Hey Tom,
I think it looks pretty good in the pictures. You don't have any other neat projects upon which to spend the moolah that is clearly burning a hole in your pocket (wink, wink, nudge, nudge ;^)? If you must do something, I would go for just the refinish and not touch the braze-ons. Also, and I am probably in the minority, I think fancy lugs speak for themselves. I ordered my Riv one solild color back in '98 and have never regretted skipping the cream headtube. Cool bike BTW...
Doug Van Cleve muggy Chandler, AZ
On 7/25/05, Thomas Adams <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I'm considering converting a n original 1962 Condor road racing bike to
> a 650B so as to lower the standover height and make her ridable as an
> upright w/ Riv. "priest" bars. HERISY? Opinions?
>
>
> Not heresy, as the change(s) can be undone, and the bike put back to orig
inal. Knock yourself out.
>
> I'm treading closer to the edge with the '54 Algurn. I know the Omnipot
ent Despot will cordially disapprove, but I've decided to send it it for re
furbishment, because the paint is rather tired, it will allow recreation/do
cumentation of the decal set which are unobtainable in the vintage market,
and I can add some highlighting of the intricate lugs. Bicycle Specialties
in Toronto will probably be doing the work. They do an excellent job recr
eating decals, as seen on the Praderio they showed at the Cirque this year.
>
> http://www.adventurecorps.com/
>
> If I couldn't get good graphics, I definitely wouldn't touch her. I'm g
oing to recreate the paint scheme as it now appears, just making it shiny a
nd new, and adding some gold or cream lug lining ( and if I really get wild
and crazy, some box lining). FYI, the bike now is a faded red/orange, wit
h two cream panels on the seat tube.
>
> Some pics of the bike are here:
>
> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/
>
> The heretical issues are these:
>
> Refinishing a frame that doesn't absolutely demand it (no large blotches
of rust anywhere or structural issues).
>
> Adding lug highlights where the original frame had none. (Necessary in m
y opinion given the current stealthy appearance of the fancy lugs)
>
> Not reusing the original colour, if I could determine it. The paint has
faded from red to orange, and I think I'll keep the orange which has grown
on me; reminds one of Moltenis and Holdsworths.
>
> Adding brazeons (!?!?) Here's where we really get controversial. The can
didates would be a (in order of desire/liklihood) a rear center pull brake
stop, a set of water bottle bosses, moving the brake cable stops (currentl
y a split cable housing set up on the bottom of the top tube) and adding a
derailleur hanger. All of these have reasons/justifications, of course. T
he centerpull brake stop will permit getting some effective stoppers on the
bike, unlike the current marginal Universal 68 sidepulls. Yes, you can us
e a seat post binder stop, but I never cared for how these look, the curren
t tidy seat binder doesn't have much room for adding a stop and I always li
ked brazed on stops ala Raleigh Internationals. The water bottle mounts wo
uld avoid having to use either straps on new paint or using a handlebar cag
e mount which never seem to hold the bottle securely. The current brake ca
ble routing makes it difficult to run the cable as the cable ends up pointi
ng directly at the center
> line of the seat tube. This will be even tougher with a center pull bra
ke as the cable will have to make a half circle around the seat tube instea
d of angling off to the side for side pulls. And finally I'm forced to use
a derailluer hanger for the rear mech now, as the bike comes with Simplex
drops with no hanger, adding weight and complexity.
>
> What would you do? My current inclination is: use the faded color, add
lug lining, add the center pull brake bridge, and live with everything else
. Certainly no derailleur hanger, that would be total heresy. Brake cable
routing, the current set up is annoying but livable, same for the lack of
water bottle cage mounts. If I was ordering the frame custom I'd change th
em, but on an old frame I'd prefer to leave them.
>
> Your comments, discussion and suggestions welcome.
>
> Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