Are "Vintage" Bikes a good deal?

Gee, I wonder where you got that idea! I must admit that I'd be pretty tempted by a plan like this, too (If I wanted a such a bike.) People do restore vintage bikes (yes, money pit); and they also take vintage frames and put modern components on them. See: Renaissance Bicycles (another site for you...) Some things to consider: Vintage steel bikes are going to be heavier than modern steel ones, in general, and certainly heavier than say aluminum. But that's not necessarily that relevant for a non-racing bike. You could probably equip the bike in quesiton with a Shimano Nexus hub, but you would have to get a whole wheel built with the hub, or even custom built. that's not a show-stopper. If the bike could take a 650b wheel, those are available without custom-building. In fact, Velo Orange has one on sale, I believe. Harris Cyclery (or most good bike shops) will build them. You'd need to figure out, for every component, whether you wanted to use the original, find a new (NOS) original part, or adapt the frame to a modern part. This is for brakes, drivetrain and wheels. You could have the frame painted (est. $250 and up, although powder-coating is cheaper). But you would end up with a unique bike. Just some food for thought. Steve

GOOD food for thought, Steve!

The bike IS really pretty. I even like the paint color, though I've only seen pictures of it so can't tell what condition it's in. Since I'm not interested in racing it, I don't care if it's heavier -- which, in fact, might be a good thing in terms of my size. If I could get an 8-speed Nexus hub put in it without mortgaging the farm, that could be doable. I'm thinking, I'm thinking.... which Dear Hubby would probably say is not a good thing, LOL.

Speaking of paint versus powder coating-- which is better/lasts longer? There are places here that do both. There's even one place that will CHROME anything you want chromed. I wonder if they do polka dots.... [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/IMG]

Thanks for the brain food. Being vintage myself, the idea of a pretty vintage bike is fairly appealing!

Sierra

Best to get one in as near perfect condition as possible. You may need new tires, tubes, and brake pads. You can get those very inexpensively online at Niagara Cycle Works, which is in upstate New York. English 3-speeds are generally best for leisurely rides of about 1 to 6 miles. After everything is set right on them, they require miminal maintenance. As far as repainting and rechroming an "average" old bike, the cost is not worth it. One of my favorite bikes is a 30-year-old 18-speed road bike. It is as good as the day it was bought. Great riding bike that looks much nicer than many of the newer bikes being sold.

Sierra, Powder coating is supposed to be pretty durable. However I don't know if it's practical to do two-color designs or other fancy stuff with powder coat. You could call one of the places and ask them. Chromed polka dots would be made by chroming the whole frame, masking the dots, and then painting. Probably a costly undertaking, but whatever... As you say, food for thought. Steve

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Originally Posted by Steve_A [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Sierra, Powder coating is supposed to be pretty durable. However I don't know if it's practical to do two-color designs or other fancy stuff with powder coat. You could call one of the places and ask them. Chromed polka dots would be made by chroming the whole frame, masking the dots, and then painting. Probably a costly undertaking, but whatever... As you say, food for thought. Steve

Two tone Powder Coating is like Chrome polka dots. The bike would be PCed one color and then the other color would be painted on. You cannot do a true two tone powder coat.

The Raleigh that you are talking about would not really be a good bike for long distance riding. 60's vintage Raleighs were well made for the period, but it is a good thing that they don't make them like that anymore. They were real tanks, extremely heavy but pretty bomb proof. They were usually made of high tensile steel or low carbon steel, not butted at all. It is not uncommon to find an older Raleigh that tips the scale at 35 lbs, and the smallest scratch will rapidly begin to rust.

Hey, y'all!

I love what I learn from my buddies here. How do you KNOW this stuff? Like that English 3-speeds are generally best for leisurely rides of about 1 to 6 miles, and how you would do chromed polka dots (omg, lol), and what metal 60s Raleighs were made of. I tried to look it up onLINE at BikePedia, and didn't find that!

All I know is, I've stumbled into one of the best group of guys/gals (I don't know which some of you are, lol) that a newbie could run into, and I appreciate how much you give me!!!

And if I ever DO decide to actually make my bike in chrome polka dots, I'll know who to come to! [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/IMG]

Y'all are the BEST.

