From: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
>I have one of Andy Hampsten's Motorola bikes he raced in Europe on in
>1992. Andy Hampsten, the only American to win the Giro d'Italia. I
>don't think twice about taking it out on a 60 mile ride. I'm not hurting
>that bike in the least by riding it. People don't see my bikes when
>they are hanging on my wall; they do see them when I'm out riding them.
>BTW, I can not name a place west of the Mississippi where you can go to
>a bicycle museum to view bikes.
Excellent point! A bike of historical value kind of loses some of that historical value when nobody gets to see it... it becomes furniture.
There's a P-38 called Glacier Girl that's being restored in Middleboro, KY (its the one they hauled out from under 260 feet of ice in Greenland. They've spent 7 years and who knows how much money restoring the thing and its supposed to be ready to fly in October. Imagine how difficult it is getting parts (many had to be handmade). Imagine how much its worth (they turned down a $5 million offer when the restoration was only half done). Imagine the historical importance (there's only a handful left, and only 6 worldwide that fly). But what are they going to do with it? Fly it! The owner wants people to see it and appreciate its beauty and its place in history... and he doesn't think those ends can be accomplished nearly as well if it's on static display in a museum. Folks need to see it taking off and buzzing their heads with its engines roaring.
I say ride those old bikes. That way you as the owner can enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed, and the rest of us can see them as well. I know tragedies happen, maybe the paint gets scratched or God forbid, a crash dents a tube... but most damage is repairable. We've got some great artisans out there who can fix/restore most anything on a bike. Besides, tragedies happen everywhere... maybe the bike you're out riding is the only one that survives because a burglar or fire tags your garage while you were gone...
Bob Hovey
Columbus, GA