Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

:-. This ne a r m in t 1963 Zu ndapp 250 recently sold for on ly $475 to a customer in Vermont. Richard Re nstrom and a great classic - the 1939 305cc KTT Velocene. m e w a s the m agnificent 19 61 AJS 350ce 7 R road rac er th at w as a re al beauty . wit a pric e tag o f S 1500. " That bike is a maz ingly o riginal, " Dick poin te d o u t. " wh ich is hard t o find in road race rs th ese d ay s since th ey tend t o ge t modified t o ke ep them com pet itive o r the y 've b een dropped in a race and wiped o u r." Classic Cycle Shoppe: Adifferent sort of bike business By Geoffrey Wood Dick Renstrom IS the author of .over 400 feature articles and three books. He is known throughout • the world for his expert historical wnt mgs o n mo torcycles and the spo rt of moto rcyclin g. Cl a s si c s U n li m i te d i s Ren strom 's very unique bike shop. ~ 36 It d e als excl us ively in cl assic a nd a n tiq ue bikes. Lo cat ed a t 2 12 1 Arlington Ave n ue in Caldwell , Idah o , thi s exotic shop has grow n so in th e past tw o years that Dick n ow ha s little time for his fir st true lov e - rid ing b ike s in the m agnific ent hill s o f Id ah o. The 38-year-o ld a u thor go t th e id e a to sta r t su ch a busin ess a f te r b eing "burnt" on severa l bikes purch as ed by mail. Ther e must b e o t he rs wh o h ave also be en less than sa ti sfied with classic type bike s purch ased this w ay, Dick reasoned , so wh y not gath e r up eno ugh resources an d o pen a little shop dealing in gua ra n te ed cl ass ic b ik es? First Dick lo cated a com pe ten t buyer in England. wh o c o u ld test and bu y b ike s . for t he fledglin g busine ss, w hic h was no problem for Renstrom since he had man y contacts from h is lit erar y work. Clas sics Unli m ited has, of course , purch ased ma ny bi kes here in the states, but Rens trom tell s me t hat t hey a re fo rced to go to Europe fo r m ost great sing les , since few were ever so ld he re an d most of those thaI we re have di sappeared. "We know we can ge t m o st a ny b ike a customer m ight request by go ing to Europe: ' Re nstrom says, "hut we j ust ca n 't count o n fin di ng very man y Rood b ikes h er e ." When the b ikes arrive at th e shop the y a re im me d ia te ly given a good road t est. Ren strom does th is hi mself, an d then h e corrects an ything fo und to b e n ot perfect and sp ends some e ffo rt to rn a k e things fit a n d w ork a lillie b etter. C U' s buy er tri e s to find b ikes in a very dean or well -re st ored con d itio n, but Dick say s th at a lo t o f th e bikes ar e given a "refurbi shing." This usu all y con sists of c hro rn ing the ex ha us t sys te m and so me small p a rts, a very good cle aning, res p rayi ng th e fucl tan k an d fenders, ne w stri pi ng an d d ecal s, and m ay be a recovering of th e seal. T his, p lus a very th orough goi ng -ove r to adjust an d tu nc. p roduce s a b ike that is ready for street or show rig ht oU t of the cra te. "Early in o u r busin e ss we used to d o q uite: a few complete res torations ," Dic k says. " b u t w e try to refrain fro m th a t app roac h any more by b uyi ng re all y clean bi kes to begin wi th a nd th en j us t givi ng th em th e li ttle b rush- ups th a t turn o u t suc h a ttrac tive b ikes. "The t otal rest or ation ap p roac h wa s j u st to o ex pen sive an d time cons u mi ng to d o on a com merci al ba sis. We fo un d we ca n provide m ore b ike s a t a m or e a ttractive price if we st ick to low mil e age and cl ean b ikes to b egin with." On th e d ay I visit ed the ir ne at littl e shop there was a m ind-boggl ing variet y o f grea t bi kes in stoc k , plus more o n their w ay fr om En gland, T he pri ces did n ot seem so h igh to me com pare d t o wh at o ne se es a dve r tise d in th e n Ne xt to th e 7R wer e three V el ocell e s a b e autiful Thruxton for 51 500, a very n ice Ven om fo r S 1025, and a st ree t conco urs res to red Viper 35 0 for 51 200. Dick told m e that V e los and G old St ars ar e his best sell ers. bu t th a t demand for Cherry 1961 AJS 7R road racer is priced a t $1 .500. ma gazine s and paper s, and Dic k stresse d to me Ih at hi s litt le sh op pu ts a very goo d g ua ra n tee o n ev ery h ike th at goes to a c usto me r. " If