If it werent for ebay our little hobby would be in toilet.

Dont blame ebay because you dont win. They're simply a conduit that puts sellers and buyers in contact with one another. You do have other options like CL or a classified in the back of Velo News.

That's the way I play the game too. Not with bikes but with camera equipment. I may not get it on my first or second or third snipe but, if I am patient, I generally get what I want at what I am willing to pay.

Here's what often happens. A nice bike or frame with a cult following comes up for sale on eBay. Bike geeks start posting messages on forums about the sweet RB1/Merckx/Colnago/Pinarello or whatever for sale on eBay. Pretty soon there are a bunch of enthusiasts following the auction and trying to outbid each other.

I absolutely hate it when "well meaning" cyclists post messages about sweet frames on eBay. I've seen the prices on frames driven up to ridiculous prices that way.

You can build an RB1 clone from any old Tange frame for fractions less...Take your time finding the right frame. The old KHS John Howard models are pretty sweet if you can find one.

Tom you're looking at a super-cult bike, in the absolute height of the buying season.

I think that level of competitive bidding would happen anyway. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I have lots of saved searches on ebay.com, ebay.it, ebay.fr, etc. So I get a wave of emails every morning letting me know what new items have shown up on eBay in the past 24 hours that match my search terms. To a large extent, I've stopped bringing such items to the attention of collectors I know because they're doing the same thing I am.

That's a lot harder to to do than you think. Bridgestone was really a nice bike but nothing special. IMO they weren't any better than a Stumpjumper. Unless you have a first year Stumpy you aren't going to get anywhere near $1,000.00 Even then, you're not going to get that kind of money.

Start threads trashing Cinellis and Colnagos; see how that works. ;)

I think in addition to the cult mystique of the bike, the '93 and '94 model frames fill a niche: fast frames with clearance for fenders and fattish tires. Some report the tire size is limited, but I think you can still get a 28c in there with fenders. That's why I continue to keep my eyes open for one. There are not many other fast, light frames available with this configuration. I believe the 60's and 70's Bianchis and Cinellis, and some Dutch marques like Gazelle had similar geometries, but they aren't cheap either.

To find something modern with the same geometry, you need to look at the Gunnar Sport, Soma Speedster or Smoothie ES, or the Surly Pacer (though I'm going to guess the RB-1 has better tubing than the Pacer).

Heck, just buy an RB2 instead. Same basic frame geometry most years, I believe, usually with slightly lesser tubing (so slight you probably won't notice any difference in the ride) and lesser components.

Unless prices on them have soared, they always sold for much less than the RB1s. I dunno, I haven't checked lately.

I own a 91 RB2, and it's a perfectly nice race bike. I use it as a beater.

Which RB1 is everyone talking about ?

More likely it's the IBOB list.

Unless the seller has a whole warehouse full to sell, he hates nothing more than when his schill wins the auction. You can bet the guys that won weren't schills. That means that, yes, there are folks out there willing to pay that much.

An RB-1 54cm sold out of Houston for $480 plus $75 shipping.....the auction ended right as I had to clock into work Tuesday at 1030 am. I never bid and gave up when the price went over $300 several hours before. Shill bid or not? I dunno - all I know is that the auction sat quietly for a few days then kept getting bumped up, up, and up before the usual sniping. I probably could have gotten it for 400 but it would have a) been my entire paycheck and b) meant I couldn't have paid on the Cannondale (the main reason I didn't bid).

Shortly afterwards another RB-1, in Chicago, which had gone unsold at $750 buy it now, then relisted for $725 buy it now, ended when the seller took an offer for $665 (plus $85 shipping).

For that much in shipping, and being that THAT particular seller was in Chicago and I'm here in Springfield MO, I woulda been happy to pay gas to meet in St. Louis instead of risking shipping :)

There's still a yellow RB-1 out of Chicago starting at $500 with a buy it now of $1000.

I'd post links but I'm unsure of the policy regarding links to live auctions. You can certainly find them by searching easily enough, though.

And yes, I'm still interested and hope to get an RB-1, or if not that then something like one of the nice Panasonics, Miyata, Fuji, et. al. race bikes of that era.

Tom

I shill bib once in a while just to help the seller out. the seller dosent know but I just drive up the price and hope to god I dont win. I just like to see what a biders high offer might be. one time I bid $900,000 on a helicopter. Didnt get outbid until a 10 second flury of snipers. Boy was I sweatin that one.