Jlarkin, you nailed it. This is where you can really have fun in this hobby.
I do it, in small ways and in big ways. Part of the reason I mainly work on Schwinns is that they're well-documented, and detail parts are findable, in some cases readily available.
They're not made of unobtainium like some of these high dollar museum pieces. To me, a bike loses a lot of appeal if it's either too nice to ride, or unrideable because you must worry about damaging a part, or because the modifications to it make it unusable by me.
Thinking about some of the bikes I've done recently, I may be accused of hacking or if they were model cars, "kit-bashing", to get what I want or achieve a different effect, that is like you say "OEM-ish". I like that term.
The 1947 I just built for my wife is a mishmash of years and parts from different Schwinns, blended together into a cool rideable good looking package. I blasted, primed and painted the frame with automotive type paint, and applied new decals just as Schwinn might have if they'd offered semi-gloss black as a standard color.
Other bikes I'm doing include a 1967 Collegiate in violet, that's new paint, violet over silver base, and new decals, some of which aren't "stock" for the bike. Big deal, and big deal that it was originally a coppertone bike. Ooooh it's not "original". Whatever. I'm gonna ride it, I'm gonna love it, and I probably will eventually get an offer I can't refuse and sell it to someone else who's just gotta have it. And I'll build another one. But it's getting put together the way I want it, it'll look like the factory built it that way, and it'll be more fun than a standard Collegiate was back then.
There are other minor things I do that surely upset the purists, and I don't care... my 68 Stingray could have been a Deluxe, could have been a fenderless... I saved it from a BMX life and decided it would get dressed up as a Deluxe. And I added a reverse screen chainguard decal cause I love how they look. I don't really care if someone wants to tell me it's only correct for 64 and 65 bikes. It's on my 68 because I want it there. When you buy it, you can change it.
Most of the people who write these magazine articles have done what they write about 1 time... or paid other people to do the work... and thats what they base their costs on. Innovative people with skills and some resources to work with will always beat those kind of estimates by a mile.
--Rob
JLarkin said:
I am not a big fan of self-proclaimed experts either but in this case the guy is right: non-OEM is customizing. Some people in the car hobby call it restification: a combo of restoration and modification. Personally I have no desire to own 4 or 5-figure valued bikes but I like the ones I have to look nice. I painted all my bikes and put my own twist on how I thought they should have been done. Some OEM graphics are pretty plain in my opinion. I like to jazz them up a bit and make them visually interesting yet plausibly original-ish. They are not OEM but I think they look great.
I think people should have their things the way they want them, afterall it is their money, not mine.
