Salsa A La Carte

[john]

Even more interesting was that it went to a buyer with no big track history in bike auctions over the past 30 days, more into Vans and Pickups.

And quite literally vans (i assumed you meant the skate shoes!).

Really intrigued as to the provenance of this frame and where it ends up! Can only assume if someone has dropped that much cash on it they know (potentially) what it is.

 

[pete_mcc]

The bike was listed as being in Durham which isn't far from his old stomping ground in N on T which adds fuel.

John, i meant the buyer loves Vans, big diesel things!

Item 1 Sporting Goods > Cycling > Bikes
Item 2 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Commercial Vehicles > Vans/ Pickups
Item 3 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Cars > Land Rover/ Range Rover
Item 4 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Cars > BMW
Item 5 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Commercial Vehicles > Vans/ Pickups

 

[john]

The bike was listed as being in Durham which isn't far from his old stomping ground in N on T which adds fuel.

John, i meant the buyer loves Vans, big diesel things!

Item 1 Sporting Goods > Cycling > Bikes
Item 2 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Commercial Vehicles > Vans/ Pickups
Item 3 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Cars > Land Rover/ Range Rover
Item 4 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Cars > BMW
Item 5 Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles > Commercial Vehicles > Vans/ Pickups

Indeed, wonder if someone connected to McRoy bought it. Assume his family are still in the north east.

Yes, saw the other auctions and was quite suprised

 

[Anthony]

This seems dubious to me. The buyer has 55% of his activity with the seller. Could it relate to the seller deciding to keep the bike, as reported above - perhaps by asking a pal to buy it?

Bidder 4 put in two bids with three quarters of an hour to go - one of £300 and another of an unknown amount that ultimately 'won the auction'. Then bidder 8 bid £751 with ten seconds to go, triggering £771 from bidder 4's bid.

It's open to the seller to revert to bidder 8 of course, and say his winning bidder has let him down.

I agree with Kevin that there is little fundamental value in this. I think it is probably a Salsa, but the repaint is a bit crude and ruins the original value and the link is just unevidenced anecdote. If you can prove previous ownership, maybe that adds a bit. But without proof? Add collect-only from Durham and you get to bidder 7's valuation IMO - £200.

 

[pete_mcc]

Indeed, wonder if someone connected to McRoy bought it. Assume his family are still in the north east.

Or where is Pete Tomkins based? Wild speculation all round

 

[john]

This seems dubious to me. The buyer has 55% of his activity with the seller. Could it relate to the seller deciding to keep the bike, as reported above - perhaps by asking a pal to buy it?

Bidder 4 put in two bids with three quarters of an hour to go - one of £300 and another of an unknown amount that ultimately 'won the auction'. Then bidder 8 bid £751 with ten seconds to go, triggering £771 from bidder 4's bid.

It's open to the seller to revert to bidder 8 of course, and say his winning bidder has let him down.

Good point.

I agree with Kevin that there is little fundamental value in this. I think it is probably a Salsa, but the repaint is a bit crude and ruins the original value and the link is just unevidenced anecdote. If you can prove previous ownership, maybe that adds a bit. But without proof? Add collect-only from Durham and you get to bidder 7's valuation IMO - £200.

I suspect quite a few (myself included) would've been willing to risk (and I know it's a risk given lack of provenance) more on this Salsa. Assume you rode and read the UK publications in the early 90s Anthony? In which case you will recall just what a 'star' McRoy was, certainly in the UK scene. Given £200 won't even buy a midrange Kona from a similar era I think your valuation and opinion are a touch awry.

 

[Fenton]

Even without the McRoy connection surely a Salsa a la Carte is worth more than £200, granted in this guise it's history is somewhat diluted, but with JMC's almost legendary status among mountain bikers who grew up in his heyday, I would certainly have said that it is worth that kind of price.

 

[Anthony]

I agree with Kevin that there is little fundamental value in this. I think it is probably a Salsa, but the repaint is a bit crude and ruins the original value and the link is just unevidenced anecdote. If you can prove previous ownership, maybe that adds a bit. But without proof? Add collect-only from Durham and you get to bidder 7's valuation IMO - £200.

