Try putting a price on the enjoyment you get out of it. Opportunities are missed all the time, best to enjoy what you have and learn for later. That said, it’s nice having bikes that are fun to ride now as well as ones that are fun to slowly build for later as deals come around.

Yup, I'm not trying to spin this negatively! I'm really excited about the Super Course and what it will look like with the modifications. However, realizing that there is an aspect of investment involved in vintage cycling, I usually try to buy something that can be considered worth the while. The low price of the Super Course let me astray from that notion.

We'll the Ti flask kit was NOS at a bike jumble for $3.

Today's online China line bike emporium is like those old JC Whitney catalogs but no shipping or tax. Lol

Bet they might throw one of these in a package deal.
https://m.ebay.com/itm/6-sound-Bike-Bicycle-Super-Loud-Electronic-Siren-Horn-Bell-Ring-Alarm-Speaker/

Unless you made a really bad buy to start, no one rides it, had to buy a bunch of rare individual parts...it's worth it. Even then, if you ride, it's worth it. Comparable aluminum new fenders can set you back $50-100. Those Bluemels are dirt cheap at $70 for being old and classic.

Many times I think vintage and collectors only get into this because it's cheap, want it to be worth more, but wouldn't pay for it if it was. It's a catch 22.

My Dawes Super Galaxy looked like this when I got it about four years ago.



It needed a good service and clean but it all worked.

The front derailleur was meant for a fatter frame and had a big rubber shim that looked terrible and didn't work properly, so it had to go and was replaced with a Suntour Compe-V from stock.

The shifters were indexed Shimano. I couldn't get the indexing to work 100% so they were replaced by a set of Suntour Power Shift.

I really didn't like the rear rack so I swapped it with one my son had, which was chromed but at least the same construction as the front one. I later spotted a painted one of the wrong colour on eBay and bought it with the intention of repainting it. When that arrived I was delighted to find that the seller's pictures had been terrible and the rack was the right colour after all.

The rear wheel had been changed and didn't match, so I bought a correct one from eBay. It needed to be re-dished so I put it aside until I got round to having that done. In the meantime a pair of wheels with the right rims (Weinmann concave) and Campag hubs similar to the original Normandy items turned up, so I bought them.

Then a non-matching pair of wheels turned up on a forum. The rear had a fixed gear hub, which I was after for another project, but it also came with a pair of 27 x 1 1/8 tan wall tyres, which are very hard to find in the UK, so I bought these too.

Around this time I managed to find a UK catalogue and find out what components it would have had from new.

It took a while to find the correct derailleurs, especially at a sensible price, but I got a used rear from UK eBay and a NOS front from US eBay.

The last big piece was the chainset. I think the Stronglight triple was possibly an upgrade from new but I didn't like it. Stronglight 99s on eBay always seem to be extremely expensive and French threaded, but eventually I found one that had been rethreaded to 9/16 and came with a variety of rings. The biggest drilled ring wasn't really big enough so I kept my original big ring, which had the same BCD. A couple of weeks ago I managed to get hold of a suitable drilled ring and I can declare the bike finished until something else bothers me.



I'm frightened to add up the cost but I know I'll never see the money back. I also know I would have been cheaper buying one that was still original in the first place.

I don't care though. I've enjoyed the process, and having the cost and work spread over a long period, during which the bike was always usable, has helped me keep the enthusiasm up. The bike feels "mine" in a way that a "ready made" bike might not have.

Most importantly, I like the bike as it is now.

Same as with electronics: You buy a new camera and spend 3 grand but that's just for the body. Now you need a len(s), filters, bag, batteries, charger, strap, strobe/flash and those are just the basics to make it work.

I budgeted $200-$300 for accessories and spent $250 on my headlight alone. Cycle wear not included. The good news is that you can add accessories as you ride.

Carlton Flyer, the same name as on the first carbon bike in 1969. Lovely bikes, always jealous of my brother's Carlton he had many years ago. Not only did it ride beautifully but it looked beautiful too.


When it comes to cycling you really can go as cheap or expensive as you want to. You can pull a bike out of a dumpster and give it a service for next to nothing or you can go top end. No reasons not to cycle. People still riding steel bikes 50 years old, wonderful to see something last so long in our throwaway society. Very much doubt today's carbon and aluminium bikes will last as long.

If you like vintage bikes, you like vintage bikes.

I think of it this way,
if I find a vintage bike I really like and get it rolling to my preferences for $500 or so and then roll that vintage bike into my local bike shop and look at all of their $500 or so bikes which would I prefer?

With the bikes I have I would pick my vintage bikes each time.

Best statement I have heard in a while.

Kilroy,

Just enjoy your purchase and don't fret - as long as it's what you wanted and gives you joy when you ride! If it turns out that it's not quite right, keep your new accessories and sell the bike - you can re-use the pump, etc. on the next one.

I bought a nice steel-framed 'vintage' bike and took it completely apart down to the frame - only left the headset installed. I wanted to create a 'rando' bike with fenders, 650b wheels, low gearing, etc. I knew it would cost me and I wound up spending about $1000 for all the new pieces and parts - about half of that was for the wheel components and the tools to build the wheels. Yes - a lot of money - but I'm getting what I want.

