cudak888 

Rare? Who said anything about rare?

If you feel that "revering" a bicycle requires that the rest of the world to envy it for its value or rarity, you've got it wrong. Maybe at SS/FG, but not here.

I believe most of the fellows here on the forum are far more concerned with the enjoyment and sentimental value they get from their machines - desirability aside - then collectible value.

So it's low end - big deal. They're still classy machines worthy of a owner that will take care of them and enjoy them for what they are.

-Kurt

Six jours

Actually, I'll disagree with this almost in its entirety. I mean, I've got no problem with folks who value their own low-end bikes on the basis of practicality or sentiment, but the key phrase is "their own". It's the folks who get all worked up because somebody else spray painted a cheap POS frame that puzzle me. Who cares what happens to a bike that is A) available everywhere at fire sale prices, and B) garbage?

IMO, the rationale for concern over defacing something like the Willier in the OP, or a 60s Cinelli, etc., is that A) they were/are very nice bikes, B) they didn't make all that many of them in the first place, and C) they're sure not going to make any more.

Really, it's akin to getting bent out of shape at the folks who are hanging spoilers and neon lights on their late 90s Honda Civics. If they were doing it to classic era Ferraris there'd be plenty of reason for righteous outrage, but... it's a Civic. The Cannondale from a page back was never a "classy bike" and never will be, as just about anyone who ever rode one will tell you!

cudak888 

I wasn't particularly directing this towards the complaints about the conversions in this thread - personally, I am not about to argue the point for either side.

My point was the direct complaint that Unterhausen directed towards our preference to enjoy what we have, rather then desire what everyone wants. If he wants to be a fashionista follower, fine - he can do so without criticizing individuals who don't believe in his type of thought.

Case in point, if one feels themselves entitled to lecture me about how my Raleigh USA machines are crapola due to the fact that they have limited collector appeal, they'll quickly receive an earful, if not told to bugger off in the first place. Keep it to yourself if you don't like it.

-Kurt

P.S.: While I have no love for those who fixified any of the machines in this thread, I really don't care about making a big production about it. So long as they keep their mouth shut about how I should be managing my collection (and keep Chip Foose out, for that matter), I'm fine with it.

Six jours

So much for my reading comprehension skills, eh?

I agree with you 100%.

Chief&Champ

I just don't see the appeal of a fixed-gear bike. As a twenty-year-old with hair, I refuse to wear a helmet to flatten my luscious mane. The hair-in-the-wind thing is pretty hollywood. That is a fashion choice. I might crack my cranium one day, but that's the risk right?

As for converting an old classic into a fixed-gear? I don't see how that's a fashion choice. Spray painting your entire bike black to look like a badass 12-year-old, fashion choice. Walking up a steep hill, fashion choice?

unterhausen

Specifically addressing the part of the thread that started here, I'd have to say the thread went off track at that point, because the bike was built to be a fixie. Now it's just fixie hate, which I find more than a little strange. Seems like vintage is in fashion now, and it's fashionable to hate fixies. What is everybody in here sneering at poseurs converting their Masis into fixies going to do when the poseurs start showing up at starbucks on a vintage bike? Seems to me that we have already reached that state to some degree if Craigslist is any indication.

My dislike for some of the bikes that seem to be fashionable in this forum is more based on 15 years of having to fix them back in the '70s and '80s. Should have left that bit out of my post, I have never gone into anyone's thread and insulted their bike, no matter how tempted I was. Fashion is the last of my concerns. I just like good, solid bikes that work. My opinion is that a bike that never worked that well is not worth restoring. But I would never say that someone else should take my point of view on that.

Sianelle 

Ride them!

jet sanchEz

I think riding fixed is a lot of fun and, provided the gear ratio is correctly chosen for the rider's ability, there shouldn't be any hill-walking whatsoever. Borrow one from a friend for an afternoon, you will enjoy the hell out of it, I guarantee it.

Chief&Champ

Thanks for enlightening my ignorance a bit, riding in one gear only as a fashion statement didn't make any sense. I typically stay in the same gear for most of my riding, occasionally going up or down a gear to maintain cadence when there's head or tail wind. Big difference? I don't want to derail the thread with questions about singlespeed pros and cons though, so I'll look into it on the site.

As for the vintage bike fad, at least we don't have to park our bikes beside ugly Sporteks. The vintage aesthetic is timeless. The issue this thread seems to bring up is that some of the vintage-to-fixie conversions are irreversible. What once was a timeless generic pug is now a trendy experiment which won't be cool in five years time.

MrSpacely

This thread has made me pay closer attention to how I ride so that's good I suppose. I find that I use maybe three or four gears so, yeah, I'd be happy with a 3-speed. For some time now I've been thinking about down-grading my trail bike to a single ring crankset – I personally don’t need a triple considering the overlapping choices. I can understand the temptation to modify a bike into a single speed.

On the other hand I wonder if there really is a need to modify something that is for all purposes irreplaceable. Will the craft of creating a single speed progress to fellows chopping new Madones and Tarmacs? If it's really about the art then why mess with the old stuff? How about a Pinarello or Cervelo? Now, if someone were to modify a Trek Lime into a track bike looking thing, well, that would be cool.