I suspect quite a few (myself included) would've been willing to risk (and I know it's a risk given lack of provenance) more on this Salsa. Assume you rode and read the UK publications in the early 90s Anthony? In which case you will recall just what a 'star' McRoy was, certainly in the UK scene. Given £200 won't even buy a midrange Kona from a similar era I think your valuation and opinion are a touch awry.

Please don't think I'm questioning Jason McRoy, it's just an issue of proof. It's like how much is Jimi Hendrix's plectrum worth? To which my answer is nothing, unless you can prove it. But a plectrum together with a genuine note from Jimi Hendrix saying 'I used this plectrum that night, please have it as a memento, thanks for your help' could be worth a lot of money.

Without the ownership factor, you've got a badly-painted bike with no description of the parts, collect-only from a thinly-populated area in the week before Christmas. So £400 rapidly degrades to £200 IMHO.

 

[john]

I agree with Kevin that there is little fundamental value in this. I think it is probably a Salsa, but the repaint is a bit crude and ruins the original value and the link is just unevidenced anecdote. If you can prove previous ownership, maybe that adds a bit. But without proof? Add collect-only from Durham and you get to bidder 7's valuation IMO - £200.

I suspect quite a few (myself included) would've been willing to risk (and I know it's a risk given lack of provenance) more on this Salsa. Assume you rode and read the UK publications in the early 90s Anthony? In which case you will recall just what a 'star' McRoy was, certainly in the UK scene. Given £200 won't even buy a midrange Kona from a similar era I think your valuation and opinion are a touch awry.

Please don't think I'm questioning Jason McRoy, it's just an issue of proof. It's like how much is Jimi Hendrix's plectrum worth? To which my answer is nothing, unless you can prove it. But a plectrum together with a genuine note from Jimi Hendrix saying 'I used this plectrum that night, please have it as a memento, thanks for your help' could be worth a lot of money.

Without the ownership factor, you've got a badly-painted bike with no description of the parts, collect-only from a thinly-populated area in the week before Christmas. So £400 rapidly degrades to £200 IMHO.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion. Perhaps I should've linked to the original thread discussing this, there is a previous connection between this bike and McRoy via a current Orange employee.

As for the North East being thinly populated not sure on that. Certainly didn't seem to be when I studied up there for a few years.

Guess it comes down to personal choice and assesment of the risk. Going back to your Hendrix point (perhaps a guitar would've been a better analogy) sure a lot of people would be willing to take a punt even if the Hendrix connection was flakey. Let me put it to you this way Anthony. Would you rather put £200 into a Marin Palisaides Trail with a known 'history' or a bike which might have belonged to a genuine icon of the UK mountain bike scene or might be chaff? Know where my money would go...

 

[Anthony]

Of course you are entitled to your opinion. Perhaps I should've linked to the original thread discussing this, there is a previous connection between this bike and McRoy via a current Orange employee.

As for the North East being thinly populated not sure on that. Certainly didn't seem to be when I studied up there for a few years.

Guess it comes down to personal choice and assesment of the risk. Going back to your Hendrix point (perhaps a guitar would've been a better analogy) sure a lot of people would be willing to take a punt even if the Hendrix connection was flakey. Let me put it to you this way Anthony. Would you rather put £200 into a Marin Palisaides Trail with a known 'history' or a bike which might have belonged to a genuine icon of the UK mountain bike scene or might be chaff? Know where my money would go...

I didn't know there was another thread on this, but I wasn't questioning whether the bike is genuine (if the seller did buy it back, then almost certainly it is genuine), I was questioning whether it looked genuine to the average eBay punter.

This issue of taking a punt in the absence of proof must be an issue across the antiques market, not just in retro bikes. I'm sure most people are more trusting than me, and no doubt that reflects badly on me. Nevertheless if somebody told me he had a guitar once owned by Jimi Hendrix and he bought it off a bloke in a pub for £5,000, I'm afraid I wouldn't believe it was genuine. But that's just me, maybe if I was a nicer person I would believe it.