I am mostly interested in "preserving vintage" for a lot of reasons:
1. my favorite thing is about this hobby is finding a disused and/or neglected thing and bringing it back to life. For this reason I don't buy completed builds by other vintage enthusiasts and I don't even like to buy from flippers who sell "ride ready" bikes because it's a waste of time, money and resources to redo anything the previous owner did to the bike. Flippers who just resell things they find at garage sales or whatever are cool with me.
2. to go along with the first point, part of the thrill is that even a well planned build on a vintage frame will have some surprises and detours, making the project last longer. I don't want to finish a project in a single afternoon or weekend, it's more fun to think it over for weeks/months. This also keeps the project number down as I have limited space.
3. it's nice to know that if a bike doesn't fit or its riding characteristics aren't what I wanted, I can pass it along easily.
I do appreciate small builders. I have a Davidson and a Bob Jackson, both very vintage, but I don't see myself buying a new custom steel frame any time soon, if ever.
Last edited by C9H13N; 03-27-23 at 09:46 AM.