Ride or wall art?
 

For me, this has always been a no-brainer, you ride what you have and no bike is art (except for Duchamp's fork on a stool). A while back I got some FB hubs and I posted them in Catch of the Day. I got some rims for them a couple of weeks ago and now I am getting spokes (thank you nlerner, CV-6 and bikemore!) to build up the wheels.

Last night, I took apart the hubs to clean and pack with new grease. Now I am in awe of these hubs and I actually have contemplated not using them. I paid through the nose for these, they are NOS and came with the original packaging. I still have them apart, the details are extraordinary. The ends of the axles are chromed. The axles are stamped with the logo even though you never see them. The lock nuts are chromed. The date stamps (I'm assuming they are date stamps) are on the cones, the rear is stamped FB 36, on of the fronts is FB 36 and the other is FB 37. These hubs are absolute perfection after 70 years.

I am 90% certain I will make these into wheels and ride them but part of me thinks they should be preserved. There are probably not many NOS versions of these hubs out there. Usually, my philosophy is if it is functional, it should be used but these hubs have caused me to reconsider.

So if you read through all of that, where would you draw the line? In addition to the pictures below, more high res images can be seen here. http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/..._Beck/FB_Hubs/


Rear hub
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...FB_Hubs019.jpg


Front hub
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...FB_Hubs050.jpg

Beautiful. I would vote to build and ride. Your situation reminds me of a friend who has a 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar. He won't play it because he is frightend he will damage it and lessen the value. So it sits in his house in a case. Seems a shame to me, but to each his own.

This is going on your old track frame yes? And this bike was to be a full-period piece that would be ridden in good weather only? Build the wheels, put 'em on the bike, and ride it. Keep good care of it all, maybe even hang it on a wall, but never be afraid to ride it. These hubs were made to be ridden.

Art, no doubt, art, if you use them you'll regret it right away and you'll prob never find another set like those, I too used to beleive in "if it works use it" till just recently when I placed my 4500 K2 ProFlex away in storage for use as art in the future :) no ones going to replace them for you when they wear out so its best to enjoy them as art, you can always get another hub but how hard do you think it will be to replace those!? ;)

Ride 'em! I wouldn't do it every day or in nasty weather. But for a sunny Sunday afternoon? Yeah!

Piffle... When they fail, then use them as art and remember the joy of rides of yore.

STACEY! You evil little monkey you! ;)

Evil, moi?

ride 'em. fair weather won't hurt them as long as you have them built right. don't be afraid. when it's unrideable then it can be wall art.

You will appreciate them all the more when you ride them I think, iab. Better for you to have and enjoy them than to let them sit forever in a cardboard box on a shelf. Besides, their inner beauty is now preserved digitally for all to admire.

I have a Campy high flange hub with the flat skewer all buffed up, sitting on my desk.

I have a set of the same hubs built into wheels on my '72 Bob Jackson.

Pretty much all the hub on my desk does is remind me of how much I'd rather be riding than sitting at my desk. And nobody ever gives it admiring looks as it whizzes by, sparkling in the sun ...

Ride them...

The exception in my mind doesn't comes from whether they will lose value, but in whether you would be less able to relax and enjoy riding the bike because of the lost value.

In other words, if they cost so much that it hurts you to ride them, then don't... but my gut feel is that if you spent the money they cost you with plans to ride them, that you should just ride them.

Ride it, I don't see the sense in owning something you absolutely refuse to use unless you run a museum.

Don't become slaves to ones' possessions.

Let's substitute the hubs for a wad of cash. What do you call a person who loves money, stuffs his mattress, can't bear to spend it, denies himself of living, but revels in the amount horded? A miser. Or a sick *******.
The hubs won't go do any good, stashed away in a closet, till you die, and your kids look upon them as trash and throws them out or sells them a few bucks. It's just a soul-less commodity.
You must ride them for your appreciation to peak.

Lace 'em up and ride 'em. It'll just give you an extra piece of mind that you're riding on those hubs to top off your already classy bike.

Otherwise they're just going to sit lonely in a box for no one to enjoy.

The hubs will most likely be made into wheels and ridden, my only other choice is to put them in a museum. I would really consider the museum if it were close to me but I know of none so they will be used.

