gomango

Well, I guess its time to pull out the Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, and Parsons solo albums for another run through.

Think I'll start with Grevious Angel.

curbtender

Glad I got my vintage stuff when it was on the scrap heap...

KonAaron Snake 

+1

"I can't/won't pay that, so no one else should."

KonAaron Snake 

I LOVE the cowboy junkies cover of ohhh Las Vegas.

gomango

We are huge Cowboy Junkie fans here.

Fantastic cover, wasn't it.

bibliobob

Ryan Adams and Emmylou doing a cover of "Return of the Grievous Angel"...


Gillian Welch and David Rawlings doing "Hickory Wind"


Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Bernie Leadon doing "Sin City.."

ozneddy

I app a gorgous or rare bike as much as the next man,but, its a bike,how can you justify that kind of money ? if it was a 1 only never to be seen in public ever then maybe just maybe !

rootboy 

"if it was a 1 only never to be seen in public ever..."

I was under the impression it was.

photogravity

Good choice!!

gomango

what?

People don't have to justify what they spend to folks on the internet.

If it works within family/personal budgets, it's not my place to question these purchases.

I personally find it distasteful for "folks" to go down this road.

sykerocker 

In rock and roll, dying young means never having the chance to put out the inevitable bad album that diminishes the artist's reputation. Doubt that thought? Think what Paul McCartney's reputation would be if he had died within days of leaving the Beatles. No solo albums, no Wings. Before, he was a rock and roll god. After, he was just a long-lived, very good rock and roller.

rhm

The thing that bothers me about the Confente Masi is not that it's been repainted or restored, which is a non-negotiable fact; nor that it has been ridden by Confente and others, repainted at least twice, rebuilt in countless configurations, etc. All that is part of the bike's past and, to some degree, its history.

Nonetheless there are a few things that bother me here:

First, I am afraid the current restoration a work of financial speculation. Why did the current owner restore it like this, for his own gratification, or for profit? I don't know, and I don't criticize him for either one. There is nothing wrong with trying to make a buck. But I think it's the wrong reason to restore a bike. It makes me uncomfortable, like he's trying to profit from someone else's passion.

If it was a labor of love, a project he put his heart and soul into and now needs to be free of, I respect that. But then why the high starting price? That price suggests he's trying to justify the expense, and that he's not serious about selling it but is willing to profit from someone else's passion if possible.

Finally, there is an imbalance between what the thing is, and where its value lies. What the thing is, obviously, is a bicycle. I don't disparage the bike. It is a beautiful one, as we can all see; very fine one, I'm sure; one with an interesting past, I believe; a very valuable one that any of us would be thrilled to own in any condition, and might even ride. That's fine. But where is its value? If it is really worth $20K, then I'd say somewhere between 5% and 20% of that value is in the thing itself; and the rest is in a piece of paper. I don't disparage the piece of paper either. But the piece of paper, no matter what it says, doesn't make the bike into anything other than what it is. And without that piece of paper, I don't know what that bike is.

sykerocker 

Classic Rendezvous and the cult of the Confente Masi is the reason why I wish I could afford to buy this bike . . . . . . . to turn it into a fixie. Just to annoy the worshippers.

oldbobcat

The bike was raced by the owner's kid. It was probably hard enough to find the original wheels.

I'm awe-struck. My only disappointment is that the listing shows no full profile photo. Nobody in this world bent fork blades like Confente and Masi.

rhm

But "Obla-di Obla-da" does more damage to Sir Paul's reputation than "Band on the Run" ever could. I've never owned a McCartney solo album, nor a Wings album, so I only hear those songs when they come on the radio or something, and I often enjoy them when they do. Obla-di-obla-da, however, is on a Beatles album. I own some of those. My kids listen to them.

Hold on, I meant to make a point. Uh, now I don't remember. Never mind!

Oh,yeah, and Gram Parsons recorded some pretty bad stuff as well. It's not all Hickory Wind.

oldbobcat

You want that other ex-Byrd who died tragically young, Clarence White. White left behind a relic, too, the Parsons-White B-bender Telecaster.



Marty Stuart has it and I don't believe he's letting it go.

3alarmer 

rhm

Now, that is what pedigree is all about! And Marty has had it a lot longer than Clarence ever did, no?

This reminds me, I read somewhere that Alvin Lee still has the guitar he played at Woodstock, but doesn't perform with it; it is too valuable. He plays a reproduction of the same guitar.

