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Old 05-06-15, 04:46 PM
  #12  
wrk101
Thrifty Bill
 
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Mountains of Western NC
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Bikes: 86 Katakura Silk, 87 Prologue X2, 88 Cimarron LE, 1975 Sekai 4000 Professional, 73 Paramount, plus more

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Think eBay, save your auction search. You will find one in a week or two, one at a reasonable price could take 4 to 6 weeks. I've sold a handful of them there myself. Realize when someone has these kinds of parts, selling them locally is a total waste of time. So eBay tends to be the high end vintage component market place of choice. We also have a marketplace here, much less selection.

Don't worry about NOS. Just get one in nice condition. NOS can mean 4X to 10X the price, and a lot of stuff listed as NOS is not. NOS is the most overused description on eBay IMHO.

Look at completed auctions that have SOLD to get an idea of what fair market value is. One recently sold for $50, I would call that one a DEAL.

If you get in a rush, there are always sellers out there asking 10X fair market value. Some of those sellers rarely sell anything, but their occasional sale must make up for it.

Where do sellers find these parts? Myself, they often come in the form of a complete bike (or incomplete bike). My last one came on a Trek, all of the drivetrain was Suntour, three different models, but the crankset was early DA. My choice at that point was either to find appropriate original parts, or part it out.

Last edited by wrk101; 05-06-15 at 05:07 PM.
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