[DAN]

Low point of old school BMX in 09 for sure.

[williwoods]

wanna bet the re-auction is coming?

sad.

credit for this to race_inc...

[Richard Vogt - bmxmountainbiker]

bmxcurator, on Dec 12 2009, 12:21 AM, said:

Wow, that backfired. They went about it the wrong way from the get-go, so I guess it turned out the way it was supposed to.
1) STart auction out at .99/no reserve
2) let the bidding build the hype
3) I'm pretty sure if it went that way, the bidding would have probably reached what the buyer wanted $$

I think you're right... every auction I've done with low start and low or no reserve brought more than double the bid action of similar auctions I've artificially propped up for whatever reason... the truth is you can always end an auction and take the item away as a seller if you have to... it would have been much more exciting and interesting to see a ton of bids inching up over the week and reaching a crescendo in the last 10 minutes in all the sniping/bidding frenzy... heck, that page was viewed over 8,300 times... the auction was self-hyping

Speaking of hype, I can't believe the Gork email... what a blunder... when you have something that important and sensitive to say (especially to close friends you are talking to), pick up the phone so there is no tangible evidence of the hype machine you're trying to start... emails are too easy to forward and pass around...

The seller also appears to be fairly new to eBay with only 73 transactions with feedback... jeez...

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

[84pk]

AGUILAR3, on Dec 11 2009, 07:43 PM, said:

FYI,the second STR 1 is that much closer to becoming public

I believe this to be true also.

[bmx bandit]

bmx bandit, on Dec 4 2009, 11:08 PM, said:

not sure why, but I have a funny feeling it will not make reserve.. just a "hunch" 10K is a ton of money, even if it is the one and only

First post on this topic.
I see into the future.
I charge a minimal hourly rate.
PM me if you need a BMX related reading.

[brutus143]

There is no way someone in their right mind would now offer more tha 10K, all they had to do was bid on this auction and get it for just over 10k.

I also think this brings down the value and excitement of owning it, it seems it not so sought after. I always felt that with the way the economy is and the direction the country is heading, 10K on a bike frame is INSANE!!! JMO


Relist it starting at $1, put a reserve that is real, (the least you want to sell it for) and if he wants to sell it let the Free Market decide whats its worth.

[Brian Hays]

This HUGE trainwreck of an auction has NO bearing on the importance and value of this frame, and I dont mean MONEY when I say value. Yes, Lenny should have done the auction way different. The circus of bid retractions just turns some people off. It does me. The whole Gork thing was a HUGE mistake. I dont think anyone disputes that. VERY distasteful.

Human nature kicked in, sad as it is, as soon as someone (supposedly) offered $10k for it, Lenny's first thought was probably something like "well if this guy will offer $10k right out of the gate then it will bring waaayyyyyy more on Ebay."Greed is a horrible thing BUT none of this nonsense makes the frame itself any less stellar. One of you said something along the lines of- that it would be embarrassing to own it now, or somethig like that. WTF? I'd own it in a NY second. It is STILL the STR1 proto and the first one to surface to the public, at that, that many people thought would never turn up. I don't care if it sells for $250 or $10k, at the end of the money exchange, this frame is STILL an STR1 proto in original finish.......That means LOTS to me as an SE lover and BMX collector.

[OC Dave]

3rdgear, on Nov 16 2009, 07:07 PM, said:

Well I just sold my truck, I have 15+ in reserve. Let's see.

Wow I thought Brett was gonna be the new owner?

[Capt. Nemo]

If there is one thing I've learned from ebay, is that on-line auctions are a sport.

I'm sure we've all been there, You say to yourself, I won't bid more than X amount for an item. You sit and watch as you remain the high bidder.

Then, you are outbid. Well, the heck with that. NO ONE is going out bid me. The next thing you know, your "maximum" climbs a little higher.

Then you get out-bid AGAIN! Well SCREW that, I'll show him. I'll bid twice my "maximum". At some point, winning is all that matters.

THAT is how auctions end up in the stratosphere.

