They psychology of change

[bikeworkshop]

Give them to a friend who could ride them while you get the satisfaction of seeing them ridden as they are

I recently made dramatic changes to an old friend. After a few rides, the attachment to the old ways faded, I was just happy to be spending time with it again. Now, I'm ready for even more drastic alterations

It's still about bicycles though?

 

[Takingabreak]

I recently made dramatic changes to an old friend. After a few rides, the attachment to the old ways faded, I was just happy to be spending time with it again. Now, I'm ready for even more drastic alterations

Will your old friend be electrified? so to speak...

 

[doctor-bond]

Think of it as an opportunity to make a bike that fits you and looks good. High front swept bars comfy saddle doesn’t have to be ugly, but probably needs to not be 26”. Get rid of everything else and start from scratch.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Will your old friend be electrified? so to speak...

Not yet. I will be riding it through the apocalypse, though, so I'm not ruling anything out.

 

[PhillB]

@Takingabreak interesting and horrific thought.

Im the last of my mates still riding!....well unless you include beer runs to the corner shop on a pashley princess!

For me this is the key thing in what you have said. You are the last of your mates still riding. I am in a similar position, many of my friends think I am crazy messing about with old bikes and still riding them, but they don't ride anything. There's a whole host of reasons why they stopped, and I'm not judging them at all. I know at least one thinks he is 'too old' now.

It's true I cannot do all the things I did on a bike that I could when I was 17... (I also fall off less too, so it is not all bad news ) I stay well away from half-pipes these days

But, right now, I want to keep riding for the next 30 years, at least (I am the wrong side of 50) and if that means I have to gradually raise the bars up on my 90's race geometry mountain bikes, than that's what I will do, as riding them is my goal. The human body was designed to move and be outdoors, so for me 'whatever it takes' is my 2c

 

[foz]

If there's no reasonable way to update the older bikes that mean a lot to you, then keep them as is and buy something new to ride. I still have the caygill I got made to measure in 1991, it will never be sold and if one day I can't ride it anymore then I'll just clean it and ride what I can. Same for the KHS from 93 that has taken me to so many places around the world. I have other bikes that I ride a lot more, some I would miss but could sell on, but the caygill above all is not going anywhere.

 

[Gtpulse]

If your enjoyment is from riding do whatever you need to do to make that possible. New bike, e-bike, new parts whatever. There’s only so many rides left in all of us. The experience of being out on my bike and all the sensations that brings beats hands down anything I can look at in the garage.

My riding buddy and I are still this side of 50 (well I am!) but have already both said we would explore whatever changes were needed to keep riding in to as older age as possible. We still take the piss out of the cheaters on e-bikes but more and more acknowledge they’ve probably done what they needed to do to get out there and respect that.

Everything else is just possessions. I still have lots of bikes I’m sentimental about I just don’t ride them. A few would definitely be the last ones I’d consider selling but most I look at and think nice to have but I’d quite like the space back and be rid of the hangover they give me!

 

[bikeworkshop]

It's better to travel
(by bike)
than arrive
(in your shed, looking at 6 half completed projects)

 

[thom04]

100% get not wanting to ruin the look of bikes you've had for a long time. Why not polish them up & get some BOTM worthy photos to stick in the shed before changing things

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

If I buy a vintage bike it has to fit me, I see no point in buying a vintage bike that I can't take out and ride/enjoy/show off. The exception might be for something that was ridden by someone famous (or infamous) and has some provenance.

Ideally, it would have original parts but primarily it would be to ride, so I'm not going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere because something has crapped itself - so I have no trouble in putting on different components, or restomodding even. I hang onto the original parts though.

Whether anyone else is perturbed by the specs doesn't bother me, because here's the thing....

...an hour with a set of tools and a beverage of choice and all the stuff is swapped out.

The frame is a canvas for the parts to hang off. Don't get too caught up in it. Have at it.