I can tell you a sad story about where old frames go to die. I have a friend (really, his wife is a friend of my wife) who is in his early 50's. In the 1980's he bought a used chocolate raleigh international (this would be 1969-1971, i think) and rode it all over the santa cruz mountains of california. The bicycle right now is locked outside his house, here in san diego, corroding. It is covered with a thick layer of dust. It has not been touched for at least 10 years.
I suggested to him that he should put it back in working order. When he showed it to me ( we didn't have the key to the gate where it was ), i was shocked - i had never seen a bike of such high quality in such a corroded and oxidized condition. And, I myself had bought a badly rust-eaten bike from Santa Cruz, once. After that experience, I realized that I would not be interested in the bike because 50% of each component is "beater" or "brittle / breakable" due to rust oxidation and aluminum bubbling.
Anyway, he declined my offer to help him clean it up. He prefers to keep it there, lifeless and still, outside, locked up in a shed with a metal gate on it, where he can be sure it will always be there, but it is dying a slow death from the elements, for "sentimental reasons".
It makes no sense.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA