Originally Posted by
SJX426
[MENTION=137164]southpawboston[/MENTION] Thanks for your perspective. I have been on the fence without feeling comfortable either way I might fall. The cushion has been found! My perspective is that if the bike is nearly original, I don't change it. The scratches on the RD go with the ones on the frame. If I repaint the frame, then the parts don't match anymore. The whole cost thing of finding NOS or near NOS to make up the difference just doesn't scream great or any ROI to me. If I take good care of the thing it won't look much worse than when I picked it up.
In some cases the finish is just too far gone and it was a frankenbike to begin with, I have ultimate flexibility. I have three frames like that. One was drewed so it was modified with not only replacement braze-ons but some additional ones. It's root will be preserved but it will fit my needs better with flexibility to use more modern parts.
Long ago, when I had a bike repainted it indeed did not match the components, no matter how much I cleaned and polished them up as it does not match "new".
After a few months of regular use, or for sure by a year, all appeared back in balance.
I do have one bike right now that had an unusually poor original paint job, the top and the down tube probably have 15% paint loss. Numerous scratches elsewhere, the primer (what there was, I now strongly suspect that step got skipped!) did not stick to the metal very well. This bike right now would be a dry day only bike. No fog or early morning mist even. So, I ponder that one. Bikes that came to me with unfortunate powdercoat jobs are much easer to go and respray.