Sierra

Painting a bike is expensive, your looking at $125 a quart for paint, add to that prepping and labor and you could easily exceed $500. Unless someone in your family can paint. Most on-line places that you send your bike to charge at least $600 for basic paint work with the average of around $800. Some people restore older bikes because they can paint it themselves and do a good job, but just like classic cars, you put a bunch of money into it and not get it back out most of the time. If you dead set on having it painted but don't know anyone who can do it for you, you could try contacting a community college who offers auto body repair classes, and they might do it. You will have to pay for all material and paint. You will also have to strip all the parts off before you take the bike in. If they do paint the bike I would maybe tip them by giving the class pizza and pop.

Hi Froze!

Holy cow, things are expensive when it comes to bikes. Guess I won't buy any that I don't like the color of, lol. Someday, when I'm old and rich -- (hey, I'm half-way there!) -- I'll buy a pretty old vintage bike and redo her, but for now I think new and ready to go must be the thing for me. At least I could always look for the auto body repair class. What a great idea that is!!

Thanks for the info! [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/IMG]

I have my last racing bike I bought in 84. I use to ride and race in California and the sun took a terrible toll on the paint and the decals are almost gone. I found a site with the original decals, and either next year the following year after that I'm going to have the bike restored to it's original glory. Why? because the bike has history with me and I want to look new again so I'm willing to pay the $500 or $600, although I will look into the community college thing first. So, if you have a bike that may be a emotional connection to you, or is rare and a piece of history, then paying to restore it may be worth it. But to buy a bike that is just a common bike and paint it can be a waste.

A few notes on professional painting (mainly for Froze): I had my Ti bike painted by Airglow Painting in Georgia (several years ago) and he did a fantastic job with custom graphics, etc. This only cost me about $350. I think his prices are still pretty good, his website is still up. And he does restorations with original or re-created decals. As you or someone said, powder-coating is cheaper. Dennis Bean-Larson, who has a fixie site, uses someone up North I believe who is good and cheap. Steve

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Originally Posted by Steve_A [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

A few notes on professional painting (mainly for Froze): I had my Ti bike painted by Airglow Painting in Georgia (several years ago) and he did a fantastic job with custom graphics, etc. This only cost me about $350. I think his prices are still pretty good, his website is still up. And he does restorations with original or re-created decals. As you or someone said, powder-coating is cheaper. Dennis Bean-Larson, who has a fixie site, uses someone up North I believe who is good and cheap. Steve

Interesting site, thanks for that. I figured it would cost close to $465 including shipping for mine, that's a good price. And they use polyurethane paint which is great for bicycles. I booked marked the site, in case I can't find someone locally to do it for close to the same price.

I'm not familiar with powder coat paint, if you compare two flat surfaces coated with black (using black because it's the closest to a mirror finish), one was powder coated and the other polyurethane, which would have the higher degree of gloss? I think I remember that powder coat was a bit more durable if applied thicker, is that true? Also once you powder coat, then you lay down decals, can you clear coat over it?

All this talk about painting got me overly excited and found a web site that can paint a bike for only around $250 for standard factory stock paint, or up to $450 for custom work, see: lizart.netlizart.netOpen ↗

Froze, $500 or $600 doesn't seem like a lot compared to what a buddy just spent on his 1985 Cinelli. He sent the frame off to a restorer who he says is about the best in the US. Believe he said the bill was $1800 for stripping,rechroming and repaint. But the bike has lots of chrome on forks, stays and lug details, and they all came out beautifully as did the paint and decals. I told him if I had a vintage bike that pretty I'd be afraid to ride it.

Slim, the reason some of us know a lot about old steel bikes is that we owned them back in the day and in some cases still ride them. My 1973 Raleigh Gran Sport (Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing) has many pits of surface rust coming through the turquoise and creme paint scheme, as well as some minor pitting on the chrome. A friend here has an identical bike (they were a pretty common bike then) which was repainted by a local automotive painter. The colors match mine well enough, but it just doesn't look the same without the fussy gold pin-stripping and the hand-painted "Gran Sport" on the TT or the gold/black Raleigh decals on the DT. Also the components have been updated. It's a good enough bike to ride, but after seeing it, I decided I'd rather keep mine all original. Who really needs more than 10 speeds and Simplex shifters anyway?

Froze: Here's a link to a place for powdercoating bikes:http://www.powdercoatstudio.com/. I know Dennis, who just had a bike done there (I think he's had several done.) Looks like a great deal to me.

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Originally Posted by Steve_A [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Froze: Here's a link to a place for powdercoating bikes:http://www.powdercoatstudio.com/. I know Dennis, who just had a bike done there (I think he's had several done.) Looks like a great deal to me.

