Record Price for a V7 sport

[cliffrod]

This is

Personally I know of no one that would repaint that bike.  And if I did know them I would have to slap them silly.     I'm quite surprised that you know of even a few that would repaint it. 

There’s only one that I know.  me.  my later plain V7 Sport came to me with a red frame….  We repainted the frame because it was the wrong color red & looked like crap.  I left the rest of it alone.

I personally know of no one who would repaint a real TR, but it wouldn’t surprise me because I do know many others who have taken a comparable condition older bike or car-special or not- in similar condition that promptly stripped and repainted it.  They may even have no qualms about also using repro bits, lots of ss hardware and such along the way, just to make it pretty.  It’s usually followed by profession about how “original” their bike is (and thus better) than surviving bikes that may not be perfect but that are far more original.  Rebuilt is not necessarily the same as restored.

I value originality, especially paint, over restoration because it’s hard to seriously abuse or neglect a bike while maintaining the original paint.  It has much to do with being educated about how the machine actually was conceived and experienced.  The original paint on my FLH is starting to crack like the paint on that TR.  the problem is that Most people don’t restore bikes like you or Canuck750 Jim do.  Serious restorations like what you two and others do provide legitimate educational value, not the bait & switch of a rebuild being passed off as an accurate restoration.

Restoring my V7 Sport vs leaving it in legitimate 1978 custom trim & condition would make it into just another V7 Sport.   At one of our rallies, someone brought a very nicely restored V7 Sport when I had mine there.  Not my thing- way too sanitized.   survivor bikes can provide a comparable truthful perspective of how a machine was used when it was still relatively new.   Thats why I don’t see things like incorrect shocks on an original paint bike being a big deal.  It’s great to see that TR was ridden at least some.
 

[s1120]

This is
There’s only one that I know.  me.  my later plain V7 Sport came to me with a red frame….  We repainted the frame because it was the wrong color red & looked like crap.  I left the rest of it alone.

I personally know of no one who would repaint a real TR, but it wouldn’t surprise me because I do know many others who have taken a comparable condition older bike or car-special or not- in similar condition that promptly stripped and repainted it.  They may even have no qualms about also using repro bits, lots of ss hardware and such along the way, just to make it pretty.  It’s usually followed by profession about how “original” their bike is (and thus better) than surviving bikes that may not be perfect but that are far more original.  Rebuilt is not necessarily the same as restored.

I value originality, especially paint, over restoration because it’s hard to seriously abuse or neglect a bike while maintaining the original paint.  It has much to do with being educated about how the machine actually was conceived and experienced.  The original paint on my FLH is starting to crack like the paint on that TR.  the problem is that Most people don’t restore bikes like you or Canuck750 Jim do.  Serious restorations like what you two and others do provide legitimate educational value, not the bait & switch of a rebuild being passed off as an accurate restoration.

Restoring my V7 Sport vs leaving it in legitimate 1978 custom trim & condition would make it into just another V7 Sport.   At one of our rallies, someone brought a very nicely restored V7 Sport when I had mine there.  Not my thing- way too sanitized.   survivor bikes can provide a comparable truthful perspective of how a machine was used when it was still relatively new.   Thats why I don’t see things like incorrect shocks on an original paint bike being a big deal.  It’s great to see that TR was ridden at least some.
 

In the car world we call that Over restored. I spent many years in the Mustang end of the hobby, and its really almost sad to see what some have done to nice driver class cars. Most full customs are closer to stock then some of those that are "Restored"