Nike steel value?

[wolfe_man]

Okay.   Like all folks, I love a good deal.  On the other hand, I hate losing out or paying more than I should.

So with that in mind, what is the fair value for a Nike Steel?  I realize condition will affect value of course.  For the ease of pricing, let's say no pads or harness - frame only.

Option 1 - Nike steel with vinyl cover still in place. So you'll have to have vinyl removed and then have it powder-coated.

Option 2 - Nike steel with vinyl removed and powder-coated already.

Thanks!

NOTE: This information/post is not so I can sell one and gouge someone - but rather so I don't over spend when I see another.

[gnhbua93]

Both option are priceless.

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, gnhbua93 said:

Both option are priceless.

LOL

that makes sense then.... I've seen them go from $60 to asking prices of $225

I've bought Nike Ti's for as little as $230 used and $250 new

[kylejt]

Like most anything that's not available, they're worth whatever two guys on eBay say it's worth. (i.e. search the Sold listing on eBay).

[MadMax]

A Nike Icon in steel, still in its vinyl dip cladding, would probably go $80. What makes it difficult is they (still) aren't sold on the North American retail market.

You have to consider, then, that Tony at MaskIt is charging $40 to completely recondition and powdercoat a mask frame, so we're looking at $110 – $140 for a powdercoated Icon. Once recoated, it doesn't matter (much) whether it was a Nike, Adidas, Reebok or Mizuno... It's an Icon. Enough said.

It's a shame... another umpire / gear tinkerer and I discussed what it would take it to get that Icon (or any other of our design) planform produced and shipped over here for NA sales and distribution, and I think he said the quote was either 1000 or 10,000 units. Grrrrr.

[wolfe_man]

I remember that discussion.  You'd have to have a lot of capital to invest up front and it'd take years to sell them all.

[Razzer]

I can get the Nike Template made in Steel and TI but what is the interest?

Price will depend on how many are made.

[wolfe_man]

Depending on price point, I'd be interested.   I would think pricing similar to an Adidas would get people's attention.  To me, it's not necessarily the Nike brand, but it is the clean lines and good view found in the frame.    Now, don't get me wrong, the Nike name doesn't hurt it at all - but I would buy (and have) other brands with the same frame.

[Razzer]

The Nike Frame is the best looking mask period.

To do this right the welds would have to be the same as the Finished Nike.

The Addidas and the Reebok  welds are a mess and  that bugs me how they let them out of the factory looking so bad.

I will have a few samples made up and see what can be done

[wolfe_man]

I think it’s great you have the contacts and ability to do this stuff.

I love the go get ‘em attitude!

[grk17]

10 hours ago, Razzer said:

I can get the Nike Template made in Steel and TI but what is the interest?

Price will depend on how many are made.

I am in the same boat as @wolfe_man, depending on the price point i'd definitely be interested in the nike steel platform as well. 

[MadMax]

Echoing Ray ( @Razzer, he and I talk about this often), the planform used by Nike is the most iconic, and is the best compromise, or marriage, between weight (in any material), protection, and visibility.

During its heyday, with Nike commissioning it for use by Jorge Posada and other Nike-endorsed catchers, it was a thing of near-perfect, fabricated beauty. It didn’t need a dangling throat guard, it didn’t have double bars on the eye port, and the ear guards weren’t big and boxy, making you look like a walking RADAR tower. College catchers, at prestigious Nike-sponsored universities loved it, and lauded it over their counterparts at lesser-supplied universities, who were stuck using Rawlings (shudder!), All-Stars, or Wilsons. 

Professional umpires got a hold of it, and those that used it, loved it.

The welds were minimal and clean as can be, the Titanium was strong and light, and the mask just... was (or is) baseball.

I could go a lot further into the history and details of mask design (and bore most of you to tears), but let’s cut to just a few years ago – with universities feeling budget crunches, and professional baseball catchers recognized as branding billboards, the stakes to get a branding logo on equipment intensified. College programs, despite being sponsored by Nike, were entertaining supply contracts for their baseball equipment from Easton, Marucci, Rawlings, and the like. All-Star had cornered the market on HSMs through endorsing Buster Posey and other young professional catchers, and had a huge stake in High School baseball, with catchers using their gear in High School, through to college, and on into professional levels.

At this same time, Titanium started to get this “bad” reputation that it was the primary factor, of not the cause, of concussions among baseball catchers and umpires. However, the real culprit is the pads, not so much the mask... but that’s for another discussion. Titanium also got unfairly labeled as “bad” because of the warranty / customer service return nightmare incurred by manufacturers who sold it (Wilson, etc.).

What this culminates in is a planform, still iconic and admired by many, sitting in the hands of its Taiwanese shop, with a reduced demand to produce it in Titanium with care and precision. So, they begin cutting corners, using varying gauges and quality of Titanium. Then they increase the production of it in steel (which they were doing before, just not to great quantity). Then they start entertaining requests for production from Adidas and Reebok, eager to supply their endorsed athletes and baseball programs with equipment without investing in the development of new, innovative gear (like All-Star does for itself... and the half-ton gorilla in the room – UnderArmour). Without that Quality Controls check, the masks were rushed through, made in steel, and vinyl-dipped (so the exposed welds no longer had to be pristine).

Lastly, since Titanium is so costly, and hollow steel just isn’t providing the desired durability (without vinyl coating), they have been experimenting with using high-grade aluminum alloys, namely one called Titanal. Despite its trade name, it does not contain Titanium; instead, it is a rolled Aluminum-based alloy that specifically marginalizes deformation (bending) while enabling welding and bonding to other composites. This has been appearing on a few masks of late (especially the Adidas ones).

So, after reading all this (thank you if you did), Ray is leading the groundswell to have the shop in Taiwan – the very one that holds the planform – produce a run of masks, held to a much more personal / organic quality standard (materials and welds) than some guy sitting in an office a few continents away checking a spreadsheet.

I myself am heavily interested, but I’m going to get involved somehow.

[BT_Blue]

On 3/1/2018 at 3:20 PM, wolfe_man said:

I think it’s great you have the contacts and ability to do this stuff.

I love the go get ‘em attitude!

 

On 3/1/2018 at 8:07 PM, grk17 said:

I am in the same boat as @wolfe_man, depending on the price point i'd definitely be interested in the nike steel platform as well. 

I too could be interested depending on the price.