When my son was young, I was heavily into collecting large pressed steel trucks from the 30's and 40's. I'd buy them, at a pretty hefty price even then, and put them on the shelf. At some point, I realized that I wanted my son to have the experience of actually playing with a huge Keystone sandloader that moved real sand and dumped it into the bed of a large steel dump truck like I had done when I was his age. I was, at first, worried about him scratching or somehow hurting the value of these antique collectibles. But I realized that these precious items were made to be played with by little boys... that the value they held, more than what they were worth monetarily, was, for me, in being played with. That is really the approach I took as a bike collector. I bought it to ride it, and if I rode it and scratched or wrecked it, well, the value was in the pleasure I got from using it.
Several years ago, I got rid of nearly all of my bike stuff. From whole bikes to frames to bike specific nuts and bolts, I moved it all on. I kept my tools and work stand, an on topic bike and a couple of newer bikes. I was motivated partially by space...my painting studio had become a bike shop and I had no room to work on other projects. I was also at a point in my life where I needed to change things up a bit. While I moved on those physical aspects of bike collecting, I didn't give away the knowledge that I have about classic bikes, nor my memories of those specific bikes that I have owned. While I'm not sorry that I moved my bike collection on, there are times when I wish I had kept a certain bike or part. I also gained something from clearing out my collection that I didn't expect. Young collectors seem to be afflicted with the need to collect any and everything related to bikes. I was like that, dragging home anything I could get my hands on. I had heard often the advice of older collectors that it's better to buy one good bike than 10 low end ones. I got that intellectually, but I could never outgrow the need to grab it all up. In time, and with the need to collect tempered a bit, I came to really understand the wisdom of putting one's money into something really good, something that fits, and something that I really want. I left decent bikes for other collectors. I started collecting records. I thought I was done with bikes.
In Phoenix, there is a network of canals that carry water through the city. I ride the canals a lot. Every few years, they drain the canals, and clear out the mud, the debris, and the shopping carts. Yesterday as I was riding I noticed a frame buried three quarters in stinking wet mud. It had drop bars. Is that a lugged frame? I kept riding, but I couldn't let the bike go. When I got home I got my son, who is now a young man, my truck and an hour later, in mud to my knees, I'm pushing an old Stella mixte, that's way too small for me, up the canal bank to my son. Cleaned up, the bike doesn't look that bad.
Art Smith
Phoenix, Arizona