Posted by Chuck on March 10, 2000 at 13:43:25:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: perceptions posted by Rick Denney on March 09, 2000 at 22:16:10:
Well, yes and no. You can find titanium and aluminum bikes now where once they were hand-built items (my wife has an old Teledyne Titan). When 3-speed Schwinns were the norm, a "french racer" was a very expensive item indeed. Now look at some of the exotic iron being ridden by weekend warriors.
True, there is a certain "blue sky" value to be realized in the idea of old-world handcrafting. But is a Rolls really that much better than a Lexus? If Yamaha decided that there were a big enough market for York clones, I'll wager that they could apply their frozen-sherbet and ball-bearing manufacturing technology to produce a very decent BAT at substantially less than what Mr. Nirschl charges. Why don't they? There's not enough of a market.
I'm well acquainted with the cost of custom bikes. The first serious commitment my wife and I made was to purchase a Rick Jorgensen Tango tandem that cost twice as much as the car we used to carry it on. Wonder whatever became of Rick?