Ah, my somewhat tongue-in-cheek posting seems to have drawn the ire of our listmeister - my apologies. I should have made it clear that I do not necessarily agree with the comments (also, I believe, made with a certain tongue-in-cheek) made to me by the former CR lister. I am getting tremendous enjoyment out of gathering the bits-and-bobs for this rebuild. I might get just as much enjoyment out of restoring a complete vintage bike though.
I suppose I was also simply mulling over a recent query made by my mother (in her 70s) about what I intend to do with the bike when I finish the rebuild "what are you going to do with it," she said "sell it? "No," I replied, "I intend to ride it!" The latter response was met with silence and that disapproving look which suggested that there must be better places to spend my money.
There is some truth, therefore, in the former listers comment when I consider that I would likely never be able to recoup what I have spent on this project if I were to turn around and sell the finished bike. But that was and is not my intent.
There was some truth in my comments about bottles though - what is a solution to this problem? Go with a modern stainless or aluminum bottle in a period cage?
Paul Williams,
Ottawa, ON, Canada
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> My initial reaction to that sour negativity about restoring an old bike
> is... so if it's not restored, what happens to it? Another piece of
> history goes in the trash bin? I say, hoorah for the restorers and saviors
> of craft works from bygone eras...
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> And as far as How Far To Go? You do the best you can, as faithfully as
> practicality permits. Bikes were constantly being repaired, upgraded,
> "modernized" and fiddled with, so almost anything can be legitimate. Let
> good taste be your guide!
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> Dale Brown
> Greensboro, North Carolina USA
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dr. Paul Williams <castell5@sympatico.ca>
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Sent: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:21 pm
> Subject: [CR]Rebuild/ restoration: Where do YOU draw the line?
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> As I continue my enjoyable but increasingly costly rebuild of a 49
> Carpenter I have been struck by a dilemma which must face many who
> pursue our hobby: how far does one take a restoration/ rebuild and where
> does one draw the line?
>
> A recent comment by a well-known former listmember, that essentially
> only a wanker would buy an old frameset in need of painting and
> rebuilding - when it is often more cost effective to buy a complete
> bike, perhaps resonates with truth. When faced with laying out the
> equivalent of another two-weeks of grocery money for a ratty old
> handlebar mounted bottle cage with a set of bottles (or maybe not) which
> are more than likely unusable - or at least, perhaps not overly healthy
> - how far is it worth going?
>
> How far is it worth going to ensure that parts are absolutely period
> correct - to the year and, in the case of some parts, to the exact
> month? And will they still be functional? After all isn't this a bike to
> be ridden?
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> I do not have the bottles or the cage(s), but I do have the nicely
> chromed headlamp and am currently looking for a suitable matching
> bracket. Yet, I haven't a clue whether I can get the right batteries to
> run the lamp! Is a fitted lamp which does not work little more than a
> pretention? And how about the temptation to fit a period cyclometer, a
> time-trial bell, and a stopwatch!! But, isn't that what would have been
> fitted on these bikes at the time, I ask myself?! Will they come up on
> ebay again? How scarce are such items becoming? Will they make the
> finished product any better? Will their absence really affect that
> finished product or, even more so, its ride?
>
> Wanker maybe, but having a hell of a time on the hunt for those often
> elusive parts which will bring this old machine back to life. My ebay
> watch list is full and I may never get that Coloral bottle and cage but
> it is fun to dream.
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> Where do YOU draw the line?
>
> Paul Williams
> Ottawa, ON, Canada