My two Lira:
If you would enjoy riding it more if it looked better
then I would repaint. Re-chroming may not be a good
idea but a quality painter/restorer like Joe Bell can
evaluate that for you. Also, a quality job from
someone like Joe will run you approx $400-$600 and
more if re-chroming -worth it for a quality frame. If
originality is important then you may want to sell it
as is and find another with better original paint if
you would ride it more -may take a while to find your
size again though.
Derek Willburn
Long Beach, CA USA
>
> This topic has probably been hashed around on the
> list more than Blond
> Lebanese in Madison during the late '60's. However,
> given some of the
> recent E-bay prices for unrestored "rats", I think
> the topic can safely
> be
> revisited.
>
> I've got a late 60's/early 70's Cinelli SC with
> original decals and
> what's
> left of the original silver paint. It is an early
> drilled lug frame
> with
> the old-style long campy dropouts, and also still
> has the fender
> eyelets.
> It is ratty as hell. "Patina" is not a word that
> comes to mind. The
> paint is
> worn through all over the place with some pitting
> of chrome in the
> usual
> areas under the lugs. Looking at it, you would say
> that it obviously
> needs
> to be stripped, re-chromed, and re-painted.
>
> However, it is authentic! Decals and color bands,
> lettering, and the
> Columbus SL decals are honest and original.
>
> After seeing what one old battle worn Cinelli
> recently sold for on
> E-bay, I
> have some doubts that a restored bike would be any
> more valuable than a
> ratty original one. Like most of you, I'm in this
> for love and not for
> money, so the decision is not really based on
> economics.
>
> My personal preference is for my bikes to look as
> near to new as
> possible.
> It's probably from some Freudian anal retentive
> stage I never got
> through or
> something, I don't know. However, in this case, I
> have some trepidation
>
> about restoration.
>
> Jeff Pyzyk
> Milwaukee, WI
>
>
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