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Old 11-20-12 | 10:01 AM
  #22  
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wrk101
Thrifty Bill
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Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Mans of NC & SW UT Desert

Bikes: 86 Katakura Silk, 87 Prologue X2, 88 Cimarron LE, 1975 Sekai 4000 Professional, 73 Paramount, plus more

Originally Posted by rhm
I disagree. I think it's a pretty good example. Even if it's a bad example, the hypothetical situation is simple: Here we have a bike that is identical to a Raleigh Clubman in all respects except the graphics. Is it ethical to put different graphics on it? The ethics of this are not clear to me.
One dissention.

It was originally sold as a department store bike, not a Raleigh. Imagine taking a BD bike, finding out the same factory builds Trek frames, and rebadging it as a Trek.

Now for personal use only, whatever you want to call it is fine with me.

I used to be in manufacturing, where we would sell rebranded products to other resellers. In some cases, these buyers would take 2nd grade product, as their standards were not as high as ours. As long as our name was not on the product, we would do it, up to and including putting their label and branding on it.

My last point is part of the reason I refurbish bikes is in the hopes they will continue on for many years/decades to come. I would like that owner 25 years from now knowing exactly what he had, rather than being confused by badging decisions I made. I predict at some point, people will collect bikes from smaller dept stores, looking to get the entire lineup. Myself, I am rapidly amassing a collection of Panasonic built Schwinns.

Last edited by wrk101; 11-21-12 at 12:32 PM.
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