need to make a little profit but more importantly would help Retro bikers.