dirttorpedo
Senior Retro Guru
I just learned that The Pros Closet is going out of business after 18 years. That's really sad. I wonder what's going to happen with the museum exhibits.
The Pros Closet is going out of business
- Thread starter dirttorpedo
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bikeworkshop
Senior Retro Guru
I guess because I've never heard of them and their prices are in dollars that it's a new world enterprise, so I can't hoover up their unsold stock.
overall sad news.There was years back here backlashes. To cut to the chase, using this platform for professional means and advertising retro stuff, then selling at hideous overpriced values. It did get out of hand.
I can't though not admire them for keeping the retro torch burning and sharing many great things.
Their input to Radavist at times I have found down right disrespectful and on several occasions a blatant disregard to total factual history and being their for only self serving ends. But again, I do appreciate the effort they put in it and well presenting things visually.
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Search for member the proscloset on here for 10 years of posting.
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Didn't know they were still going tbh. It's a shame if it's a decision that's been forced rather than planned.
Remember when they first popped up on here and some of the lovely bikes they showed. Then it all got a bit naughty and they seemed to stop posting after a while?
Remember when they first popped up on here and some of the lovely bikes they showed. Then it all got a bit naughty and they seemed to stop posting after a while?
PanoIgano
Fat Chance Fan
A lot of them have gove to eBay and others I would imagine were sold directly to collectors. The owners had good networks with the most avid collectors world wide so I am sure most of their iconic bikes are in safe hands.
PanoIgano
Fat Chance Fan
Hey @Woz don't mean to challenge you on this but I can't see how their input was disrespectuful or factual history
.I have read all their retro entries / articles in the Radavist and watched multiple times their YouTube clips of their Pro Closet museum bikes series. I find them to be super informative as they always make the effort to solicit the views of the creators, builders or super knowledgeable collectors like Tasshi Dennis from The Vintage MTB
.Sure though, it served their end with keeping them on the top of the retro world as the main name to go to if you were after a rare bird.
All the above in good faith of interesting conversation!
One thing about this hobby is it's generational. In the antiques trade it's very common for something that was worth a fortune only a few years ago to suddenly have very little value at all, as the market gets smaller every year until eventually it's practically gone. The nostalgia tax only lasts as long as nostalgic people.
Thankfully there will always be an interest in early MTB/ATB because it's a popular sport with a great future. Ultimately though only historically significant or very rare and special bikes will continue to hold or even grow in value, many that we value today will eventually be relegated to the status of nice old bikes, but with little to no real market value.
It's sad that a great collection is being broken up, I guess with the window for marketability is closing fast and it might just be the wisest choice for them right now. It's great that there are plenty of private collectors willing to step in and preserve history.
Thankfully there will always be an interest in early MTB/ATB because it's a popular sport with a great future. Ultimately though only historically significant or very rare and special bikes will continue to hold or even grow in value, many that we value today will eventually be relegated to the status of nice old bikes, but with little to no real market value.
It's sad that a great collection is being broken up, I guess with the window for marketability is closing fast and it might just be the wisest choice for them right now. It's great that there are plenty of private collectors willing to step in and preserve history.
Hey @Woz don't mean to challenge you on this but I can't see how their input was disrespectuful or factual history
My bug bear with Radavist (so perhaps I should not put this on TPC shoulders
) is not related to MTB.It's related to glancing over history and former technological leadership in the Randonneur movement when clearly it's a significant contributor to the bike packing and adventure cycling. A few aesthetics from the 50s have been copied by some and apparently this is all new. While I get everyone does have opinions, I find a disparity of plugging the new cash cow rather than presenting the real deal.
https://theradavist.com/gemini-world-randonneur/
So much of that stuff is copies of TA, Stronglight, Mafac, Simplex, but hey ..... who's interested in that, especially if not mentioned. I see it fairly regular and it grates me.
