BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominations

[girlonbike]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

Did either of you read my post? Its about sole ownership ie: you, me, him other there vs. organisations. The scenario uses rarity and other factors as an example and neither are exclusive to either party but one could say organisations have more of an advantage. How would we feel if we saw more museums, stores or even god forbid manufacturers entering this competition? Would that represent a fair playing field or be in the spirit of the competition?

I thought that John addressed this sufficiently when he said they would cross that bridge if and when they got to it and so far that has not been the case. The guys that have the big vintage shops (in the US, at least), have not submitted bikes here AFAIK. First Flight Bikes and Velocult being the big examples that come to mind. Otherwise, you start sliding around on a slippery slope with the guys with the big 20-30+ bike collections and I'm not sure how you're going to draw the line at that point. I mean, some of those guys even sell to people that they call "customers" and whether you have a brick and mortar shop or not becomes fuzzy, imo.

I think the beauty of this contest is that the small guy can win. If you look at it, there just aren't a lot of votes that go to the winner so people like me will vote for people that pour their hearts into it and should big organizations put a horse in it, it just doesn't guarantee a win. It's not about the money.

 

[halaburt]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

...but one could say organisations have more of an advantage. How would we feel if we saw more museums, stores or even god forbid manufacturers entering this competition? Would that represent a fair playing field or be in the spirit of the competition?

If anything, I'd say the standard of work done by (some... i.e., the most ambitious and careful) individuals far surpasses what is typically done by "museums" or manufacturers. Those are organizations that usually have to balance costs and turn-around time (high) with the the (debatable) values and expectations of their "audience".

The exception to this would be some of the solo work done on truly special, unique bikes painstakingly maintained/prepared by their individual creators. Examples of that might include:
- Joe Breeze's Breezer #1 (now at the Smithsonian)
- Charlie Cunningham's CC-PROTO (recently displayed at SFO)

 

[Plus one]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

Its not that complicated. Sell 8 lame Konas to afford one cool Merlin (or Pace to keep it RBUK friendly). Take a nice driveside photo. Set up a bunch of sock puppet accounts and you're ballin' in BOTM.


Guess all the cool kids at school had kona's and you never ?

 

[Rich]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

I think people take into consideration the amount of effort that's gone into a bike be it from an individual, shop or museum, I personally have no problem with it, the more the merrier

Rich

 

[theproscloset]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

Nice bike, does that BIG logo mean you are selling it or just advertising?

This bike is not for sale... It is part of our museum.

No offense Nick and that's a great bike for sure, but here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=254563&p=1907872#p1907872 just 2 weeks ago, you were "open to offers on the NED bike, you can PM for details."

In any case, that's a cool bike. What other bikes are going into your museum?

You are correct, when this bike first came to us we didn't think we could afford to keep it. We did what we could to make sure this bike didn't pass through our fingers. The bike is NOT for sale any longer.

We have a couple leads on some other very cool bikes but won't be disclosing anything until they are in our shop.

 

[theproscloset]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

I'd like to make a point of clarification in regards to what, why and how.

Yes we are a "shop" however the "museum" is driven by my passion for the history of the sport. I am a collector just like most of you... whether it is a vintage car, a piece of mid-century furniture or a thoroughbred race bike, that's what gets me excited. It's all about the journey to find these pieces of history and build something (or find something) that inspires us.

The reason we are calling our collection a "Museum" is because we are curating bikes and pieces of history that will be on display but not all will be "owned" by us (In this case of this NED bike, yes we own it). Just like an art museum curates paintings or sculptures, we are curating bikes from collector's (like everyone involved in this thread) and will display them to the public so they can appreciate them in person and rekindle the memories of the early days that instilled our passion for the sport.

I would never enter a bike that was in our museum and not owned by us.

@al-onestare: I understand your point and I hope this helps to clarify....

Best of Rides,

Nick

 

[tvcreative]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

please please put this month's lame contest to an end. Maybe next month, Schwinn's, Raleigh's and Huffy's

 

[al-onestare]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

Did either of you read my post? Its about sole ownership ie: you, me, him other there vs. organisations. The scenario uses rarity and other factors as an example and neither are exclusive to either party but one could say organisations have more of an advantage. How would we feel if we saw more museums, stores or even god forbid manufacturers entering this competition? Would that represent a fair playing field or be in the spirit of the competition?

I thought that John addressed this sufficiently when he said they would cross that bridge if and when they got to it and so far that has not been the case. The guys that have the big vintage shops (in the US, at least), have not submitted bikes here AFAIK. First Flight Bikes and Velocult being the big examples that come to mind. Otherwise, you start sliding around on a slippery slope with the guys with the big 20-30+ bike collections and I'm not sure how you're going to draw the line at that point. I mean, some of those guys even sell to people that they call "customers" and whether you have a brick and mortar shop or not becomes fuzzy, imo.

I think the beauty of this contest is that the small guy can win. If you look at it, there just aren't a lot of votes that go to the winner so people like me will vote for people that pour their hearts into it and should big organizations put a horse in it, it just doesn't guarantee a win. It's not about the money.

He did and I'm glad he did! I merely raised the question and got the clarification I was after. Predictably a few posters found it difficult to provide a constructive answer (yours is really good), and I'm also pleased that proscloset took the time to explain to us the background (and acknowledge where I was coming from).

Moving on...

 

[al-onestare]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

Hots vs RTS/LTS/Zaskers' vs Jason McRoy replicas

I'm out... :-(

Boo to this person - what a pessimist!

Let's add something a bit different to the mix. High-end? Not really. Loved? Massively. Carefully thought out colour scheme and matching to the point of obsession? Absolutely (nipples with caps with schema front and rear). A whole heap of fun to ride? Definitely.

Kona A'ha 1997 18".

Build thread: viewtopic.php?t=239073
Pages 5 and 6 show that the manufacturers sometimes get a bit misty eyed about the good old days. Check out the correspondance from Kona and page 6 for an exclusive shot of their HQ office ;-)

Pic's:

(Next month I'll sell this and the other 3 for a Hot that'll never get ridden ;-) )

 

[secret_squirrel]

Re: BoTM May 13- Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special - Nominat

Normally I think Cruisers are an abomination that other than showing us how far we have come, deserve noting with a shudder and passing on. I love this one though - something about it shouts out a celebration of our past in such a fashion you cant help but grin. A great fun bike!