Originally Posted by FlatTop
An analogy: If I had the power to go back in time and prevent nice '40s,'50s and '60s cars from being cubed or going to their ends in figure 8 races, I'd make it a priority. If I had to repair them with nonoriginal or not-numbers-matching parts, so what? The cool, interesting cars will have been preserved.
Good analogy. Brings to mind all the old American cars from the fifties still running in Cuba, all preserved using bits of tin, parts from different cars and ingenuity.
Yes, we're talking about Classic & Vintage bikes here. In my opinion, converting a classic English, French or Italian bike over to cheap Chinese components to keep it running because the original parts have been priced off the consumer market by serious collectors, would be sacreligious. However, I see nothing wrong with replacing consumables like tires, straps, chains, freewheels, etc., with whatever looks right and works.