Oh but you are ooooh so wrong.
For me the only way to be in this gig was to do it all or nothing. And yes I paid for originality because that was the only thing that mattered.
Nick Zatezalo Atlanta,Ga.
-----Original Message----- From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net> Sent: Nov 8, 2005 10:01 PM To: Nick Zatezalo <nickzz@mindspring.com>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Fake Hoods & Decals & What Else
I am almost convinced Nick is pulling our collective legs here.
Surely, Nick you are not riding your original machines, be they circa 1947 or 1967 or even 1981, on original tyres from that era? I mean I tried to ride my 1951 Raleigh Clubman on her original (honest!) Dunlop Roadracing tyres. I made it halfway into a 40-mile ride. I couldn't even repair the flat as the tyre was fused to the rim with age. I look SO original and authentic riding a flat clincher home like it was a tubular!
So are you really riding on 1970 Clement silk Setas? That is SO cool. Or 1950s Dunlop no. 3 tubulars? Even cooler. But that "hissss" when you get a flat must be a real downer. Unless you have quite a stash.
Original '60s bar tape is great too, I mean if the sticky hasn't turned to green shellac. Cycle oil lasts forever if it's Sturmey, though. But what about Campagnolo grease? What's that like after 40 years? And you must have better luck than I did trying to use original Raleigh touch up paint c. 1958. That Sunset Yellow looked like the inside of a chain smoker's lung when I painted it on.
So I feel off the hook as the CR Purist here, but if we all kept to this "thrill of the original", all our bikes would be.. well on hooks on our walls.
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA