[CR]Reproduction parts and Legends

(Example: Framebuilding)

Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 17:38:10 -0500 (EST)
From: <wheelman@nac.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Reproduction parts and Legends

The repo hoods were just a jump off point and if anyone cares I would not turn away a set. Having said that, the discussion on repo parts and period correct does add a dimension to the hobby that we would all miss if every bike and part were perfect. That is the legends that go with these bikes and parts. You know, the stories that come alive when your at a swap or Cirque and some one asks, What is that, or that is not correct for that bike or period. Hell, I like some of those stories better then some of the bikes and parts themselves.

I know that I have heard the story about the perfect bike that some one got because the kid that owned it died 2 week after he bought it. I have seen that one used at least 4 times on different bikes in my years as a collector. Then you have the bikes that were burried in the back of a old shop and rescued from the wrecking ball.

Some of my favorites are the stories that come with a clandestine or cloak and dagger feel to them. You know these stories, someone comes up beside you and says, pssst, did you know I got these for next to nothing from Joe and he only has two more left! Finally you have the courtroom lawyer types who defend each item on their bike as if they were on trial.

"Hmmm, your honor, I can testify and certify that the scratch on the top tube of that bike was caused by a fall during an accidental incursion with another bike in a race that Eddy Merckx participated in."

Oh don't forget the favorite and outrageous claims of provinance.... (This bike was made from tubing that was drawn from steel from the winners bike in the first TDF that was melted down for the war effort. The paint is colored with the finest vintage grapes from the Concord region of Italy and the components once belonged to Winston Churchill and I can prove it)! Without these stories the hobby would just be so much metal and grease.

Ray Homiski
Elizabeth, NJ