any p art pr ove s to h e worn ou t or m alf'un ctionin g we repl ac e it free of charge ," Dick sa ys. "Our a tte nt io n to det ail here ha s ke pt us in a p osition where we ' ve on ly h ad to fix two hikes o ut of 60 sold the past Iw O years. " ' Classics Un lim ireduries to keep an in teres tiu g variety of b ikes in stock al all times , w i th a special e mphasis on c:Iassic.: b ig singles. T he m ost a ppealing b ike to th e AJS a n d Ma tchl es s sin gl es is n ot fa r beh ind . T here were s e vera l AJS and :-.tall·hlt:ss sin gles b e in g w orked o n tha t day , with a ra re 19 :, 7 T rials :150 (:aldlin.'::: m y eye . Ne xt 10 it was a bru tish 60(l<-c sinale that Dic k was fillinj( wi th light s to he st ree t lega l, followed by a stock street :,Olkc model tha t was very sharp . T he A ~ IC th umpers se ll for qu it e a hit less than t he V el o s and Goldies , Dic k lol d m e, usual ly in the 700 to S II 00 price ran ge, :'0:0 1 atl classics are expe nsive, In one c orn er sa t a very ni ce 1954 NSU 25 0ec OHC st ree t single for onl y $47 5·, pl us a b eautiful ly restored Ve sp a sc o o t er for $450. A p e rfe ct Gre eves 250cc Silver ston e rac er ca m e ne xt at $7 50 . an d next to that w as a magnificent 195 5 MV Ag us ta 17 5ce OHC f ive speed GP bike that was simpl y breathtakin g. One o f m y favo rites ha s always been th e Gold St ar sing le. "We sold three last we e k in cl ud ing a rar e 35 0cc model," Dick sa id, "b ut we ha ve two m ore 5 0 0cc m odel s due in soon from E ng la n d_" The a ut ho r- t u rne db usinessma n sho we d me ph o to graphs of the two Clubman m odels, w hich w ere original and very beautifully restored. " T h ese Gold Stars are in t re men d o us deman d. " Ren str om said, "and these will p robably be sol d before t hey ever arrive. " I sell Clubman models in th e 5 1200 to S 1800 price range and j us t can' t begin t o keep up wit h th e d em and." Des pite the d emand fo r hi s w ares, Dick h as b een a b le to find a bike fo r an y custo me r wh o places a deposit with th e shop to find a cl assic bike. Over ha lf o f their busines s is finding bikes for c us t o mers, which are then either fr eigh ted in from Europe o r sh ipped b y sea. An y b ikes sh ipped from the shop arc tak en to a com pany that b uild s a ver y sto u t c ra te f or 540. T h is wa y th e b ik es a re delivered t o th e c us t om er in perfec t co n d it io n . Runn in g suc h a un ique sh op is n ot all roses , of cou rs e. Dick say s the biggest problem is finding p a rts. " O ur buyer in En gland has been ver y e ffec ti ve , b ut it is still a lot o f ag on y ," Dick says. Another problem is th e tremendou s volume of m ail they rec eive. Every letter is answ e red, b u t Renstrom confesses th at a lo t of th e ir m a il is fro m peop le who th in k th e y ca n st ill bu y a grea t si ngle fo r 5500. "The price o f classic b ike s has increased drama t ica lly a ll ov er the world." Dlc k says, "and t his plus the inc reased cost of sh ipping d ue: to the energy crisis. the fee I pay m y bu yer, an d the guaran tee we p lace o n o ur b ikes a ll adds up 10 grea ter costs for us." Dic k does feel , however, t he CU's p rices ar e st ill no h ig-her tha n current mar ket prices and the cus tomer does have a great deal o f protection hy h u y ing from a re pu ta b le business. I had th e opporruni ty to exam in e so me of thl' cos t ledger s o n m any hikes, wh ic h cer tainl y prov ed tha i purr ing o u t gua ran ten] c lassi e hikc s is no t th e bes t wa y to ~e t rich. "11 is as much a labo r o f lo ve ," Dick t o ld me . "si nce I c o uld n ev er a ffo rd to spe n d so much time in thi s if I d id not have th e income fr om m y writi n g 10 live (In.'' De spit e his limi tations, a vis it to th e tin y shop is an e xpe r ience on e does no t soo n Ior ge t . S uc h th in Rs as heads an d cyl in de rs fro m KTr V el ocet tes an d Gold S ta rs grace th e sh elves, and o n th e w all s are m an y p o s t e r s a n d adve rtisements from days long: go ne by. Benea th these ar e the: ~cat m ot orcy cles of past ages , a nd an a ura o f hist ory seems to pe rm eat e the: p lace. Th is is a classic h ike shop , and i t is li ke n o o the r • in al l the land. I'

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