Inconsolable "What a miss" 1958 lipped Pista

[Lazarus]

Just thought I would share my sorrows with anyone :-( Seriously depressed now. Missed an auction for some cranks I was onto a few days ago. Sent an email to ask "are those lipped cranks ?", only to come home from a ride, open my email box and find a god damn YES in it :-(

Ah well, take a butchers at this set of 1958 Campagnolo 165mm Pista Cranks. I'm off to beat myself with a very large stick indeed. Then when I recover, beat myself some more. Yours Laz.

PS: next time a rocking horse takes a poop, it'll look like these.

 

[Old Ned]

What price did they go for?

 

[fiks]

The condition's a bit nasty though.

You can console yourself with the fact possibly there was a nice, but well used 50/60s track bike out there that now has been taken apart and each bit sold off separately. So now someone has the frame looking for exactly the parts that were on that frame, whilst someone else has the cranks but is looking for the frame...

 

[Lazarus]

Hi Ned £113 my old mate ( with a bit of Belgian postage tossed on top). I think thats a serious bargain, even in the condition they are in. Lipped 1958's are hard enough to find in any condition, but Pista are definately rocking horse poop. Campagnolo had enough trouble shifting them as road cranks (stradas), but Pista's would have had even less of a market, hence assumed lower production run.

Those cranks could have been easily re-polished back to an almost NOS standard. Admittedly without the anodising, but back in 1958 it wasn't up to much anyways, hence all the damage looking so serious, so a new mirror polish wouldn't have done them any harm IMHO Later buddy, yours Laz.

Hi Fiks Yeah, good point re: what did they come off. Never thought to check his other items for sale. I watched a guy from Wigan last year on ebay completely demolish a Hetchins Special / Custom build that was complete with Campagnolo 50th anniversary, even the hubs, the whole god damn bike was pure, un ridden 50th on a Hetchins to die for (and I'm not even a fan of them really).

Watching it disappear in parts broke me. He got just over £2500 if I remember rightly, but the bike was worth double / treble that at least in its immaculate condition. The frame incurred the usual damage from part removal. It just begs the question why do these bikes get inherited by non bike folk ? Is life now so desperate that for a few pence we completely destroy beyond repair an absolute historical gem ?

I'm 1 of the poorest people I know (LOL) but destroying a bike won't make any difference. The money goes out as quick as it comes in, and a few weeks later you're back to square 1, hand to mouth.

I try where I can to buy up rare stuff and fit it to bikes worthy of it, then hopefully 1 day soon when I'm in my box my kids will admire them, ride them, and if done with them, pass them back into the community they where born for Only era/genre cyclists can appreciate a bikes historical value to that particular age, but I think somewhere inside we all appreciate what each era/generations tries to preserve Later buddy, yours Laz.

 

[Old Ned]

I thought it would be something like that price. I've got a pair of 177.5 Pista cranks, 151 BCD, currently fitted to one of my Dave Russell bikes but with double rings. I reckon they'll be a bit long for general riding but possibly OK for the occasional TT.

However, I have considered selling them as they're possibly quite rare at that length - but not for peanuts!

 

[Lazarus]

Hi again Ned Have to confess I'm not familiar with the 177.5 size, but in essence anything crank wise from the late 50's early 60's was of an experimental type. Odd sizes of kit and strange fixings seem to abound round about then.

As for yours buddy, sometimes I look at the kit on just 1 of my bikes and ask myself "do I really need this 1 piece, when the price for it is worth an entire bike ?". If I had plenty of spare cash the answer would be yes, but I fund my bike addiction via buying & selling. I tend to buy something either a complete bike or partial for either the parts or the frame. I then use my collection of parts to rebuild a gem. Its a slow process, but I feel that everyone gets a slice of the pie ... so to speak

If your cranks are in top condition my friend, then a sale is tempting if you have other bike issues to address, that and "whilst the market is good for sales" cashing in is also worth while. Was talking to a guy I met (he was admiring my Paganini) and he confessed to binning his Bianchi's (yes more than 1) in a skip just 3 years ago because no-one wanted them. Yes I did feel sick, but not as much as him, because talking to me gave him his old self back (spent too long MTB'ing by his own words).

I'm swimming in this new found love for older bikes, but like most in here have certainly let a few gems get tossed in my lifetime.

Later Ned, yours Laz.

 

[Johnsqual]

Was talking to a guy I met (he was admiring my Paganini) and he confessed to binning his Bianchi's (yes more than 1) in a skip just 3 years ago because no-one wanted them.

Good grief, I wish I'd walked by that skip...