I am a bit OC, (please don't confuse that with OCP ;)), and I'm sure many of you have read my rants about it's original only once, I am thinking now, it is NOS only once and they have been like that for 70 years. Again, thoughts like that give me pause. I may even feel guilty when I pack them with my new grease.

So what if you positively knew these were the last remaining NOS set of FB hubs from this era in existance? Would you send them to the Gino Bartali Museum, or the Madonna del Ghisallo? Or would you ride them? What about a bike? What would you do with Eddy's hour record bike or anyone's hour record or TdF or Giro bike?

Personally, I'd display them. What's wrong with that? I'm guessing the other bidders who caused you to pay through the nose had a spot cleared in their display cases for them.

Are they really going to ride any different than any other hub? Is the experience going to be anywhere near as exciting as bidding on them, receiving them, studying them? Probably not. Nothing wrong with simply admiring and possessing beautiful artifacts. Why is riding a bicycle any holier than collecting bits?

I agree, as well, that they will only be NOS once. Ride them, and they will immediately depreciate. Keep them as is, and they will appreciate in value.

Then, when you bore of looking at them, you can sell them or trade them for new eye candy!

Well, at least there's one voice of reason in this thread! :D

(EDIT: Sorry, ilikebikes, make that TWO voices of reason!)

If you can find another pair of these (or similar) hubs, then definitely keep these NOS.

Dude, dont ride them, youre going to regret it, take it from me as Ive had a few sweet old bikes that Ive ridden then regreted doing so, just wait and see if you can get a hold of another set, if so build them and ride them, if not youll be happy you didnt ride them :) its not about the bones its about the beauty :) orig only once is the fact of it :)

a curious question, what value does something have if it can't be used? we discussed this today in a graduate art crit. (yeah, run!) what value is a painting if it's only to hang on a wall. how is it used? is a sculpture useful? my position is that an object can be useful just sitting on a shelf or hanging on a wall. my good friend makes folding pocket knives for $4000.00 that most people never use as a knife but are valuable and "useful" nonetheless. i have several of his straight knives, some of which i use- i carry one with me everyday, and some that i look at, keep on my desk, but keep them in "as new" condition as possible. guess it's up to you. i am haunted by the thought that someday my widow will be selling my precious objects in a garage sale for a buck or two. it's sad when i go to one of those sales myself, and see someone's fly rod, or favorite object never really used for its intended purpose, and now they're gone and now some stranger is buying their stuff.

okay, i change my mind. i think. :o

Art (fine art) is created as an expression of something (ranging from deep inner feelings to greed), and is then used as decoration of one form or another. Bicycle components, on the other hand, are made with the express purpose of being put on a bicycle to be ridden. The value argument can work either way: the component will most likely increase in monetary value if it isn't used, but it's value as a hub will be gone as it will simply be viewed as a sculpture. If you build them and ride them, they will of course lose some monetary value, but their bicycle value will be reached.

I love my personal collection of wierd stuff, some hangs and some sit in boxes, I love all of it, its my artsy stuff :D what I consider art anyways, and if when I die my wife/kids/grandkids decide to sell who cares! Im freaking dead! :lol: all that matters to me is that I enjoyed the stuff when I was alive and shared the joy the items bought me with anyone who would listen :)

I saw a pair on Italian ebay, definately not NOS but all steel. I couldn't tell much more because of the crappy pictures. I all but begged him to ship to the US but he wouldn't.

JYB, you make a good point with your voice of reason. :D Depreciation is not a worry, at least not for me, either way, these hubs will go to my grave.

And for the record, I am certain these are not the last NOS hubs. I have heard of amazing things found at the L'Eroica swap tables. I'm going sometime, either when the kids are out of college or I get a nice a nice inheritance, whichever comes first. ;)

That does not guarantee preservation, either. Just ask the 5000 San Diego families who lost a home to either the 2003 or the 2007 brush fires, including one family who got burned out both years. (Yup, the brand new replacement house -- up in smoke.)

I wouldn't ride them. These hubs are unique. The wad of cash analogy doesn't work - cash is always replaceable with other cash, these hubs aren't. Why not find another pair of beautiful hubs, just not NOS, and build them?