I'd think it really depends on what YOU intend to do with it. We all feel some amount of responsibility to maintain the authenticity of the bike but at some point, reality has to come to bear. If you want a mint version either hang on your wall or ride, then restoration is probably in order. You can certainly ride it as is! Patina isn't a binary situation, just phases of "change":-)
There are certainly specific marques and vintages (Masi & Cinelli certainly come to mind) that may well have greater value in time because they are original. That may be many years though.
I have a good friend that has an original Cinelli track bike like yours, original paint but was ridden quite a bit. He bought it nearly new and has kept the paint original out of belief that it's overall value is higher as original.
Gary Watts Vancouver, WA USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of JEFFERY Pyzyk Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 9:30 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]To Restore or Not to Restore
This topic has probably been hashed around on the list more than Blond Lebanese in Madison during the late '60's. However, given some of the recent E-bay prices for unrestored "rats", I think the topic can safely be revisited.
I've got a late 60's/early 70's Cinelli SC with original decals and what's left of the original silver paint. It is an early drilled lug frame with the old-style long campy dropouts, and also still has the fender eyelets. It is ratty as hell. "Patina" is not a word that comes to mind. The paint is worn through all over the place with some pitting of chrome in the usual areas under the lugs. Looking at it, you would say that it obviously needs to be stripped, re-chromed, and re-painted.
However, it is authentic! Decals and color bands, lettering, and the Columbus SL decals are honest and original.
After seeing what one old battle worn Cinelli recently sold for on E-bay, I have some doubts that a restored bike would be any more valuable than a ratty original one. Like most of you, I'm in this for love and not for money, so the decision is not really based on economics.
My personal preference is for my bikes to look as near to new as possible. It's probably from some Freudian anal retentive stage I never got through or something, I don't know. However, in this case, I have some trepidation
about restoration.
Jeff Pyzyk
Milwaukee, WI