Vertigo77

This is not meant to disparage anyone. I love the vintage track gear too.

Setting aside the obvious, "Something is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it..."

I didn't bid on it, but a 165mm Campy Record Pista crankset with a Gipiemme 49-tooth chainring just sold on ebay for $275. Is it really worth it?

I'm on the fence myself. If you are restoring something to its original components, then maybe it's worth the $275. But I can't help but think about all of the nice new track cranksets that cost less than $275, will last a long time, perform great, and look pretty damn sweet as well.

What are your thoughts? Are we paying too much for stuff like this? Does the above mentioned crankset have some sort of advantage over new cranksets that i'm not aware of?

bonechilling

If someone just paid $275 for it, then yes, that's what it's worth. The beauty of eBay is that it reflects an items real value better than anything else.

hockeyteeth

Subjectivity. I avoid auctions on popular, high-priced items.

Straws

you completely missed the point. he even mentioned your exact point in his post.

frankstoneline

They are nice cranks and such, I wouldnt pay that for them, because you can ultimately get performance near as good (unnoticeable difference IMHO) for like, half the price. A lot of people buy em because of the name recognization, and the demand is huge at the moment. Its like deep V's and aerospokes, a lot of people love em for no apparent reason, they arent bad wheels but better can be found for cheaper.

anomaly

No, because you can get Suntour Superbe stuff for less...

abeyance

not much, a superbe njs crank, not nos , went for 230

nateintokyo

I'd personally rather hold out for finding the sweet NOS-whatever part at a random bike shop or hanging on an old bike. I understand wanting something like that (and paying a lot for it). But whoever put it up had to have found it somewhere. I'd rather look for the somewhere.

And of course newer stuff -should- work better. And if I were to buy premium old stuff it would be for aesthetics and "completeness"/period-correctness, not performance.

Legalize It

+1

I also like holding out for chances. I once caught a messenger selling his frame and all the parts on it. I bought all the parts for about $300 cash. All used but not abused, except the rear wheel.

In the deal i got; Campy Record threaded headset, Campy Centaur BB (one month old), front brown Deep V laced to a Formula Hub (less that one month old), white Aerohead lace to a Miche track hub w/ Dura-Ace long ring and EAI cog (all loctited on haha), MKS Sylvan pedals with cages and double straps, Sugino 75 chainring (48t), and best of all a pair on vintage Campy Pista cranks all threads in great condition.

Now thats a deal for $300 dollars. Oh and the cranks had all original bolts...


And to this day whenever im in PDX he bugs me about the deal hahaah....

operator

Hahah lol whoosh!

operator

Hell, you can pick up cranks 1/4 or less of the cost, lighter - stiffer and modern. It sure doesn't have the name/bling value of old campy though.

piwonka

the old campy cranks are nice. prone to cracking though so you gotta be careful. if the cranks were very nice and in original condition then somebody with an old track bike they are restoring probably bought them...but with a gipiemme ring...but 49 tooth just might be the most popular size...

edit: i have a 151bcd set..but i only paid $126 with a road ring after shipping.

parkerlewis

Of course it is worth it, because it is beautiful, rare and you will end up with a sweeter bike in the end.
I have the Campa strada road cranks on my bike now, and the aero record pillar. You have to pay for them, but who cares because you can sell them later for what you bought them for.

wroomwroomoops

Performance of cranks is a notion that has been debunked by at least one set of lab measurements. There is not aprecciable difference between cranksets - a cheap crankset will be exactly as good as a Sugino 75. I was surprised, too.

nateintokyo

who said anything about performance? we're all talking about art and rolling museums, man


and for the record, I think Sugino 75s are gorgeous.

dooktruck

^^^^^^totally i traded my sugino 75's for some truvativs when i found out about that

wroomwroomoops

That may be. I just wanted to add a little, probably unimportant and totally ignored, fact into the mix.

curiousincident

Would you happen to have a link to that? This was the best I could find, and while interesting, doesn't seem to compare different products.

wroomwroomoops

It wasn't that one, it was just a webpage (very detailed) with the measurement methodology, pictures of the equipment and the cranks, and graphed results. It was posted in SSFG, but I can't find it - you know as well as I do how broken the search is here. It was a thread about merits and demerits of Sugino 75s.

Besides a (cursory, I admit) look at that paper tells me that it doesn't deal with crankset stiffness.

By the way, I did read the paper presented in the edition of Human Power to which this one refers to! It was an excellent read, and one that contributed, in part, to me going singlespeed.

johnprolly

too many kids think they get style points from riding the old Pista cranks on their modern day, factory built frames...

Personally, I wouldn't drop that kind of cash unless you were moving for a "period correct" build. Then again, I don't like buying nice **** that I could break doing jackass ****.

My 1950's Higgins will have 1990's Campy Pista cranks. Shows you what I think about "period correct" snobbery. I want it to be classy and functional.

queerpunk

prolly, i still think we should trade.

johnprolly

Maybe. I've got dustcaps and a pista chainring on them now.... All in all, cost $240

curiousincident

Jesus, those are beautiful.

anomaly

I got cranks, NOS chainring, BB and crank bolts for slightly more than that shipped

johnprolly

Nah. S75's are Stiff, my Omniums are STIFFER and my old RD's flexed so much. Track cranks are much stiffer than road cranks... I don't care what lab tested what. I didn't like riding RD's because of the flex. I'm 200lbs and 6'2" - I like having a stiff crankset. Truvativ Omniums are the way to go...