robo

I think a lot of it is shop owners who have stock of expensive parts and refuse to lower the price even though it isn't selling.. Then finally the shop goes bankrupt or a new owner has more common sense and the stuff is suddenly on the market for a low price or goes onto eBay.

For example, i live in a mostly Dominican, low income area of NYC. The local bike store basically does business servicing delivery bikes and selling the odd BMX bike, but has a case full of expensive parts from the early '90's. I guess at some point someone doing the purchasing had dreams of selling high end bikes. Lots of Ringle zooka stems, Syncros quill stems, etc. All still full price. I've asked the owner about buying some of the parts, and made reasonable offers, but they are refused. I imagine one day the management will change and there will be another cache of NOS parts on eBay.