To Fix or Not to Fix...
 

...that is the question !???!????
Below is a crappy photo of my mid '80s Pinarello Treviso...purchased at that time for roughly $2200...big dough to me at the time. (sorry for the poor quality photo, the last time that bike saw daylight, my tech-tech digital camera didn't have an SD card...it was a floppy disk in a big Sony brick of a camera.)

Anyway...since purchasing a used track bike on craigslist, I haven't touched any geared bikes in my possession. I always loved this PInarello and would like to ride it again however and having mixed feelings because I feel as if I'm "butchering" the bike....and on the other hand, if I don't, it'll just sit in the dark.

So...do I "fix" it? And if I do...what shall I do??? (suggestions would be appreciated)

Or, do I let it sit and leave it for my toddlers to give to their children?

Thanks in advance...:)
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z.../pinarello.jpg

That bike is great as is. if i were you, i'd let it sit in the dark and continue to ride the KHS.
I have an '84 Ciocc road bike that sits in the dark. i turn the lights on every once in a while to look at it. my fixed gear bikes get all the action.

i <3 pinarello road bikes. gif it to meh!

why not just sell it and get another fixed gear?

How much could I get for it these days? (prolly not worth selling it)

you could donate it to the road-bike deprived young adults of Tokyo (like me!)

......I'd say keep it how it is and make sure it doesn't get any storage-damage.

Don't fix it. Turn it into a single speed and keep both brakes.

What group is that?

That bike looks so hot...but yeah, you might not be able to get too much for it. It is a bit of a shame to fix it when it's so perfect as is. Is it the best of your geared lot? Keep it as is and screw with your other rides. It's nice to have variety.

Road-Bike youth of today doesn't know how to take their hands of the bars in order to shift like we did in the stone ages:D

All Campy ummmm Record, maybe, maybe not, ??

Dont you dare, just let it continue to sit. If you sell it you will miss it and whats the point of making it a SS if you can only ride one bike at a time? Have fun riding the track bike you have. You will want to ride that bike again in due time, trust me.

That's it...I'm heading home to uncover it and think.

Looks like Chorus. Record had a 4 arm spider of that era.

I say SS it. Beautiful bike. IMHO if you were to sell it, I would part it out. Sell frame/fork and then sell the rest of the group w/ the option of cutting off the rims before you ship. Most folks who want that group will want to build up with new rims and won't want to pay the extra fee for shipping such a large box. The brake hoods look like they are in good shape which is often an indicator of the condition of the rest of the bike.

Not sure what it would sell for, but if you clean it up and take good photographs I don't think $800-900 for everything is unreasonable. I sold a full bike (which I should have parted out) years back for $1200 on fleabay. Full Campy SuperRecord on a classic DeRosa SL frame painted classic red. Looking back I should have kept it.

+1!!

DO NOT sell it! The fact that you are so torn should tell you that this bike is important to you. If you sell it whole, or part it out, YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Same goes for fixing it. If you change it into something else, then you might as well get rid of it, because it will NO LONGER be the same bike. You have other fixed machines, so why not let this one remain the beloved old friend it has been, to be ridden whenever the mood hits?

I hate to sound so dramatic about it, but I have several vintage road bikes that don't see as many miles as they used to, but I know that each has a value that I can't quite quantify. Each is a favorite in its own right, and I do ride them and appreciate them for different reasons, which, again, I can't quantify. The bottom line is......I have often thought of "upgrading" each of them (they all are 70's - 80's steel frame, downtube-shifted, drop-bar'd beauties), but if I did, they would cease to be the bikes I have enjoyed so much. Improvements for their own sake are often not improvements at all, especially when they displace something of value in favor of something common.

Anyway, just my thoughts on the matter.............good luck, and good travels..........

oh yeah, almost forgot to mention..... that is one drop-dead gorgeous ride. I wouldn't change a thing.

let it sit... eventually you'll learn how to love multiple bikes

You can go back and forth, just don't modify the frame. Everything is bolt on and leave it that way. If making it a fixed will make you ride it go for it, but when you want a road bike all the parts are still there to put back on. Me personally, I would keep it as is and have 2-3 other conversions.

I love my downtube shifters, i don't like the look of Shimano STI shifters with the cables coming straight out the sides of the shifters.

OK...so I got home uncover it and and was very surprised that storage has not been too kind on the old gal....and the bike is not as "cherry" as I thought it was.
The decals are flaking off, I have Shimao pedals (not Campy - wtf??), the seat on is a cheap Coda thatI bought from a discount bin at a LBS for $5 (but it's still very comfy), the frame has many scuffs on it...the old Contis are screaming for help...let's face it - it's been neglected!

Now the good part...I put air in the tires and took it out for a spin, in my dress shirt from work and loafers on clipless pedals. So it's been a while since I've ridden it and it felt strange to be able to coast.
Anyway, I was reminded of why I love "Eye-Talian" craftmanship - I felt like a shark in calm water, like carving strawberry-shortcake with a switchblade (ok, enough cheesy analogies)- you get the picture.
I returned home 20 minutes later with a huge smile on my face.

I thought about "cleaning her up"...checked Ebay for decals ($40), thought about painting, new parts etc...but then she wouldn't be who she is.

Try bombing a big hill, spinning up a steep grade, drafting some fast traffic or taking a few corners hard, way down in the pedal strike zone. I guarantee you will remember why gears and a freewheel are so much fun.

Given that you can get a good off-the-peg fixed gear bike for under $400 now, it would be a real shame to see a sweet old Pinarello get the conversion treatment. The other argument is that as long as you don't do anything stupid like shave off the braze-ons or "rattle-can" the thing black, then anything you do can be easily undone.

I tend to think of fixed gear bikes for the rode as sort of lock-and-leave things, the kind of stuff that you bang around on and not worry too much about. Even if you converted that, I'd still be afraid of nicking the paint or worse, so I'd definitely keep it as is, and use it on long weekend rides or whatever suites your lifestyle.

Don't convert it! I have a 80s Pinarello Dolomite that I love and wouldn't convert to fixed. Keep conversions limited to the japanese stuff! I did pretty much all the same reconditioning work that you'll have to do, and although it cost me a couple hundred for tools + parts, the end result was so worth it. Those Pinarello decals were crap, though, and mine are flaking off as well.

Ride that ****!

Go draft some tractor-trailers with that thing.

Keep it. Keep it original.