Bikes, and hubs, are meant to be ridden upon.

You bought them to ride, so ride!

This thread reminds me of the dilemma of the "ueber-rich" car collector. He does not drive his cars, but collects them, and keeps them stored in a climate-controlled garage. Originally, these cars were intended to be used as transportation. But as a result of "the ravages of time", only a few of them come to be in existence today. They then become valuable to some people. These artifacts are simply a representation of a particular time. They are only valuable to those who value them. For the majority of people, these parts are worthless, and won't bring more than $1.00 at a garage sale. Do with them what you wish.... .

Yes, I agree. But don't you think some of these items should be preserved in a museum? Who's to say that after the car collector is done admiring his cars (maybe when he dies), he donates them to a museum? Personally, I am fascinated with objects from the past and I love going to the museum, it provides value to all. This may sound presumptuous, but this is the first object I have owned of this caliber. I like to hear all viewpoints before I determine what is right for me.

I also like the implication I am uber-rich . It took a while, but those hubs were acquired after a lot of patience and some serious horse trading all starting with a good deal on a Cinelli adjustable stem.

i guess i don't get the idea of bicycle components as"wall art" just for the sake of preservation unless the item is simply unusable, impractically fragile/unreliable or unmaintainable.

For one, who , besides yourself, would get the chance to appreciate it if it's salted away in your home?

secondly, what sort of destructive abuse would something like a hub see if built up and ridden? Seems to me that if it's well maintained and taken care of, short of some severe accident, a good quality hubset will last for decades without any appreciable harm or wear.

When they are finally worn to the point of considering retirement, and it's time for trading in the bike for a wheelchair, you always can donate them to a cycling museum where, secured under glass in a display case, a worn race won't make any difference anyway.

Of course, that's assuming they don't have 5 sets of them already.

They are obviously not "just" hubs to you or you wouldn't have begun this thread. If you ride them you will regret it. Build them up and (1) sell them to a collector for collector prices, (2) mount them on a similar vintage, similar condition bike and either keep it or sell it for collector prices. A pair of similarly functioning hubs are comparatively cheap. Why would you want to take the "mint" quality from these for no reason?

It's not "for no reason" if he rides the bike the way it was meant to be.

Suddenly I am thankful that the bikes I have are mid-level things from the 70's to 90's that no one has or will ever treasure.

But, in a related thought, there have been numerous times when I have come to own a really nice part or two. My practice has been to just hang it in the rafters for a while and let me look at it for a while. Then slowly start thinking about how I might use it. Then one day, weeks or years later, finally grow enough courage to take it down and use it. I hung a nice saddle up there for almost a year. I have two sets of rims in their original wrapping up there now; but I am starting to get ideas about them.

jim

There's another avenue no-one's brought up yet that I think is worth consideration: Your knowledge of what those hubs are was hard won and the result of years of study and practical experience. Personally, I would save the hubs and only build them up if I found corresponding NOS parts to make an entire NOS wheel. And then further, only to mount to an entire NOS bike of the period. I would then, display, store, give to a museum or sell said bike at a profit commensurate with the torturous amount of time, blood and sacrifice it would've taken to find/build such a beast.

And it would all have started with my interest and the ensuing education I gave my concentration to. There will always be someone inspired more readily by a NOS piece than a used one, to follow in your path and I suppose that that's the point: To pass on your interest to someone else.

Danny

An item in a museum that was never used isn't nearly as interesting to me as one that was. There's no history in NOS other than sitting on a shelf.

As nice as that piece is, it's of little interest to the general public in and of itself. An entire bike in that great of shape from that era is another matter.

The hubs are art for sure, thats why you had to have them ! (cant blame you a bit) I have an un-ridden Annv. Paramount , got it from the Orig. owner/builder, i saw it in his shop window in Holliday displays and such for many years, the week after i bought it i started building one, (some new , some lightly used parts) , i ride it when ever i feel the call ! Things like that were first built by someone with a dream, with their own hands, for the RIDE !, if you only wanted to look at it you would buy a painting....ie, wall art ! PS..The day he completed the assembly on the bike he test rode it around the shop, one lap !and hung it in the window.....the day i took it home i rode it around the block, one time, right now i' am going to put up the xmas tree, the unridden Paramount, as always will be part of the xmas display....................Yeah, i'am crazy, so what !