All types of vintage bicycles have been through my workshop since I started back in 1995. I can undertake a full nut and bolt restoration, or it can be a careful process of preservation that helps retain the character and soul of a bicycle while still making it useable. After all, it's only original once! I work on anything from the beautiful 1896 Tiffany Silver bicycle (pictured above) which I had the privilege to restore and preserve over the course of 2 years during 2021/2022, to penny farthings, classic racing bicycles and vintage children's bicycles.
As long as it has wheels and pedals, I can help. For early and victorian bicycles, I can often reproduce and fabricate any missing components.
If a bicycle retains original paintwork, artwork and the chrome can be retrieved, then I tend to recommend this process to customers. Not only do you save on the cost of the painting and chroming process, but it will retain the originality of the bicycle, which would be lost with a full restoration.
If a bicycles paintwork is too far gone and the chrome-work is poor, then I would probably recommend a full restoration. This involves a more in depth process for preparation of the parts to be re-painted, and depending on the age of the bicycle, the components to be either chrome or nickel plated. The cost is also significantly higher and the process longer due to lead times for painters and platers, which are both processes we out-source.
However, there are also some projects with lend themselves to a combination of preservation and restoration, where a frame and forks can be painted in a period satin finish, while the components are cleaned and preserved. This works very well for earlier bicycles for instance.
Gunn & Co
Cut Elms Farm,
Keeres Green,
Aythorpe Roding,
Great Dunmow,
Essex
CM6 1PQ - UK