Why Catalogue Spec?

pencilman77

pencilman77

Retro Guru
More a curiosity question really, why does it seem that unless you rebuild your old frame / bike to catalogue or pro rider spec, you end up with a vast majority not appreciating your hard work and even questioning your reasoning / sanity?

Personally I build to please and suit me, never going to do a catalogue build as I have always wanted to be more original, but i do note that some peoples builds arent liked or even commented on sometimes and they generally seem to be the ones who have dared to vear away from "the norm"
 
Just because some people like to do that as it gives a challenge to find the exact parts. Also they tend to have to be new parts.
 
If you do not build it to catalogue spec you are not of the body...

Only a few like to recreate absolute catalogue builds for kudos of actually being able to do it and track down those elusive parts.

The rest of us just build whatever crap happens to turn up.
 
Re:

I've never built a catalogue spec bike or even owned one to my knowledge.

When buying new bikes back in the dim and distant past, it wouldn't leave the bike shop without a few upgrades or parts swapped out. No one ever offered a complete bike I wanted... They were always too Shimano-ey for my liking.


al.
 
Re:

Horses for courses, I suppose building a catalogue spec is a bit like doing a jigsaw with the box but not all the peices.
 
Never built a catalogue spec myself but do see the attraction of taking the time and effort to track down the correct parts.
 
My zaskar had a new seat and bars the evening I got it home sometime back in October 1994. I would never build it back to catalogue spec as that was rather dull
 
Re:

I prefer to build a catalog spec when possible, or at least period correct.

As mentioned previously very few new bikes left the shop without some modification (tires, stem, saddle, whatever) so a true factory original spec is a very rare thing, especially with older higher end mt bikes. Most people (including myself) started "upgrading" immediately.

Of course many high end frames were available as only framesets so there is no such thing as a catalog build with these.

In the end what really matters is that the builder is happy with his build, being cat, custom, or somewhere in between.
 
I always wore specs when I looked at my mum’s catalogue.

Especially certain sections.

Burlington AND littlewoods. We were posh.
 
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