KonAaron Snake 

i really like obla-di obla-da, what's wrong with great pop?

joe englert

I just saw the bike on ebay today. Now im wondering why Jim Cunningham didnt do the "restoration" since he worked with, painted and was a personal friend of Marios. Bayliss came after Mario left and I dont think he even knew Mario. Also, I think Cunningham would be the guy to ask to maybe give a real provenance to the bike as he probably painted it for Mario in the first place. He might even give some good insight into that bike. I think for half the price you could get an all original Confente bike

photogravity

And then there's the 1935 Martin D-28 that belonged to Clarence White and now owned by Tony Rice. It seems I read that it suffered through a flood in Florida a few years ago and is now retired. I remember the time when I was a mere teenager when I managed to go "backstage" at the Birchmere and Tony letting me play it for a few minutes after one of his shows. Now that's a memory for you.

sykerocker 

Value is whatever an interested party believes it to be. Or, more exactly, interested parties.

Case in point, sort of a parallel, hopefully this will contain a brand name familiar enough to those who are not motorheads: In the summer of 1968, this 18-year old antique car enthusiast (didn't have one of my own yet, my first adult bicycle was still three years in the future) attended his first antique car show. An Auburn-Cord-Dusenberg show in Harrisburgh, PA at a motel/car museum just off the PA Turnpike. The guy who took me owned an 810 Cord, friend of the family, long involved in the hobby. Midway thru the day, a friend of his invites us out for a ride in his Dusenberg J phaeton, a couple of exits down the Turnpike. On the trip back, he invites me to drive the car! Which I did (an experience I still remember). Now, in 1968 this was a fairly valuable antique car, worth somewhere between $5-10,000.00. And driven to a show. And driven by a snot-nosed 18 year old who barely knew how to handle a manual transmission.

Today, that same car is worth something in the low seven figures. Is probably kept in a museum, or at least a well climate controlled garage. And trailered to shows. And possibly hasn't had gasoline in the tank or been started for years, because that would put wear on this incredibly valuable car. Now, why is this $10K car now worth $1000K. Because the reputation of the vehicle has grown, the number of people appreciating has skyrocketed over the decades, and the number of available automobiles has either remain static or grown by incredibly small numbers. So the value goes up - rediculously.

Likewise, this bike. I can appreciate the history, I cannot appreciate the price asked, and as to the (in my eyes) incredibly overbearing worship of the brand annoys the hell out of me. To me, I can see very little difference between this (or one of the 137? others) and any of the Rossins I have in the garage. Certainly, with me in the saddle, there won't be any difference. But some damned fool is going to pay this kind of money for the bike, probably hang it on the living room wall, mount candles on either side of it, and spend his evenings in his easy chair sipping wine and staring at the bike. (No, I'm not making this up, someone on CR described doing this exact same thing to his Confente Masi - at which point I decided I'd had enough of these yoyo's and left.) More power to him.

I still want to fixie one. In all the modern hipster cliches. And ride it at vintage meets.

repechage

If I read it correctly, the bike was restored metalwork wise along with the last repaint and commissioned by the second owner. Sold to the current owner much later, the work was done aside from collecting parts and building it up.
The current owner got the letter along with the frame set. Both were probably aware of the possible future investment value and there was a meeting of the minds. This last purchase was not a quick flip, more methodical and patient.
In an auction earlier this year the seller made mention that he was turning his attention to Italian real estate. Maybe that still applies.
As to why the buy it now format, it is either that or a reserve if one wants to hit a certain price. Does ebay ever run a special on fees if you do a buy it now only?

photogravity

All great stuff bibliobob! Ryan Adams is one of my faves of recent years and I've loved Emmylou as far back as I can remember.

16Victor

When I was in to old Corvettes and judged a few as a member of the NCRS (Nat'l Corvette Restorer's Assn) I learned the two key tenets: originality and condition. If the owner re-repainted the bike to its ex-factory colors, to the extents of his best research, then how can that be improved? It's more 'correct' than the first-repaint red, no?

The Weyless seatpost and mismatched skewers are correctable, minor, and almost inexcusable blemishes. Easily fixed but oddly incorrect for the cost and availability of the correct parts.

Price? It's worth what someone will pay (well, in auction format, it'll sell for a little more than the 2nd highest bid). Can't fault him for trying to profit - call me a capitalist, I can take it. A bit sad because the big spenders ruined the Corvette hobby for a po' folk like me, and I fear the same will happen to us and the price of our beloveds. Just glad I got I got mine while the gittin's been good. While I don't fault the seller, I hope it goes for far less than his ask.