Well I understand I am on a bike forum and I learned about patina in jewelry making class (torches and anvils, not beads and wire) but I do not immediately equate rust with patina. In fact it must be a very specific and hardened rust for me to even consider it desirable/useable. When I hear patina I think of an induced coating, usually on a non-ferous metal. Copper can become purple or oil-slick looking. Sterling silver tarnishes black and then can be polished to leave only what you want. A rusty frame that has been sitting in the rain is a rusty frame. If you remove some of it and make it look "aged" then I guess it becomes a patina, otherwise it's rust that needs removed. Especially bright orange active rust. A patina is done and locked down by the designer or is at least slow enough that you don't see it changing except over a long period of time.
On Spike TV there is the Power Block, a set of automotive shows. On Trucks they did an old 50's Chevy with a "faux-tina" paint job. The blasted and painted and then sanded through parts of it. I think they even used some sort of acid on it. The paint looked like it was the original and the thing had been working in the field for 50 years. Looked great and you didn't have to worry about scratches or dings. But there wasn't an ounce of rust in it. None of the body panels were going to deform or rot through. They also copper plated the grill and did an acid treatment on it to give the well recognized copper patina.
That is an instance of a planned and executed patina. It is expected to slowly change over the years to come but never be a problem. My own bike has speckled rust around the head tube and down the down tube. I would consider it a patina because there is more chrome than rust and the rust isn't growing. It has been locked down and won't get appreciatabley worse unless I leave the bike out (which won't happen). The supplied link I could call the frame "patinaed" if the frame were clear coated to keep it like that. The fenders, bars and seat I would call rusted. There isn't anything you can do to them but strip and refinish. I'm sure my definitions will change as I work with more vintage bikes but that's how I see it for my experiences.
