Restoration vs. original

[37ccmflyte]

I never had a choice as none of the four bikes listed below (soon to be 5) came with any original paint and were in bits or badly "restored/butchered" in one case, total rust in another. two were just bare frames and they were all in need of full restoration. There was nothing to left to preserve.
I can see both sides and if I did have an original I would preserve it too!!

 

[SirMike1983]

My process is to take the bicycle apart, de-rust, clean and re-lube, address any mechanical issues, polish, and re-assemble. Preservation is a good way of looking at this. But it's also preservation with a focus on mechanical integrity. I ride 4-5 nights weekly, spring through fall, over hilly terrain on public roads at speeds from a crawl up to about 30 mph. I'm not racing, but I am asking the bike to do what it was designed to do in terms of general purpose riding. So it has to be a presentable old bike, but it needs to work and be safe. I don't ride through road salt or in the winter.

If a bike requires a total re-paint and re-chrome, I don't buy into the project. Nothing I own is valuable enough to justify that anyway. And the level to which you do all this work is entirely a case-by-case basis. Each project is its own case and you need to study what you have before you act on it. A highly valuable and complete project that is in bad cosmetic state might be a candidate for a full concourse restoration, whereas a $200 bicycle that has aged but original paint is worth just cleaning up. "Do no harm" is a good way of summing up the most basic rule of all this.

 

[catfish]

It is only original once.

 

[bikejunk]

I do many (really only ) Concourse shows both motorcycle and bicycle oily rag is the new standard for these events -I have requests from 3 on my desk right now -preparing a survivor for competition crucial hours go into the display

 

[redline1968]

I do auto body and paint.. it's an art.. getting a bike or car back to its original condition is a painstaking process which often a replication of small details and rare parts or pinstripes... always underappreciated and now undervalued.. a shame I say.. history should be preserved and if it's in very poor condition it should be restored. Granted I have original bikes and some restored.. the restored are better than a original for bikes and cars ..safer for cars. In example I have a 71 trans am. Some joker "f---d up " a resto that will kill someone.(me). so I have to restore it..while disassembling it I discovered the body was poorly assembled at the factory and was decaying in critical areas.. Now its being preserved and extremely safe.. and will be beautiful once again. I have a flying merkel has not one inch of paint left so I'll restore it.. if it had worn out but most of its orig paint no. The future buyer won't care about the extra work to make it right or the effort to preserve....I don't care. Restored or original? I'd rather have what I enjoy ....either way I don't care what others say..

 

[CeeBee]

I've noticed the muscle bike guys tend to lean toward "restoration" more than the balloon tire and earlier crowd. Personally it takes a really high detail restoration to make me appreciate the shiny stuff over the original survivors that tell a story through their flaws. I have seen very few restored bikes that really got everything right and when it's not right that "story" is gone forever.

 

[bobcycles]

Simple.
You restore rough and beat down bikes that are significant enough investment or quality, model etc
Restored bicycles are beautiful when done with accuracy and time and patience.

The problem overall with restored bikes is that the majority of restored bikes were done
on the fly or too many corners were cut.

I love seeing any restored bicycle that was done right because I know how much work
it takes to get there... and always "Hope" that the bike started out as a Too Rough
to leave as-is project.

 

[fshbydesign.com]

Bicycles that retain their original untouched patina carry a certain agency that cannot be replicated. Original condition bicycles tell a story that is somewhat linked to it's provenance... One thing to remember, patina is once in a lifetime.

 

[atencioee]

Simple.
You restore rough and beat down bikes that are significant enough investment or quality, model etc
Restored bicycles are beautiful when done with accuracy and time and patience.

The problem overall with restored bikes is that the majority of restored bikes were done
on the fly or too many corners were cut.

I love seeing any restored bicycle that was done right because I know how much work
it takes to get there... and always "Hope" that the bike started out as a Too Rough
to leave as-is project.

Very well stated, brother!

 

[MrColumbia]

One of the factors that I have observed to push the bicycle community toward original over restored was the large quantity of reproductions that were out a few years ago. The Schwinn Phantoms and Crates, Columbia RX-5 and the 41 and the Roadmasters all introduced large quantities of reproduction parts. Now all the lower end non-deluxe bikes could be restored as a Deluxe version with no way to tell if it was authentic or not.

With this uncertainty comes an automatic devaluation of any restored bike and a higher valuation to any Deluxe bike in original condition.

One other factor is the high cost of restoring. Chrome is through the roof and so is a professional paint job making the cost of restoration of most bikes more than they would be worth once restored. Others have already brought out the point of shortcuts when restoring and substituting paint or powder coat for plating, a common practice also hurts the value of restorations.