I'm not finished yet, but if the bike doesn't ride right for me I'll simply remove all the new stuff, re-install the old, sell it, and find another interesting project.

Have fun!

I find that the cost of building a vintage bike is often helped by a look at the cost of a modern bike. Just now looking up touring bikes at Performance Bike I find a range of $950-1,600.00. While you can come close to these prices with a vintage bike build you often end up with a much better frame that will last and with state of their time components that again will work and last. Through your vintage build you will have created your own vision/custom bike, whereas off the floor its NEW, but not much else and likely never to have the history behind it that your vintage bike has. When I'm done with a rebuild, I have my bike and all that design and craftsmanship that you don't find on modern bikes unless you're going into the $5,000.00 and up range, but then for that price you can pick up the vintage equivalent to a Carrol Shelby Cobra. I know which I'd choose.

Having very specific requirements, timeline and budget for a complete C&V project avoiding both the scope-creep that blows up budgets and the close-enough/not-really "bargains" that fail to meet requirements is a discipline that can stretch timelines and frustrate immediate gratification. Taking a multi-phased approach that never loses sight of the primary requirement of having the exact period frame size/make/model desired while fitting out w/ functionally and aesthetically acceptable bit's-n-bobs to get on the road at reasonable cost while acquiring the "right" stuff to re-fit over time can make the process both affordable and "interesting".

A multi-phased project can also back stop fantasy with reality when that "grail" bike frame proves to be an ill-manned twitchy beast with the ride of an un-loaded lumber wagon and rust hiding in every tube instead of the imagined vision of a nimble precise pristine period correct happiness-engendering jewel.

On any project be prepared to pull the plug before reinforcing failure with more time, effort and $.
That being said reinforce success with confidence and get on with it.

-Bandera

OP, only you know the answer to worth.

You did a MARVELOUS job with that.

Really- if you need/want a bike- all you "need" is a bike shaped object that sort of works. Beyond that it's all snob appeal.

I get a kick out of the people that remove or cover logos because they think they're somehow being more "pure" or something about it. It's as snobby as advertising a bespoke or boutique or name brand item.

Figure out what you need, decide what you want, earn enough to get **** you want- regardless of what it is.

The longer I've been into things, I start to realize why the fancy, expensive stuff is desirable and expensive. Sometimes that stuff is what I want or aspire to- sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's "worth it" in my estimation, and sometimes it's not. And for other things that I find desirable- they may not be considered fancy or desirable for anyone else- it's still desirable and nifty to me. There's a point that there's a lot of stuff that's better than me- stuff I'm not going to be able to test the limits of. But that's OK. This is about me and what I want.

If I'm putting the thought and time and money and effort into building up something special, I want it to be what I want it to be. Yeah, I'm going to make errors, in judgement and in practice- but for something that I'm putting effort into, short of being urban camouflaged- I want the good **** on there.

As Golden Boy says it's all about your wants and your needs, if you own a bike for the opinions of others, what's the point....

My goal is to reduce to a few bikes I love to either ride or just enjoy as craftsmanship art, but again that's just my goal, yours is different and that's great too as long as it is yours.

The older I get the less stuff has meaning other than as a means to experience the joy of life and the fellowship of others and bicycles are a great tool for both.

Thank you. It's not so nice in real life but it's presentable with a bit of patina.

A great paradox of this hobby is how getting a first-class ride for peanuts is so enjoyable, I'll do it over and over again until I'm out of peanuts.

Small independent bike shops survive on selling and fixing stuff.. But..

If you buy a new bike , it will often be basic, to keep the price down ... adding accessories at point of sale ,

Will usually be installed for free and discounted 10%.






...

Hidden costs? I found out the hard way that the extras, wanted or needed, tend to run the price up. This old Zeus and this CCM Road Racer were both sold, simply because the cost to restore was beyond my reach. Too bad as I would like to have built and ridden both for a while...



And the cost, to do the CCM, was out of the question. Now, had it been a Flyer, it might have been a different story.

Recently got a very nice Mid 80s Japanese touring bike from this forum - thanks [MENTION=178668]The Thin Man[/MENTION]. Spent $185 on the initial purchase for the complete bike sans tires.

Since then for; new tires, stem, handlebars, pedals, and brake levers I have spent nearly an equal amount and there is probably still a Brooks in its future, My rationale is that uncomfortable bikes don't get ridden and that nearly every upgrade can be swapped to a different steed on the off, and unlikely, chance I don't like the finished product when I complete the 87 Cresta GT rebuild. I also tend to keep the original bits I am replacing so its possible to go back to stock if I need to pass the bike on.

OTH I am getting an entire, beautiful vintage touring bike customized for me, for less than cost of a new Velo Orange Campeur frame-set ($540).... Ok rationalization complete

[IMG]IMG_3060 by Ryan Surface, on Flickr[/IMG]

Dammit! Where's the 'Like' button????