What these guys fail to understand is, what they consider "Gouging" doesn't necessarily hurt the hobby or brand. Yeah, prices of these bikes and parts seem to have gone through the roof but in the long run, it makes that bike worth or at least sell for that much more. Do you think the guy who did pay $250 for that 7 hole muffler is going to charge the same price for his bike once it's installed?, No, he's going to ad that to the final cost if he so choses to sell it later down the road. The days of finding complete 50+ year old bikes is pretty much a thing of the past, hell, just finding an unmolested frame to start with is. Everyone knows that building a vehicle from parts is going to cost you 3 times as much as buying one whole, it's the finding one whole that's the problem. I'm sure anyone who has built a bike entirely of parts understands that when time comes to sell it, they look at what it cost them to build. Frame = $600, powder coat = $200, engine = $800, seat = $125, wheels = $350, clutch cover = $350, caliper = $350, throttle/grips = $150 and around another $250 for the smalls, tires/tubes, nuts/bolts etc. All that brings the total to just over $3,000 which would be about right for a CORRECT restoration. It's the overpriced JUNK or reproductions that isn't correct that sells for $2,500 that hurts the hobby. People see some junker go for $1,500 and think "Damn, if they can get it so can I" and they usually do. I guara-damn-t ya that everyone that has seen those 7 hole mufflers sell for $250 is scrambling around the shed looking for one in a drawer or thinking of pulling it off their bike and selling it, then they think "If it's SELLING for that now, what's it gonna cost me to replace it when I go to sell the bike?.
-A2M