Bad Lag

My bike is not a beater but it is not a museum piece, either. I had no idea these were plastic until it broke and I gave it a good look.

I'll buy something less expensive, like the SOMA Fab parts, but they have to be metal. I don't like threaded aluminum but for lightly torqued, rarely used threads it is okay.

Almost everything I own that is made of plastic eventually lets me down because of embrittlement, decomposition, or whatever.

Thanks, guys.

P.S. - I did not mention a particular seller because there were several very high priced versions. It's their merchandise but $41 per dust cap,... WOW!

I have the proper tools for this.

Bad Lag

That is how I would handle it were there no other options.

roadcrankr

I recommend taking advantage of Mad Honk's generous offer. For his plastic ones!
I looked in my stash and found a very nice NR metal one.
It contains zero gouges, but decided not to gouge anybody. haha
Over ten years ago, I regretfully sold two NOS ones on eBay for around thirty bucks.

repechage

soma has MKS and closer to original shape caps.

unterhausen

I'll sell you a steel record cap, nos, for $40.

bikingshearer 

In my book, it takes more than someone charging more than I want to pay to make it price gouging; it requires an element of taking unfair advantage attached. Example: Immediately after the Loma Prieto earthquake, a small neighborhood store in the Marina District of SF (where some buildings collapsed and others were red-tagged) immediately started charging double and triple for everything. To me, that is price gouging. (It was also bad business - nobody in the neighborhood went back there when things normalized.) The old "company towns" where a condition of employment was having to live in the "town," renting your home from the company (at inflated prices) and buying all your food, etc., from the company store (again, at inflated prices).

I've always thought pb*bike's prices were high. I've never thought he was price gouging. He has every right to charge what he charges, and I have every right to decide that his price is too high.

BTW, he used to be in Chico CA.

unterhausen

It's definitely not price gouging. Just looking for the right buyer. All my campagnolo pedals have destroyed end caps from pedaling around corners. If I regret not buying a stash of parts back in the '70s, it's pedal axles. I think I might have one left. Scraping pedals on corners is not without its cost.
I'm more annoyed with the people that are making fake vintage campagnolo parts and driving the price of real ones down.

Bad Lag

Many sincere thanks for all the offers but I have already ordered from SOMA.

My Tale -

I thought I'd refresh the grease while I had the pedals off. Of course, I instantly dropped two ball bearings on the dirty garage floor. I found one but the other eluded my best attempts to find it. I finished by working out of a metal tray, as the prospects were good that I'd drop more.

I dove into my tool box, deep in the dark, untouched recesses, and retrieved a small, 53 year old pill bottle (pre-child-proof caps) filled with ball bearings. I was able to find a small supply of properly sized balls and used one to finish this job. I knew those would come in handy one day. I just knew it. I just didn't know it would be 53 years later.

I'm headed out for a ride, sans one dust cap.

unterhausen

You can still get bearings, maybe not as easily as BITD

JohnDThompson 

Until the early 70s, the pedal dustcaps were chromed steel.

repechage

the Superleggeri pedals brought in the chrome plated plastic versions save the very first that did not have the anodizing and then the lack of the extra material at the back of the frame.

the wider available series SL pedals used the plated plastic caps, the steel Record pedals continued with the metallic plated caps until some time after the dropping of the cage strap loop.

I won’t bother to note the changes to the size of the impressed typography or the model number stamping on the top of the body that seemed to be exclusive to Raleigh.

Campagnolo arcana

unterhausen

I know BITD I wouldn't have wanted the steel caps I have now. They are hefty. I don't know why I never bought any, but I never actually managed to wear through one.

mstateglfr 

When price gouging is not at all, in any way, price gouging.

I get it though- the annoyance we each see when something we want is priced at what we feel is an absurdly high price is tough to get over.

Bad Lag

This whole adventure started when I was riding. I heard a squeak! coming from the right side with on every pedal revolution. It seemed sensitive to pedal pressure. I was afraid it was a bearing gone bad, the right pedal or (worse) the bottom bracket.

I took the pedals off and opened them up. The grease was decent and the were races smooth but I cleaned them anyway. So, no squeak there.

It was when I tried to re-install the caps that I found one of them had sheared at the threads and was almost in two pieces.

SurferRosa

A good reason to have more than one bike.

georges1

Well he might be expensive but he has new old stock campy items that other people doesn't have. Even C record era stuff has explosed in terms of prices. He has 3T Mutant bars and stems in new old stock condition that I am looking for my two other bike projects, the other sellers don'thave them ,so I will deal with him.

iab

A dust cap came off during a ride on a Cinelli with Wippermann pedals. Only thing I could do was wait patiently for a set of Wippermann pedals (not the same as mine) with the same dust cover at an OK price was for sale on German eBay. None are coming for sale on US eBay. Waited about 4 months. Pedals were 25 euro. Shipping was 20 euro.

If you don’t want to buy something, you decide to bad mouth someone on the internet instead. Why?

Bad Lag

I don't think I "bad mouthed" anyone. I was complaining about a price, not a person.

Also, it was not I referered to a seller in Oregon, or was it on ebay, and their difficulties in dealing with that seller.

Plus, in this thread, I got lots of good tips on where to look for replacement parts at lower cost. As a result of that good info, I have already purchased some. Thanks for that, guys.

iab

Using “Price gouging” as a thread title and a clear line of sight to Scott is indeed bad mouthing. Do you consider it a compliment?

Instead of being defensive, perhaps starting a thread asking for low cost alternatives would have been a better play.

Bad Lag

"Scott" who? I have no idea to whom you refer. There were MANY sellers of dust caps most of whom were selling for the prices like the one I mentioned.

Also, I don't feel "defensive" about this topic, nor do I intend it to be offensive. It just is what it is - way too expensive for the item.


If I can take the topic up a tier or two (it is my thread, after all), these super-high prices do not bode well for C&V participation over the long haul. I think that applies to me and very likely many others. At $82/pair for dust caps, not many will be buying parts or bikes from this Nuovo Record era. The sellers will price themselves out of the market and buyers will look elsewhere. The cool thing about C&V is it can offer great bikes that you can actually ride, at relatively low prices - not museum prices.

That's an aspect of Velo Orange, SOMA Fab and others that I like. They help us keep these bikes alive and on the road. They have good products at reasonable (albeit still expensive) prices.

This is my perspective. Perhaps, you see the world differently.

Chombi1 

IIRC, the end caps for MKS quill pedals might work with Campy pedals. And they look very much alike.
MKS stuff is usually priced much lower than Campy stuff............

Bad Lag

I did exactly that before going on today's ride. I took one off another bike and screwed it in place. The ~15 mph winds blowing left me concerned about beach sand in the bearings.

When the replacement parts get here in a few more days, I'll put it back.

macstuff 

Several people here choose to defend questionable circumstance with their own brand of ethic.
The self proclaimed kings of the lowest form of motive mechanics could learn a little tact or not even attend.
At least you all can afford a bicycle?

repechage

A seller can ask whatever he wants, often surprised at the reported prices achieved. I have just done without buying, on principle.
perhaps due to the angst encountered there is a reluctance to complete a transaction face to face. So it goes.

iab

Did you read your own thread?

Price gouging occurs when you offer a person dying of thirst a bottle of water for $41. Certainly not for a first world problem you had that can be fixed with duct tape.

And if it weren’t for people like Barry Scott looking for this stuff, trying to make a living, most would end in a landfill. So yes, my perspective is entirely different from yours.