Sixty Fiver

My generic '62 Pug (a P6) will always be cool... to me.

She has inspired more than a few folks to take a number of unloved generic Pugs and turn them into fairly wonderful and useful bikes... some have been turned into fixed gears and singlespeeds while a good number have also received upgraded components to make them so much better.

She was headed for the crusher when I found her and will always be my first fixed gear...

unterhausen

I am conflicted about this. If someone stumbles across a 55cm Colnago from 1976 and rattlecans it after hacking off the derailleur hanger, I'm gonna be pissed. If someone does the same thing to a 1979 Trek they bought for $50, I say go for it. Some people obviously have different values from me. There were comments about painting a '90s Cannondale in this thread. I see nothing wrong with modifying that frame. In general, I think people should limit their mods to paint. That way the bike can be returned to its original purpose. But in my view as someone who has been around bikes for 35 years, they are pretty much made to be disposable. I really don't know how much longer my late '70s racing frame is going to last. Need to get some framesaver and treat it. A bike that's been getting sweated on daily for 30 years is in trouble.

The truth is most bikes are purchased and thrown in the garage. There are far more bike owners than there are bike riders. The good restoration candidates have been ridden once and stowed in the back of the garage.

Chief&Champ

Nice bike! I was referring to the previous 'travesty' Peugeot, where I believe the rear derailleur hanger was so precisely removed. I think the braze-ons were removed as well.

Perhaps I have a case of Craigslist cynicism.

tradtimbo

There is a big difference between fixed and single speed. Its not about fashion statements.
read this: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html

I have many bikes. some have gears, some are fixed. I ride each one based on my need. around the city nothing beats a fixed gear bicycle. It is merely...i reapeat...MERELY a different type of bicycle. Other types of bicycles have been hijacked for fashion over the years. The fixed gear bike has been around since the beginning and is here to stay. The fashion statement? They always seem to disappear once that generation grows up a bit.

There is something to say about the simplicity and control a fixed gear bike has. When done correctly, a nice conversion is just that. Nice.

sailorbenjamin

See the Brooks saddle? It's on the right in the back by the little orange arrow that I made.

Wonder what kind of bike it's attached to.

Scooper

Oh?

Allen

The fate of most stolen bikes, sold as scrap metal by junkies.

unterhausen

The OP was asking for opinions of his bike, I gave mine. People were telling him to dump big money into that bike for reasons I disagree with. I thought he should take it to a bike shop and have it worked over, but no big money. If the vintage craze gets out of control and people start going nuts over '70s Huffys, I'll probably be banned.

The reason I started reading the classic/vintage forums is because that's all I ride. I have a collection of bikes that are all '70s vintage. They are my daily riders. Keeping them running is a bit of an adventure. So my opinions about the bikes of that era really haven't changed at all, because I still see them as the vehicles that they are. If it wasn't ridable back then, it's not ridable now. If a bike represented a cynical ploy to take market share from companies that were making much better bikes for reasonable money, it still has that patina to it.

Scooper

Fair enough.

From your criticism of the OP's bike, though, it sounded like you didn't know the difference between an electro-forged 1010 carbon steel Varsity/Continental that does weigh 40 pounds, and a hand fillet-brazed 4130 chromoly Sports Tourer/Super Sport that's much higher quality, has a frame that weighs significantly less than the electro-forged frames, and was built in the Chicago factory "Cage" right next to the contemporary Paramounts.

Most folks here do know the difference.

buzzybelmondo

but riding helmetless so as to not muss one's hair does?
traumatic brain injuries are so NOT Hollywood.

unterhausen

I guess hand brazed 4130 construction simply fails to impress me, particularly in combination with proprietary forged steel ashtabula cranks and poor aesthetics.

True that these bikes were a big step up from a Varsity. The components were a world apart. And even the Varsity was a fairly reasonable bike other than the spine crushing weight and the rear dérailleur.

sailorbenjamin

This isn't the scrap dealer, this is the town dump. Someone threw out their own bike.
The local scrap dealer lets me dig good bikes out. The town dump doesn't.

unterhausen

Probably was a good bike, looks like it has the brooks with the flattened rivets. I'm waiting for the next bulk trash day around here, lots of bikes.

keiththesnake

Crying shame. Ever think about sneaking in and taking the bikes, or the Brooks, anyway?

sailorbenjamin

Yeah, there's no security after hours and a decent place to hide the bike I rode in on. This one was buried a bit deep under some pretty heavy items (like that Huffy ladies bike in the forground). I get them when I can.
Last time there was a Scwinn Suburban that was real shiny but needed a chain and tires and a matching World Sport. Not my favorite bikes but they'd have been easy to fix and flip to someone who wanted them. While I was trying to figure out how to get them without loosing my dump priveleges, the guy drove a front end loader up and squashed everything to the back of the bin.
What kills me is that we have a "swap shop" at the other end of the parking lot where you can leave things that are too good to scrap and people don't bother to put stuff in there.