Thanks for the website, I did check out and bookmarked it. Powdercoating, according to the internet, supposedly is not as durable as liquid paint in that liquid paint is more impact resistant and more abrasion resistant. So I'm kind of up in the air about powdercoating, perhaps you know something I don't concerning the two that would be helpful.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Froze [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]
Thanks for the website, I did check out and bookmarked it. Powdercoating, according to the internet, supposedly is not as durable as liquid paint in that liquid paint is more impact resistant and more abrasion resistant. So I'm kind of up in the air about powdercoating, perhaps you know something I don't concerning the two that would be helpful.

I worked for a company that did powder coating and one of the selling points of powder coating is that it is more abrasion resistant and impact resistant than enamel. The powder coating that we did consisted of electrostatically applying a polyester powder on the item being coated, and then baking it to cure the finish. Basically the polyester powder was melted by the heat and bonded to the item being coated so that it formed a skin.

Froze, In response to your question, I don't have any direct knowledge of powder-coated bikes as I don't own one. The one person that I would recommend you try to contact is Dennis Bean-Larson (I think he is the Dennis who is quoted on that powder-coating site). He has a fixed-gear website, and he is on facebook a lot. He has several powder-coated bikes, so I think he could give you some good info. Steve

[QUOTE]Originally Posted by SierraSlim [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Hey, Y'all!

I've seen a lot of ads for 'vintage' bikes, some of which look like they're just junk, and some of which look pretty good. Obviously it depends on which bike, but, for instance, would this be a good project bike?

[U]Vintage 1966 Raleigh 21 inch Ladies 3 speed Townie:[/U] This bike is in great condition and is equipped with Sturmey Archer 3 speed internal hub shifting and is all original.

[FONT= calibri]The bike looks pretty, which is about all I know about a bike that old, lol. I guess what I'm asking is, are older bikes like that well-built, as in "They don't make them like that any more'? Or are they a money pit waiting to happen? It has an elegant look to it, so I was just curious.[/FONT]

[FONT= calibri]Thanks! [/FONT]


[FONT= calibri] [/FONT]
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Unless you have lots of hands on knowledge of bike parts and bike mechanics I'd stick with the new stuff. It's generally more fun to ride and will get you further, faster. Unless your version of further and faster involves having chrome steel rims and trying to stop fast in the wet.

If hubby was getting in a tizzy about adjusting derailieurs, I don't think that getting him involved in messing with the internals of an ancient 3 speed sturmey archer that's been rotting in someones basement for a decade or two before the owner realised that money could be made of craigslist or ebay. Old grease = stiff grease = no good for shifting in a 3 speed internal gear hub.

And do I need to mention 27x1 1/4" tires on steel wheels and rubbish brakes?

Preserving a hand made Cinelli equipped with Campagnolo components would be a good project. Restoring something made from the something that's sub gas-pipe... nah. But each to his (or her) own, I guess.

Hi, Swamp Thing!

I love your brass-tacks approach to problems, lol. And you're absolutely right about the old bike rubbish-in-the-basement stuff. I just enjoy looking at pretty bikes. [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/IMG]

The good thing -- or maybe the bad thing, if you're Frugal Hubby -- is that I have discovered Dutch bikes or Amsterdam bikes or whatever the different vendors call them. They're pretty -- AND they're new!! So now I'm thinking I will just buy a $5-600 cannondale or something for my tour next year, and start saving money for what I REALLY want, sigh...

The C-Dale Adventure 2 Feminine is pretty enough for me for now, with its curved frame in the white with green accents, and I can get it for about $650 -- or the Globe Women's Haul 2, for $850. And I can be quite happy training and doing my tour on one of those... while I mentally custom-design my dream bike.

Works for me! [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/IMG]

Sierra

Hi Sierra, Funny thing about swampy's post: I was just reading on Lovely Bicycle about what the author suggests in the way of modifications to an old Raleigh 3-speed to avoid the very problems that (he) refers to. Not that I disagree with swampy's basic premise. As for Dutch bikes, I guess I'll have to read up on them to see what all the fuss is about. Just for my education. I'm still in the Rivendell camp, but right now am excited and concentrating on acquiring/installing some new parts on my Ti road bike to make it more comfortable and suitable my now older and slower body (modifications very much in the Rivendell genre.) This involves acquisition of shiny and cool parts from Velo Orange, whose "garage sale" I'm going to this Saturday. Age brings self-knowledge, and I have learned that I enjoy the research, planning, shopping and wrenching (installation) as much as the riding.

So you have a short-term and a long-term goal now--that's not a bad thing. Continued best wishes, Steve