dweenk

I would like to post a question - and that is, when do you restore a bike, and when to say to hell with it, I'm just going to rebuild it. Now I am asking about any bike you get your hands on (valuable or not). How do you make that decision, or do you avoid it by only acquiring the type of bike for your preference (restore-rebuild)?

surreal

I've got a driving need to modify bikes, so I purposely avoid anything with serious collector value,and I prefer to buy just framesets or complete bikes where there are already non-original components, or the original components are basically shot. It helps to assuage my guilty feelings.

I was once given a late-80s Fuji Tivoli with a thrashed paint job and some fairly run-down components. Everything was original except for the rear wheel (cheap replacement). I proceeded to tear the whole thing down, powdercoated it a cool color, and rebuilt it with weird components, none of which were original equipment. I even converted it to 650a. Had a blast; I still ride it, but a piece of me still feels a little guilty about it. So, yeah, with bicycle-emotional issues like mine, I'm best off buying framesets.

rpenmanparker 

Bike don't demand a certain treatment. It's the owner's choice. What do you want? A modern bike that simply builds on the nice attributes of a quality vintage frame or a vintage restoration. I just had my Romic frame repainted and built it up totally modern. I have no use for the old ways. But you may differ. Your choice.

Hudson308 

Yeah, what he said. Except for that Tivoli part.

surreal

Hey, a free Tivoli is pretty rad. The frame has some nice features: db chromoly, chain peg, forged drop outs. It just kinda needs more soul. I tried to imbue it with some, but it's just a pretty cool ridin' appliance.

Hudson308 

Hey, man... pics or it didn't happen!
My guess is it's pretty sweet. But my point was that I didn't do what you did to a Tivoli. To the OPs original question and your response, my (somewhat? okay maybe not really) guilty conscience took the form of a very original but very worn '81 Fuji S12-S that I snagged cheap off CL a year ago for parts. Not special enough to me for a resto but everything was there, so it got kicked around the cold garage all last winter waiting to get stripped. Then it hit me that the bike was the perfect frame size for my wife. I'd been looking for a way to get her hooked into my bike jones somehow, so I decided to rebuild it exactly the way SHE wanted it. Suffice to say it looks nothing like it did when it floated over the Pacific. But she loves it. It now has a nice warm spot in the den, waiting for warm enough weather for me to snap some good pics outside to share with you guys. Cuz you know, pics or it didn't happen.

howeeee

I think it is mostly about the paint, if you can salvage the paint then you can just do a rebuild.

I mostly deal with old Schwinns, middle weights, a sting ray or 2. I try to find ones that I can just refurbish.
Somebody gave me a Schwinn Town and Country in peices. I am in the middle of refurbishing it. I had to paint the forks and fenders. I kept the original paint on the frame, even though there is some rough spots. I cleaned up the frame the best I could. The chrome on the handlebars was destroyed so I replaced them.

The bike wont be real nice, but It will be nice enough to ride around.
Here are some others I refurbished.

RobbieTunes

2 Factors: Intended use and price.

If I'm going to restore it to look pretty and rarely be ridden, I'll only get a nicer frameset I don't have to paint, with components I can clean or replace.

If I'm going to ride it, and ride it regularly, I look for non-dented frames that are salvageable: cheap: then a repaint/new decals, and modern groups/wheels. In the long run, a couple of hundred dollars spent in the right place on a permanent rider is not a big deal. Ex: $150 in saddle, bag, wrap vs. $300 for saddle, bag, wrap that are "it." Over 10 years, that's $15/year to have what I want vs. whatever I can find. Another example of that is a wheelset: $150 good used set vs. $300 good used set is a huge difference in quality. Here, anyway.

If I'm going to flip it, it better be cheap, and only need disposables, because once it's done, it's gone, sometimes even at a loss: cheaper than bowling or golf.

If I just need a project, I look for something that won't exceed my capabilities and has potential, of which the major needs are tedious labor, not expensive parts.

bici_mania

For personal reasons I do not allow myself to have anything that is not used. I can respect and appreciate those who collect bikes that are rarely if ever ridden when the quality, beauty or rarity justify it.

I think my bikes are a mix of restoration and rebuild. Functionality and durability is the first priority for me and all of my bikes have been a mix of old and new and a little in between. This becomes more true with each bike I build for myself but some of it is in details that go unnoticed by others which is fine. For example I always wrap my handle bars bottom to top, I usually use hemp twine rather than tape and usually use actual wine corks rather than bar end plugs. I either use cloth tape or leather unless I spent all my money on other parts, in which case I use synthetic leather as I have with my Olmo. The vast majority of cyclist I ride with wrap top down and use electrical tape to finish the job. Cork, Twine, cloth tape and bottom to top wrapping are all things that had mostly or completely faded out of fashion when my bike was built but though those things predate my frame, I think they are superior and so I use them.

The aesthetics of the frame guide part selection. Campagnolo Skeleton brakes are really cool looking as are Ultra Torque cranksets but I would not put either on the 1979 Colnago Super I am currently trying to get my hands on. It is for the same reason that I would not put downtube shifters on a mass produced bike made in 2014. One might argue that it is a perfectly acceptable thing to do but in my mind it is just not right. I also won't ever put carbon fiber anything on any bike but that is for another discussion.

I repainted my Cannondale and immediately regretted it. Unless there is a rust issue, I don't think I will ever repaint another frame. I am sure I think about it way to much, perhaps to the point that it is unhealthy but I have come to see 'patina' as telling the story of the bike. There is history and personality in it and I value that as much as lugs and threaded forks, it is part of the bike.

I also try to work some of my own personality into the build. I always find a way to work something blue and something brown into the build, no matter the color/color scheme of the bike.

lord_athlon

Im either in the resto-mod category, or the full out modifying category.

On my newest acquisition, I replaced the 1980-Shimano Altus gear for 1984 suntour gear. Its not year correct, but its what someone who owned the bike back then would have done had they wanted something a little better. I consider it to be semi-appropriate.

On my centurion, I had it outfitted with a 2011 105 group. It rode like a dream.

bradtx

dweenk, It depends on what YOU want.

Brad

Hudson308 

Very nice work!