-----Original Message----- From: Louis Schulman [mailto:louiss@gate.net] Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:45 PM To: kohl57@starpower.net Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Care of Vintage Bikes, was [CR] No Subject
"Do people on this lists take their bikes to shops? I would think that working on your own bike was part of this hobby. I am 55, and I built my first bike from parts (including lacing the wheels) over 40 years ago. I have owned and built a lot of bikes since then, but have never had the occasion to take a bike to a bike shop.
For those of you who do take your bikes to a shop, what do you have them do? What would you allow them to do?
Just curious.
Louis Schulman Tampa, Florida"
I live in a tiny city apartment and have neither the space or the mechanical skills to work on bicycles. So yes, I use a shop. And have used the same one ever since I started collecting vintage lightweights. Same shop and two mechanics (now reduced to one) whose affection and care for these things is as great as anyone on this list. I drop off a bare frame and a box or two of parts and get it back as perfect as you could want in two-three weeks. And I won't even say how little it costs me. I even get a complete write-up of what was done and he weighs and records the frame, fork, major components and entire bike. For him, it's a hobby, too, and a welcome break from working on Trek hybrids and old Raleigh Sports. It's kinda nice to share a passion in this fashion so it's not some anonymous shop experience. And no, I wouldn't trust one of MY bikes to just anyone. I don't even like being in modern bike shops that don't smell or look like the shops I remember as a boy. So this Masi mishap was just that... an accident that was, irony of ironies, caused by going to extraordinary efforts to protect the finish!
I certainly can appreciate and maybe even envy the Guy Style bona fides of working on your own bikes and lacing your own wheels and having that Campy grease smell on you. And I wish I had the skills and space to do more of my own work. But hey, I think my approach is, if anything, even more "authentic"... I have the "team mechanic" to do my stuff and like Eddy all I get to do is to fiddle 43 times with angle and height of the saddle. I just wish I could afford to have my 'bar tape freshly wrapped before every ride.
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA