I am brand new to this board and have been looking for quite some time a site that caters to the vintage lightweights. I was referred here by a friend and the format to a site like this is all new to me. I am 37 years old and have always loved the style and uniqueness of the early bikes or anything vintage for that matter! I guess I was born in the wrong era. I have no desire to own a modern bike as I few they just don't have the allure that a quality vintage bike. I don't know exactly how to put it into words though. I am not interested in attempting high dollar restorations as that just doesn't fit into my budget. I am looking more into cleaning up and salvaging as much of the original parts as possible and putting a bike together I can actually ride and enjoy without worrying about scratching up some rare NOS parts. I came here because this Saturday I picked up what I believe to be a 1949 Dawes at a yard sale. It may be a 1950 but I am just going by the date on the Sturmey Archer hub. It is in ROUGH shape but mostly complete and original. It was repainted at one time long ago as all of that paint is lacquer checked. I haven't had time to disassemble it yet to see what the original color is. It is missing one pedal cap, the original seat and brake levers. I don't know much about these bikes so it may be missing more. This bike was very cheap and the cheapest bike I have every purchased. I am looking for some opinions on what would be the best route to go with this bike. Since it has been repainted I am sure it could be very expensive to completely restore to original. It is a beautiful frame set and I just wonder if it would be considered wrong to just have a nice coat of paint in a color that appeals to me put on it. I have been on some other sites relating to different style bikes and it seems to be an open debate on what to do. I have always felt that if you repaint something that doesn't have original paint it shouldn't hurt the value. After all if down the road it is sold the new owner could always restore to original. I am looking forward to getting to know some members here and gaining some knowledge.
http://img.photobucket.com/
http://img.photobucket.com/
http://img.photobucket.com/
http://img.photobucket.com/
Regards,
Jeff McDonald
Glendale Arizona