What is NOS ?

The route to skintness

new old stock

new old stock

Not wanting to start a heated debate or anything, but I keep seeing complete custom-built bikes (often eBay listings) being described as 'NOS'.
If a bike was offered usually as Frame & Forks by the manufacturer, and then offered as a custom build package by a shop to its customer, then surely the bike (or indeed its parts) are only NOS if they haven't been bolted together?
I mean, how can a frame be NOS if the head tube and BB have been faced & chased, and had a headset and BB installed?

Honest question.

NOS - generally ‘New Old Stock’ but often forgotten that plenty of bargain basement oddities in the way of cycles in ‘warehouse’ type outlets are actually NOS/end of line items were the items that were few and snapped up quick were the better NOS/EOLine items. Two of old bikes came out of NOS and End of line route.

Often, when it comes to original fit OEM and non-OEM parts much over twenty years out of production will almost certainly be NOS parts. That’s one of the things that parallel the world of the motorised and muscle powered transport.

As for petrolheads on a cycling forum :-

Plenty of cyclists, particulary older returners but plenty of the younger crowd, are petrolheads - hell, show me a teenager today or back the day - we were all fledging petrolheads, with at least one car or motorcycle we drooled and dreamed over and the poster or collage of magazine cutout pics of the object was as important as the poster and pics of your favourite pop star and Page 3 model.

Remember also, quite a few younger drivers/bikers back in the day kept a bicycle for commuting to the rail station and used for trips into town when the car/bike needed parts and was unservicable until parts were replaced - remember this was when money (after paying for vehicle tax, insurance and any finance payments) either was a choice between Saturday night out, or petrol/diesel, or smokes for the week.

So even where we ventured into the world of motors, we were still cyclists at heart.

Never forget that some of the safest petrolheads are so because we remember our vulnerable cycling days…

Pointless?

Nearly 13 years since the last post in this thread.
Can't be far off a thread resurrection record!

N/B said:

Not wanting to start a heated debate or anything, but I keep seeing complete custom-built bikes (often eBay listings) being described as 'NOS'.
If a bike was offered usually as Frame & Forks by the manufacturer, and then offered as a custom build package by a shop to its customer, then surely the bike (or indeed its parts) are only NOS if they haven't been bolted together?
I mean, how can a frame be NOS if the head tube and BB have been faced & chased, and had a headset and BB installed?

Honest question.

Click to expand...

Well sometimes the NOS reference in such ads can refer to a lot of the build being of NOS parts.

But when it comes to modded parts that were created out of NOS parts - I guess you have to follow your instincts as to how NOS the modded part is - some parts are lacking certain fittings as a stock part and part of prepping for the designed use in specific uses required application specific adjustment or modification. To use frames as an example, a frame commonly had few mounting points pre-prepepared from manufacture and it’s normal that the builder adds brazed mounts and drills out holes to put brass bushes in or suchlike.

So that wouldn’t really discount the frame as a NOS part as sourced, so it wouldn’t be a lie to say the build used a NOS frame in the build as frames were often modded or altered out of necessity.

Likewise wire spoked wheels due to their multi part construction can be pure NOS, or say a NOS hub and rim but have updated spokes - now it could still be a NOS wheel if the factory wheels were sourced as parts and built in-house to the required build.

NOS really can cover quite a few evils, be a bit flexible in usage.

Where NOS parts as factory fitted were TA classified, then it’s fair to say a modded part no longer is TA spec and not NOS.

A lot of it is down to interpretation - like all lead acid accumulators used in vehicles were supplied with no electrolyte - the retailer/dealer prepped the accumulators for spares or ditto at vehicle manufacturing for OEM accumulators.

So, a never used/never filled non-sealed example could be legitimately be NOS, if they had been prepped/charged but on change of hands supplier wise through trading has been discharged/drained and flushed and stored to preserve for long term storage, the accumulators then wouldn’t legitimately be NOS as they are effectively used but not used parts.

Like most TLA terms, there’s often a degree of interpretation required to reveal the true nature of the beast.

Didn’t notice the date stamps.

Nice Old Shite.


al