Flite Ti - Is this what NOS examples sell for??

[SeeingisBelievingGTMuseum]

Re: budget bikes

I will actually stand up just a little for Budget Bikes--they are the store that sold me my first 4 mountain bikes (Ross, Bridgestone, Cannondale, Cannondale) and they had the best prices in town (and still do). They also have a warehouse full of old bike equipment in mint condition and if I'd known 10 years ago what I know now I would have bought everything in sight. Alas, hindsight is twenty-twenty and they have caught wind of the retro market and have jacked up the prices on everything vintage. Just 7 years ago I could have bought a purple Paul's rear derailleur for $150 from them but thought it too expensive. What an idiot I was! I could have sold that same derailleur for $500 today.

Roger Charly and crew have never lived up to the Budget name. David you overpaid on everything you ever bought from them. His MO is to demand that he be the exclusive dealer in the Madison area and them beat up the suppliers for a best price on left overs and sell them at a 50 percent margin....in an industry where a 33 margin is normal. He dominates in the Madison market. The college crowd in Madison gets taken advantage of in a big way. Yes he has a nice vintage store but everything in it is priced like this saddle...way above reasonable vintage market pricing.

 

[David Gibson]

Re: budget bikes

I will actually stand up just a little for Budget Bikes--they are the store that sold me my first 4 mountain bikes (Ross, Bridgestone, Cannondale, Cannondale) and they had the best prices in town (and still do). They also have a warehouse full of old bike equipment in mint condition and if I'd known 10 years ago what I know now I would have bought everything in sight. Alas, hindsight is twenty-twenty and they have caught wind of the retro market and have jacked up the prices on everything vintage. Just 7 years ago I could have bought a purple Paul's rear derailleur for $150 from them but thought it too expensive. What an idiot I was! I could have sold that same derailleur for $500 today.

Roger Charly and crew have never lived up to the Budget name. David you overpaid on everything you ever bought from them. His MO is to demand that he be the exclusive dealer in the Madison area and them beat up the suppliers for a best price on left overs and sell them at a 50 percent margin....in an industry where a 33 margin is normal. He dominates in the Madison market. The college crowd in Madison gets taken advantage of in a big way. Yes he has a nice vintage store but everything in it is priced like this saddle...way above reasonable vintage market pricing.

I'm not going to argue against your probably superior knowledge of the local bike market but I was happy with the bikes I bought and the service I received at that time so I don't really look at it as being ripped off, and besides all the bikes were on sale. The only competitors at that time were Willy Bikes (how I hate them!) and Yellow Jersey, who had no selection. To this day I can walk into Budget with my one bike left from that period and get instant free service. They see the Budget Bike sticker and start wrenching immediately. Whether it was removing a bottom bracket or a stuck pedal or a misfiring derailleur. I've never had any other bike shop do that for me. In recent years I only stopped going to them because I pretty much work on my own bikes now and never buy new either.
Well, anyway, I had good experiences and you probably had bad ones. As an aside, who would you recommend for buying and service in Dane County?