[CR]Restoring 2 or more instances of a bike ??

(Example: Events)

Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:43:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Restoring 2 or more instances of a bike ??

Was : Way Overpriced MASI - Richard Sachs's 2x Restorations ..

I am guilty of restoring not only 2x, but 3x of the same bike at the same time. Why did I do it this way ?? If I rebuilt just one bike, how would I feel if I crashed my restoration ( i crash about once a year when I ride regularly ? )

Assuming that all bikes were going to be repainted, it makes sense both for the restorer and the painter to have several bikes to paint. The work done acquiring decals - and in my case, I had to produce several decals for my bikes including a 1974 reynolds tube. co. decal - could be amortized over the paint. The effort to find perfect decal placement and detailing could also be amortized. This was no small effort - my painter hadn't done these bikes before.

I should say that my bikes were all 3x 1974 Raleigh International bikes. I picked this model because I wanted one so badly at age 12. I finally got frustrated after 2 years of looking for the bike in good condition in the right size and color (chartreuse, 24.5", 1972) on ebay. In 2 years only 1 bike showed up there.

I was more turned on by the process of restoring bicycles than I was in having a historically (masi, colnago) significant bike. Where I grew up Colnagos were too expensive for anybody to own - I saw only 1 colnago before I was 25 years old. And if you talk to iBOBs, Raleigh Internationals are historically significant and endorsed by Grant Petersen, so the bike has -some- following of its own ...

In my particular case, it started like this :

A. buy a $100 frame in bad shape from a CR list member on ebay (TheRoadTheatre). I wanted something with bad chrome in order to justify a rechrome / repaint. buy a parts bike (ALAN). Find out that most parts are wrong - italian parts don't work on an english bike. Buy one-of parts at high prices to complete the grouppo - ouch! Swear to never do that again...

B. A 2nd, full bike that's a rust-bucket shows up on ebay. ALL PARTS ARE ORIGINAL EXCEPT ONE RIM. Buy it for $330. "I need this to see what the original parts should be ..." (lie to myself). "If I don't save this bike, nobody else will" (perhaps true ...) The rust was so bad on fork that it needs lead during the rechrome. There was pea-sized rust pellet coming throught the paint on every SQUARE INCH of the frame. The aluminum chainrings had bubbled. Pay about $200 to fix rust on the parts (new campy rings, rechrome skewers, headset, shifter band, etc.) Ok, break down and decide to repaint / rechrome this frameset, too, when a painter tells me touchup is impossible (despite perfect decals ...)

Now that i know what parts I need, it becomes easy for me to restore bikes of this era ...

C. In the course of acquiring parts for these two (unloved by the CR community) bikes, a very generous CR list member who also loves this model sent me a "barely bent" instance of his frame - for FREE !! And then, a local used bikeshop owner who loves these bikes and owned one himself straightens it ... FOR FREE !! In both cases these were spontaneous, un-asked for gifts !! I've made an effort to repay both people for their generousity ... part of that is succeeding in my restoration efforts. This frame had VG chrome and I succeeded with 2 small pea-sized touch-ups. So, i finally broke down and decided to repaint this one, too, as long as I have to make decals ... now that it has been repainted, the crash is more or less undetectable.

D. In the course of buying parts, I acquired 27 lbs of weinmann centerpull brakes, 3x campy downtube cable guides (renaissance cycles special), 5x rear campy gear cables, 6x white christophe straps, 4x Christophe toe clips and 3x zefal HPX pumps from xxcycle france, 7x RALEIGH COTTON EXTRA 270 tubulars (panaracer practice), 2x Brooks Pro saddles, and several other "bulk purchase specials" to amortize shipping and restoration costs.

To make a long story short, I am nearly finished and have 3 beautifully repainted frames. For two of them, i will have VG-Exc used campy 1973 parts, and for 1x, probably a 2003 chorus drivetrain grouppo, which was cheaper and much easier to acquire in 2004 than similar 1973 parts and/or a Rally derailleur.. And since the paint and chrome were supervised by a master painter / builder, these bikes are "better than new raleighs" - unique unto themselves ...

Has anyone else followed a similar path ??

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA