[CR]Conserving 30-year old bikes

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Avocet)

From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:15:10 -0800 (PST)
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Conserving 30-year old bikes

In my opinion, old bikes should be ridden (except perhaps some of the most famous of all - one-of-a-kind museum pieces like the merckx hour record bike, or whatnot).

A bike that is 30 years old and does not need restoration has not been ridden enough. And yes, i'm guilty of owning one of these bikes, for the past 23 years (oops). And i'm setting it up now so that i can be ridden every day. i was too worried about theft for half of those 30 years - in my home state thieves had been known to climb 7 story highrises and lower these bikes to the ground in order to steal them (schwinn paramounts.)

A good steel frame can last 100 years, so if you're not going to restore it 3x times, then you're mistreating your ride - either by neglecting to ride it enough, or neglecting to restore it when it gets rusty and/or unprotected.

probably these views are controversial, but they are mine and i do not believe in forcing them upon others.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA