I spent this weekend in Barrie, Ontario celebrating my sister's 30th birthday. My gift was an "IOU" for a bike, and we spent some of the next few days deciding on what sort of a bike she wanted. She's the mother of three young children and a victim of the recent jump in gas prices, and wants to go on rides with her children and run some of her errands by bike. We decided on a Rivendellish/BOBish bike: a lugged steel frame, but modern components. We thought it would be nice to mount them on a 1978 frame, since that's when she was born. I would just have bought a Rivendell if it weren't for fiscal constraints -- $1500 for a frame is pretty steep, and I have nearly a whole bike's worth of modern (by which I mean 105 derailleurs, a Sugino triple, and bar end shifters, etc.) components on my shelf.
My search for a frame didn't take long. Yesterday on Toronto Craigslist, someone posted a late-70s Raleigh Grand Sports in her size for $250. It met nearly all our requirements: good tubing, lots of clearance for fat tires and fenders, and she loved the way it looked. The bike was delivered this morning, and you can have a look at it here:
The moral quandary is the following: I don't intend on keeping very many of the bike's original components in use. I like the frame very much, and the Weinmann centrepulls, but don't intend to use the derailleurs, cranks, bars or stem, etc. The Brooks saddle will likely find a home on one of my other bikes, but I'll likely sell the remaining components on eBay or offer them to list members (though I have no idea of their value, so stating a firm price as per list rules might scare me off...)
The plastic Simplex rear derailleur gives me some confidence that I'm not committing an atrocity in stripping this frame. But I thought that before dealing with regret, I would ask for advice. This frame will get lots of use and have a good life in its future incarnation, and I won't powdercoat it or remove any braze-ons -- but am doing wrong in "stripping" it of its original condition to give it this new life? I was born several years after this frame, so I have little of the historical/sentimental context...
Opinions welcomed!
Adam Hammond
Toronto, ON, Canada