i hate conversions...
 

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/2037682389.html

I hate seeing high quality bikes made into fixed gear like this, anyone else share my hatred? (for the people that do this not the poor bike)

I dunno, if thats what works for people why not....

Some hipster will shell out 500 for 3/4 of a bike and be the coolest kid with tight jeans and neon shoes.

If a bike is converted and not drewed I don't have a problem with this... this bike will probably make you clutch your chest and keel over.

It needed a re-paint and I thought that I'd go in a different direction.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...fetti2010a.JPG

I don't mind it too much until they start butchering up the frame. If they leave the frame intact, at least it has a chance of being a good bike again someday when the fad's over.

i like it as long as its done respectably. (ie no cutting off braise ons)

-the frameset is being used (not wasted)
-it is 100% reversible
-it can be done to look classy

at the end if the day its no worse than shimano an italian frame (in my book)

I find it interesting that in the 70's and 80's racers would regularly convert road bikes for fixed gear training, and it was okay. Now it seems any bicycle (and/or rider of one) with a fixed gear is thrown into the hate bin.
Perhaps the OP's rant is aimed at a current subset of our culture (i.e. so called "hipsters") and not so much at fixed gear conversions per se?
I don't mind tasteful conversions, but do not personally care for the whole "bmx-esque" brightly colored component thing. Of course, I'm 44, not 21. So, I do relate to some degree with the OP's disdain for people with (IMO) little sense of taste. The bike that was linked looked fine to me for the most part. Now, had the person put a ridiculously narrow flat bar, colored bmx grips, etc, then I'd be on the bandwagon on the taste issue.

I know plenty of grown adults who ride functional, nice fixed gear bikes (conversions included) and enjoy riding them.
The more youthful folks also seem to be having the time of their lives on their bikes, and from what I've seen, many of them seem to have a real appreciation for bicycles as transportation (if sometimes garish).

Ultimately, a bicycle frame is a utilitarian thing. Unless the frame in question has a specific history that makes it worthy of preserving, I see no problem with doing whatever suits the needs of the owner, including "modifications" if desired. It's their bike, after all.

Tuesday discussion

In the cattle business; you don’t want to see a man cow to begin with (LOL when I wrote it), but when you do, you pick the one that you want to pass-on its genes to the next generation. The rest get castrated. And that’s it, they’re done, other than eating grass and waiting to be made into steaks. Have you ever had Rocky Mountain oysters? Didn’t think so.

I kind of feel the same way about bikes that have had their hangers ripped off. I understand, I think, the simplicity of a single speed; I don’t understand the mentality of someone who will castrate a bike so that it will never be anything else except a flank steak when it could have been a Filet Mignon

I drewed a bike once when I was a lad. I think my Mum still has it on her wall.

(Still finding reasons to make myself laugh 65er, nothing personal)

To a classic & vintage road restoration, if the frame isn't worth $ 500-600 like he's asking, nobody buys it. Even for someone after a SS/FG bike it's more than likely not worth his asking price ?

http://bikebuilds.blogspot.com/

To be honest, it would have to be original and excellent condition for me to consider it for a road bike. I'm on record as indicating that's what mine is worth to me, but everything is original virtually showroom condition, I doubt anyone gives me that, but that's what I'd need to replace it with. As a SS/FG, there are probably several $ 500-600 SS/FG's available that I'd prefer. Schwinn Madison, Fuji just to name a couple.

The worst joke is the crummy wheels on the nice bike.

While Drewing a frame is nearly inexcusable, it still bugs me to see things like that Bottecchia. I've dedicated many (many!) hours to finding original parts to reassemble original bikes and people who do that sort of thing just make my job harder than it has to be. The only quasi-organized ride in my town draws a number of FG types and the other week some kid showed up on a very nice Lotus made from Columbus tubing that had been converted. I told him that it used to be a very nice bike before somebody took it apart. Things are a bit different for things which have no particular historical value* or are acquired as a bare frame, of course.

I guess I just feel like anything which is going to outlast me can't really be considered to be "mine". Because of that I try as much as possible to preserve those little pieces of history for whomever ends up with them a hundred years from now. If all I wanted was a Bottecchia frame, I'd be set. But if I wanted a Bottecchia that thing wouldn't cut it. How long before no more original Bottecchias exist?

*Yeah, I know.

No Problem with me too, as long as it's reversible........for the next guy......
Hmmmmm.....Must be Tuesday again!:rolleyes::D

Chombi

As much as I appreciate and enjoy classic paint schemes, I have to confess that I really love the look of this bike.

