Re: [CR]Restoration & Baylis's Colnago

Jeremy,

I believe that a top quality repair, in most cases will leave the bike in at least as good of condition and ride quality as the original; and in many cases the bike can actually be improved a little.

The case of my Colnago with the sloppy seat tube replacement and it's diminished ride quality may or may not have anything to do with the repair itself. It's impossible to say for sure. I do know that my '70 Colnago with no repair work does ride fantastic. Some of that may also be do to the fact that I have my best wheel, tires (tubulars, of course!), and best components on my more favorite bike. I now have a '72 Super that I just put together and I had to leave the slightly damaged bike intact, because the lug had been filed way too thin to be able to replace the tube without severe consequences. I straightened the frame and made sure the alignment is perfect, and now I'll ride it as is. I haven't been out on it yet (will take her out on the vintage ride this weekend), but just taking it around the block she feels like a goer. I'll know more soon.

Depending on the nature of the repair and the situation, many repairs are seamless and certainly make a previously unuseable bike into a real rider and keeper. It works for me. I take great pride in these repairs because I have great respect for the bikes and the builders of them. There is also great satisfaction in saving a scrapper. I inherited a somewhat modern, but still steel and lugged Colnago frame from the owner whose insurance bought a new bike to replace this damaged frame. It was minus the fork. I just happened to have a straight blade experimental fork I built for myself, and the steerer is EXACTLY right for this frame! I removed both of the damaged rear dropouts and started bending the damaged tubes back to the proper locations, using various clever methods to accomplish the things the tubes weren't originally meant to do. I have hope for this one. Wouldn't sell it to anyone, but when I'm done I'll probably have a nice rider that may not show any previous damage at all; and all with only minor use of bondo and some minor paint touch-up. I'm even saving the original chrome!

Frame repairs are not the end of the world. Sure, nicer to have a frame that hasn't had a hard know or two, but properly treated repairs generally produce excellent results. Good repairs are often invisible.

Brian Baylis
El Cajon, CA
Vintage Cycle Studios
http://www.vintagecyclestudios.com