But they can't start there. The minimum bid on this auction was way out of reach to start a bidding war.

[PlanetX]

What did Gork say/write? This keeps getting mentioned, but I can't find it to read. Where is it?

[Curt]

Brian Hays, on Dec 12 2009, 10:47 AM, said:

This HUGE trainwreck of an auction has NO bearing on the importance and value of this frame, and I dont mean MONEY when I say value. Yes, Lenny should have done the auction way different. The circus of bid retractions just turns some people off. It does me. The whole Gork thing was a HUGE mistake. I dont think anyone disputes that. VERY distasteful.

Human nature kicked in, sad as it is, as soon as someone (supposedly) offered $10k for it, Lenny's first thought was probably something like "well if this guy will offer $10k right out of the gate then it will bring waaayyyyyy more on Ebay."Greed is a horrible thing BUT none of this nonsense makes the frame itself any less stellar. One of you said something along the lines of- that it would be embarrassing to own it now, or somethig like that. WTF? I'd own it in a NY second. It is STILL the STR1 proto and the first one to surface to the public, at that, that many people thought would never turn up. I don't care if it sells for $250 or $10k, at the end of the money exchange, this frame is STILL an STR1 proto in original finish.......That means LOTS to me as an SE lover and BMX collector.

+1 especially the part about the frame and what it is.

The fact is we are in a serious recession, most (people) do not have spare cash in hand they did several years ago. Had this sold in summer 07 well who knows.

As a side thought (and from a non e bay person) I think the value of whatever I own (including a first gen production str 1) is way down from several years ago.

Cash is king time to buy if you can.

[bmxcurator]

Sorry, I had to Google the 'gork' letter which led me to a museum thread on this. How on earth do some of you do it?? Many members here are posting away at other bmx sites (not saying OS should have exclusive banter, but what is the point of saying the same thing in 3 different places? To almost the very same people? Just seems kind of time consuming to me.)

[AGUILAR3]

84pk, on Dec 12 2009, 06:13 AM, said:

AGUILAR3, on Dec 11 2009, 07:43 PM, said:

FYI,the second STR 1 is that much closer to becoming public

I believe this to be true also.

BTW, my statement wasn't a prediction or a guess ...more like a heads up.

[84pk]

AGUILAR3, on Dec 12 2009, 10:38 AM, said:

84pk, on Dec 12 2009, 06:13 AM, said:

AGUILAR3, on Dec 11 2009, 07:43 PM, said:

FYI,the second STR 1 is that much closer to becoming public

I believe this to be true also.

BTW, my statement wasn't a prediction or a guess ...more like a heads up.

I know. I have just been keeping it to myself.

[Brian Hays]

Allright guys. What the hell do you know??

[mmmmitsajelly]

Could this auction have been an appraisal type thing for insurance purposes? Hard to assign actuary to it otherwise.

[z-man99]

If a bid retraction works the same way as a regular bid, that means someone's $78,000 bid still didn't make reserve. Seems to me that the intention behind putting it up for auction was not to actually sell it, at least not on ebay.

[broke L345]

I think it was funny the amount of testosterone flying around about "I'm gonna get this" bla bla.

I aslo think that just before Christmas in this economy is a very difficult selling time.

I personally would have loved to buy this frame for 10,000 or so but quite frankly at the moment I am broke and couldn't afford it. Bummer........

I still think historically it would be a priceless item to own, however I am also sure more will probably surface soon. I don't really care how the auction was run 'cuase at the moment I wouldn't have been in the running in any case.

oh and I would've hung it in my lounge room so I could hug it as often as I wanted. (as I said not that that will ever happen)

[shinglehead]

Who's gonna make the next one to surface? I know the Fender guitar company's Custom Shop know's how to make some nice "relics" (new made to look old). I just don't believe after all this time that all of a sudden there is going to be more than one to show up. Alot of people have searched long and hard and came up empty. Maybe the wrong people were looking? And maybe with new people getting involved in the scene all the time, who knows......

[bravoleader]