You make a good point Jim, when I first retrieved my Corsa from the shed after many years of resting it was in a poor state. I took it to Rocco in Cambridge whose workshop was next to where I worked. I asked him to restore it because I wanted to use it again.
His first comment was " you know it isn't going to be worth anything after I have restored it?" I said I knew that but if he could do what he thought would be best that would be great. £400 later I had a green Corsa again. It had been sand blasted and resprayed, the green isn't quite right but I think a slightly better shade, it has alloy wheels instead of steel Rocco built these up and dished the rear to allow for a 6 speed Shimano rear freewheel, the hubs were a bit unimpressive but after 11 years I changed the ballbearings and they run as smoothly as they did in year one. I also changed the freewheel to a 7 speed 28-11 which works well for me. The rear derailleur is a Ventura which is cheap but indexed and works annoyingly well, the shifters where moved to the stem, and work well, Rocco put a steel chain set on that was unnameable which I eventually changed to a Stronglight one. Rocco added some long alloy mudguards and truly nasty gel saddle to replace my original but knackered Brooks. I broke the gel saddle after two years of cycling, replaced it with a Lepper Tourer saddle which is great for me and as my surname is Lepper almost like a personal touch. Instead of tape he used foam, I replaced that with Cinelli cork bar tape. (Fantastic stuff)
Rocco was right it is after all a Corsa so worth nothing much but it still gets comments about what nice looking bike it is. It is also comfortable to ride and you can ride it all day. When I was 13 I used go off with friends on jaunts round the countryside with it, for the last 11 years it has had me going of on a charity ride every September and riding about a 50 miles a week to get fit enough. Three years ago I bought the Super Course with its original freewheel but someone put some aero brakes on and lost most of the cabling, a Stronglight compact 48/34 and gave it a brilliant pink paint job. I had decided that I wanted this because my Corsa shouldn't have to do the spring rides in the poorer weather and by having a lower gear set I would potentially improve my cadence a bit. The frame is the biggest I could manage.
Last year I bought the Giro it appealed because it had some Campagnolo lamda v profile rims. It was a bit rusty but otherwise OK. I gave a light restore put some new tyres on it and some new bar tape a quick coat of lacquer over the treated rust and it looks original. I did change the freewheel to the 7 speed one. Its role is to be there as the dry autumn post charity ride bike.
There was another reason for my buying the two newer ones they were in slightly different range levels using differing steels: TruWell Corsa probably 1974, Main frame 531 Giro 1977 version, all 531Super Course 1980 version. None of them are worth anything but I enjoy riding them as they still work just fine and are comfortable enough to ride a hundred miles in a day, I actually managed a century in 2023 for the first time ever aged 56. They may not be worth anything in the market but to me they are priceless.
