Originally Posted by
3alarmer
If it's anything to you, I just bought a '58 Lenton that has its
own set of issues before it will be one classy ride.
Lot's less rust, though. I really hate dealing with rust.
And I'm not one of those "it's all about original" guys
either. At the very least, I'm gonna put a set of alloy
rims on it so i can ride it with some degree of pleasure.
if I kept the original equipment steel rims, I'd never ride it.
Frame paint and decals on mine are NOB compared to
yours though. I know most of these guys don't feel this
way, but you're right at the point where I'd be considering
bead blast and repaint with Imron.
3alarmer, cool! I'm glad to be in such good company. Is your bike a Lenton Sports?
As I'm currently restoring a
1949 Hercules Kestrel, I know that compromises sometimes need to be made for the sake of practicality. Do I want to ride it, or do I want to look at a frame sans wheels?
To that end, I laced vintage hubs to polished CR-18 rims. It's close enough and I wanna ride this puppy once she's done. But I digress...
Depending on how the frame ends up after I've gotten further into the project, I could be taking the " blast and repaint with Imron" approach as you mentioned. It definitely drives up the cost, but makes for a pleasing end result atmo.