I think Steve's advice was good. Think long and hard about any "permanent" changes. I don't think that there is much wrong with period correct component swaps or even upgrades to modern equipment if we aren't talking about the ultra rare breeds. I'd suggest boxing the components that come off of the bike and archive them so that the bike could be reassembled as-built if you, or a later owner, decided to do so.
Things that would make me queasy would be adding braze-ons, drilling forks or brake bridges, or reselling original components. I don't think that I'd care to respace for wider hubs either. However, if the upgrade candidate were something like a Peugeot UO-8 or other similar bike boom machine, even these modifications wouldn't be as big a concern as getting my head examined for contemplating such changes in the first place..
Charlie
Charles T. Young
Honeybrook. PA
> I'm afraid this is going to start a raging debate, but here goes anyway.
> What's the general feeling on upgrading a classic bike with other vintage
> components?
>
> Given a classic bike with original, mid-level components, what are the
pros
> and cons of replacing those with better componenets of a similar vintage?
> In my case, I'm not fond of the original components on my track bike, but
I
> really like other components from that time period.
>
> Thanks
> Sean Smith
> Glen Cove, NY