Somewhere, I actually stumbled across someone selling bikes made up to look like Sixter Fiver's bike. I don't know if they stole his idea, but it was very much an exact copy. It may have been on ebay, I'm not certain. Oh, and of course they were frames marketed to the fixie crowd.

I came across a Paramount fixie this weekend at a shop in Chicago for sale cheap. The paint on the frame was toasted as it was down to what looked like the primer and bare metal on nearly the entire rear triangle. Poor thing, as I wonder if the original owner knew what he had. It's still down there at Cycle Bike shop. I like riding fixed gear but I'm not much for the newer stuff people ride on that have more colors then the rainbow and the cards in the spokes thing. I think it goes back to my original comment as using something really nice that deserves much better then being a beatup city commuter.

Sixty Fiver was not the first person to decoupage a bike frame.

I'm not one to talk because I almost always change a bike that I like. My Bianchi, Nishiki Prestige and Paramount are now brifter bikes and my Nishiki Ariels both sport suspension forks. As long as the frame is not butchered or repainted, I guess I don't care.
There's another way of looking at this, did the changes result in a bike that gets ridden? With the exception of a Raleigh Record and a Centurion LeMans 12, the only vintage bikes I ride are the ones that have been changed/upgraded to suit my riding needs.

It's been awhile since we had one of these, and I was hoping these threads were fading into the sunset.

It's their bike, they can do what they want to it. That includes trying to sell it for a stupid price on CL.

Most of us probably wouldn't bother. We're also free to be horrified by their choices. Anyone remember the Willier?

I'm all for bikes getting ridden, and people enjoying them, which a lot of the SSFG look to me like they're doing.

At least this thread hasnt attracted the SSFG guys who mutter mystically and non-sensically about the superiority of the FG drivetrain.

And I've been riding FG for a very, very long time, like multiple decades.

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...and17PX10s.jpg

nothing wrong with it as long as the braze ons remain intact and, of course, the bike is actually ridden.

I completely drewed a 90's Specialized Hard Rock someone gave me, d-hanger gone, canti brake studs gone, cable guides gone. It's a light frame as it was, super light now. I converted it to a coaster brake single speed and ride it every day. I would never have ridden it as a MTB, and it was bound for the dump if I hadn't got my way with it.
A bike is a tool, it can be sharpened any number of ways.

I've tried riding fixed and it's not for me, but I don't concenn myself with what other people choose to do with their own bikes. The Willier didn't bother me at all. It was his bike to do as he pleased. Removing braze ons that aren't needed is okay with me, too. I've done it on a couple of IGH conversions.

I will agree that some conversions I've seen are botched pretty badly, but I feel the braze ons can be removed properly (with a torch, not with a hacksaw) if they do not suit the purpose of the owner.
If, some day down the road, someone obtains a frame that has had some braze ons removed, guess what? They can be re-brazed, if desired. Paint? Why not if it is deemed beneficial or desireable by the owner?

I really don't see the big deal here - I see some "attachment" issues emerging in this thread.

My frankenstein? Yep. It's a beautiful '83 Marinoni that I sent to the factory in Montreal to have the derailleur hanger and left shifter boss removed (plus the poorly brazed FD hanger installed by a previous owner) then re-painted. When I inquired, I was told that the work was done by Guiseppe himself, and that folks in the workshop were eager to see my conversion (I had given an outline of my planned build).
My build is almost complete, and has been by design from day one - IGH in back (SA S3X currently) with shifter on the right boss, Honjo fenders, Brooks Swift Saddle, Paul Racer Medium brakes, and a front porteur rack. I just built up the S3X wheel last night (Ambrosio Excellight SSC rim).
The bike is stunning, and will be my town bike and sporty runabout from this point forward. I may put an 11 speed (IGH) out back one day.
After 35 years of committed (i.e. other than childhood) riding, I'm done with derailluers - I'm at a stage in my life (middle age and happy to be here) where I can do everything I need with an IGH bike. Why would I choose to put $2000 + into a conversion and leave un-needed bits hanging off of the frame?
If, after I die, someone finds the frame useful and does not like my conversion, they are free to re-braze and search for components that will have been out of production for decades.

In my fleet are several single speed conversions, a few 3- or 4-speed conversions, and a couple of 2-speed conversions. I'm feeling the hate!

Neal

That's a great way to look at it! A good knife can be ruined by inept sharpening, and a good bike can be ruined by inept drewing. But if the end product is a success, and the bike gets ridden and enjoyed, there's nothing wrong with that no matter what the original bike was. If it's a total botch job, then yes, I hate that.