Vintage vs. New

So I was face with a big question, what do I keep and what do I get rid of. Since the bike was a family bike I wanted to keep it as vintage as possible. Not to mention I’m not all that hipster so a crazy bike just wouldn’t fit me. But I figured I could ride a classic anywhere, anytime. To help keep it classic I decided to keep as much as I could. With a few exceptions.

I got rid of:

• The handlebar tape – Bought New
• Some of the Handle Bar – Modified them to meet my needs
• The derailleurs- Don’t need any
• The Rims, and Tires- Upgraded to Velocity and Weimann
• The Reflectors! – NO THANK YOU
• The Seat – Upgraded, the seat wasn’t the original so no worries here
• The Seat Post – Wanted Aluminum, and one that wasn’t rusty
• The Chain – Yes
• The inner Cogs on the front cog wheel – Don’t need them on a single speed
• Brake Wires and Housing – Rusted so made new ones
• The Dirt and Grime!
• Brake Levers – Did not want my brakes on the drops on the handle bars, and wanted to keep the “fixie” look so used Cross Top Levers

I Kept:

• The Look
• The Paint
• The Handle Bar (modified it)
• Frame
• Crank
• Front Cog Ring
• Pedals
• Stem
• Front Fork

There are lots of reasons I did what I did, and you should weight the cost of new, and the importance to you riding or just looking cool. My conversion cost me about $450 total for all of my parts. If I had kept more it would have cost a lot less, but not been as nice.