Midorimage
Old School Hero
Last week I rode past a small boutique bike shop that caught my interest. In the window display there was a brand new Amp B4 frame mated to AMP Research F2 fork.. It looks like that it has been there since 1995. I had to go in.
Besides the owner I was the only one in the shop. I spent a good 10 minutes in silence checking over various parts in the small glass display and admiring the frames hanging from the rafters. I saw a small 1993 Klein with Mission Control Bars.. an Ibis Mojo.. and Ibis Tzasbo.
.. old Rocky Mountain.and either a 90s Ibis or Merlin Ti frame with a 400,000 yen price tag! (about 5K USD) In the case there were a few NOS items.. a few Syncros Hardcore seatpost, Cattleprod stems..and Syncros hubs. A beautiful Ritchey-Nitto Force Directional post that reminded me I should have bidded a little higher on the last one my size that came up on Feebay. .. a few Ringle bits. Also a Klein dealer suitcase with sample tubes on a shelf.
I knew nothing in the store would be cheap. Back in the day.. parts in Japan were about double what you could get them mail order in the States. And with the current US dollar being so week.. they would be even higher. I broke the silence asking the price of the Syncros post. 24000 yen (about $300 USD) I think I got the same retro price from the 90s when the US dollar was much stronger.. . If we traveled back in time to the 90s when the the exchange rate was.. let's say 135 yen to 1USD .. it would only be $175 USD... compared to $300 USD now. (At least I feel slighy richer when I convert my salary into USD) ((except when I go food shopping and I see a watermellon on sale for $25 dollars))
I spent a lot of time talking the owner and it seems like he was one of the first MTB specialty shops in Osaka. He told me of two of his rides Ritchey P23 and a Klein Adroit. He was kind of lamenting the fact that the MTB boom in Japan is over and now most people ride road bikes. (there are two huge bike shops near by that sell mostly road bikes) I told him that in the States and UK retro is in and told him of this site. He booted up his very reto original IMac and we took look at the May BoTM and a few people's builds. It brought back a lot of memmories for him. After that he told me that he had more NOS parts and showed me two unopened NIB Ringle Zooka stems. He told me that there must be a bunch of NOS left in Japan.
It was a real nice talk with owner. I wish I had the extra cash to buy new old shiny stuff... but the wife would kill me. So I guess I have to resort to my well loved parts and used bits that I find on ebay.
Is there a lot of NOS in shops in your neck of the woods??
Besides the owner I was the only one in the shop. I spent a good 10 minutes in silence checking over various parts in the small glass display and admiring the frames hanging from the rafters. I saw a small 1993 Klein with Mission Control Bars.. an Ibis Mojo.. and Ibis Tzasbo.
.. old Rocky Mountain.and either a 90s Ibis or Merlin Ti frame with a 400,000 yen price tag! (about 5K USD) In the case there were a few NOS items.. a few Syncros Hardcore seatpost, Cattleprod stems..and Syncros hubs. A beautiful Ritchey-Nitto Force Directional post that reminded me I should have bidded a little higher on the last one my size that came up on Feebay. .. a few Ringle bits. Also a Klein dealer suitcase with sample tubes on a shelf.
I knew nothing in the store would be cheap. Back in the day.. parts in Japan were about double what you could get them mail order in the States. And with the current US dollar being so week.. they would be even higher. I broke the silence asking the price of the Syncros post. 24000 yen (about $300 USD) I think I got the same retro price from the 90s when the US dollar was much stronger.. . If we traveled back in time to the 90s when the the exchange rate was.. let's say 135 yen to 1USD .. it would only be $175 USD... compared to $300 USD now. (At least I feel slighy richer when I convert my salary into USD) ((except when I go food shopping and I see a watermellon on sale for $25 dollars))
I spent a lot of time talking the owner and it seems like he was one of the first MTB specialty shops in Osaka. He told me of two of his rides Ritchey P23 and a Klein Adroit. He was kind of lamenting the fact that the MTB boom in Japan is over and now most people ride road bikes. (there are two huge bike shops near by that sell mostly road bikes) I told him that in the States and UK retro is in and told him of this site. He booted up his very reto original IMac and we took look at the May BoTM and a few people's builds. It brought back a lot of memmories for him. After that he told me that he had more NOS parts and showed me two unopened NIB Ringle Zooka stems. He told me that there must be a bunch of NOS left in Japan.
It was a real nice talk with owner. I wish I had the extra cash to buy new old shiny stuff... but the wife would kill me. So I guess I have to resort to my well loved parts and used bits that I find on ebay.
Is there a lot of NOS in shops in your neck of the woods??
