I used to collect old steel toy trucks from the 20's and 30's. When my son was little, I would let him play with them, in the house, so they wouldn't lose their value. One day, watching him dig in his sand pile, I realized that he should be using the Keystone sand loader that I had sitting on a shelf. At that point, I realized it was more important for him to have the experience of a 75 year old "toy" than to watch that sand loader gathering dust, inherit it when I'm dead, and have absolutely know idea what it would be like to actually play with it. I also let go of the monetary element of the toy. If he beat it up, so be it. Seems to me there isn't enough time to save everything for the future. I didn't get into collecting bikes as a speculator...buying stuff hoping to make a killing at some later date. I've collected them because I wanted to ride them, repair them when they were broken, and experience them. I built up a Ivers Johnson truss bridge bike once, and riding it was a magical experience. I think how we see older objects, esp bikes, has a lot to do with our childhoods. I had to walk around a pair of Persian rugs in my house because my mother was afraid I'd wear them out. Today, long after my parents have gone, and all of the antigues in our house have been dispersed to the winds, I have those two rugs on the floor of my studio. Paint gets on them, and bikes get repaired on top of them and I love it. From a monetary sense this might be the stupidist thing in the world, but even if my wife kills me and wraps me up in those rugs, I'm not taking them with me when I check out of here.
If I destroy my vintage bike through use, I figure God's got a whole slew of wrenches working for him.
Art Smith In Phoenix, where no lie, it's actually raining out.