Restoration is like the perpetual itch you just cannot scratch. Once you've finished a restoration, a lot of the fun and mystery goes out of the bike. Then, it's time to collect the owner's manual for that model (or reproduce it), and maybe an original catalogue from that year. An original bill of sale - bought on ebay - makes a great finishing touch.
Then it's time to sell the bike to another collector. My favorite way is to spray the bike with water vapor, let it sit for a week until light surface rust is just starting to form, and then go out into my garage and run the vacuum cleaner in reverse for 15 minutes to add a fine layer of the dust to the bicycle.
Now create a brand-new ebay account and list the bike, opening bid $0.99, stating, "I know absolutely nothing about bikes." If you are lucky you will end up selling it to someone else like Charles Andrews by claiming that it's been sitting in your garage, untouched, for 30 years. He will get a certain "vibe" from the bike, even though in reality, it's a frankenbike, and only you know it.
The best part is if Charles doesn't notice !! *grin*.
- Don *double grin* Gillies San Diego, CA
P.S. I think my fascination with bikes stems from my desire to save helpless kittens about to be eaten alive by wild animals, etc. When I was 4 years old and we visited a nursery, my sister picked up a large, beautiful, symmetric pine sapling. I picked up a sickly, crooked, and weak-looking sapling and then I put it down. My sister said,
Anne: "Don, what are you doing ?" Don: "I don't think I want to get that one ..." Anne: "Don, you've got to get that one! Otherwise you'll hurt its feelings!"
I walked out of the nursery with the sickly sapling, and it ended up growing to be larger and straighter than my sister's choice ... *grin*.