I tend to agree with skip’s assessment- to me a “survivor” means everything’s original, unnolested, save for parts necessary to run. New tires, brake pads, lines, filters, are all consumable parts that have to be replaced with age or wear. I think of my bike as a survivor. I still have the breather hose springs and original air filter elements, original points ignition, as well as the original brake line with ‘77 stamped on them in yellow paint. (They’re not on the bike, but I could
Put them back on if I wanted to) The first 50 miles or so I rode my bike were with those original brake lines, and the original seat. A new paint job is “restoring” the paint in my opinion. Though I swapped bars and put on a new seat, those are simple bolt on cosmetic changes. I still have both the original bars and seat in the closet, and in about half an hour I could have the bike all original the way it came in 77, save the front brake line and the caliper rubber. That to me is important, and qualifies my bike to be sold as “an original survivor” if I were to sell it tomorrow. The fact that the paint is still pretty, with a few chips and some pitting on the side covers from the battery, makes it more valuable as an original than one that has been repainted and had a top end rebuild. I’m still riding around on the spirit of the 70’s, on an old dinosaur that has survived the decades and still has life in it. It can be reincarnated as a resto when it does finally start dying, but this one’s still living its first life, and it’s pure magic to be a part of that now in 2018. This thing is almost a decade older than me, and I still get to fly down the highways on rings and gaskets and tappets that were flying someone else down America’s highways years before I was even conceived. It makes me feel like I’m getting away with something, like cheating father time for a few years.