Until a couple of months ago I would have agreed with Charles on the point above, but some weeks ago I walked into our LBS to see a totally
crushed formerly beautiful classic DeRosa, then I talked to someone at
Tandem International a fortnight ago who´d had a 753 Woodrup smashed by a car driver, narrowly escaping serious injury himself, and there was another story about a destroyed classic which escapes me at the moment
but which also made my hair stand on end when I heard it.
I myself have become somewhat more restrained in using my old bikes, I
have to admit. My grandmother used to say, "Vorsicht ist die Mutter der
Porzellankiste", which translates into something like "Caution is the mother of the porcellain box".
Regards, Toni Theilmeier, Belm, Germany.