Why Old Bikes ?

With all the advancements made in cycling, the advances made in the mtb market, I am wondering why it is there is such interest in so called 'retro' bikes.

Is it those that are here, are those that are older, and are reminiscing of earlier times, perhaps now prices are cheaper, they can afford to try the machines of their past dreams ?

What about the younger lot, are there any here, why their interest in bikes from the past, when what is here available now, is with their youth.

Then there are the collectors, those that amass wrecks and there lovingly restore bikes to their former glory, is this just another variation on the pursuit of collecting stamps and other things similar ?

Why the interest in retro bikes, why do you seek out and collect, what do you gain from your interest in old bikes ?

damn newbies!! :roll:

some might say though that if you have to ask then you'll never get it but i'll try and explain one of my main reasons.

i suppose it's some and all of the above things depending on who you ask.

for me though one thing you missed out on was individuality. how many of the new bikes from all these big manufacturerers are made by 1 or 2 companies in taiwan or wherever, not that it means they are bad but there will be millions of the same frame with the same bits over and over again.

i want my bike to be different from yours and your mates and anyonelse i see, i want it to be mine with my colour choice and my choice of components not what some penny pinching guy in an office has bargained down the price of by a penny per item to tell me its its better.

several years ago i sold all my giant team bikes, they were very good bikes, atx team, ac team, tcr team, tcr carbon, and the dh bike . . . why? if i went to an xc race there were 20 other people with almost the identical bike. sod that.

most of what i have in the list below was built in small numbers and most of that list have custom paint and all were built and specced by me, no-onelse has these bikes, just me, and i like that.

Johnnyboy666 sums it up well, Its also due to the fact a good propotion of us are approaching middle age and its a kind of midlife crisis as we hang onto the end of our youth, Trying to fight middle age spread and hair loss (A battle I lost many years ago). Not forgetting its good fun, where else can you write a bikeu and ask what to do with a box of poo.

silverclaws":wct9e97w said:

Why the interest in retro bikes, why do you seek out and collect, what do you gain from your interest in old bikes ?

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For my part, thoroughly brainwashed by a friend. I don't really seek out and collect older bikes unlike lots of folk on this forum. I have modern bikes as well.

ON the retro side I quite enjoy having a bike or two that's not "standard". I'm a relative newbie still and not experienced in building bikes and so fascinated by being able to create something from the component parts - particularly when everything has to be cleaned up - it's good to see a bike taking shape - and ofcourse the cost need not be great compared with a modern build!

That's a girlie view for you!

Carol

and retro does not mean old and not functionning properly.

to me retro combines
different
comfortable (titanium or steel)
durable
sleek
second hand prices
ie not suffering the new price speedy "amortization pain"
the result is having a top quality bike for between 400 and 900 GBP, against a new price for comparable equipment three to 4 times as much ( problem is you tend to have 4 bikes in your garage for the price of one :roll: )

Because they don't make Trimble's any more

I appreciate lots of old bikes, not just mountain bikes. But I think it's fair to say mountain bike development from 1977-94 was a particularly interesting period in the design of bicycles generally.
And I feel like I'm making friends with people on this forum.
One other thing; for most people, the recent developments in bike technology aren't an improvement.

I f you have to ask lol

Craftsmanship

Colours :shock:

Cool

silverclaws":2wgb7ot9 said:

Is it those that are here, are those that are older, and are reminiscing of earlier times, perhaps now prices are cheaper, they can afford to try the machines of their past dreams ?

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This for me mostly, i just bought a Manitou FS frame which was a bike a drooled over in 94 when i seen one new in a shop, it was £2499.99 (frame only) then though, a price which was completely out of reach (i was a student), dont really care that it only has 1.5 inch of travel, it is a bike i would have cut a body part off with a rusty hacksaw blade to own BITD

Also identify with what Jonnyboy mentioned, the "individuality", i'm exactly the same with my cars, i could never buy a common popular car, i've always bought older more interesting cars (despite being easily able to buy a new one), i think most new modern cars are dull and ugly anyway.

Also CAS mentioned the satisfaction in creating something from scratch or restore a bike back to catalogue spec compared to riding something off the shop floor, great to find the bit you've been looking for for ages and finaly ride the bike you bought as a bare frame, only trouble with this is in my experience bikes are never really finished, you get it together and riding good but there is always something to change, improve, upgrade.

It's not necessarily cheap either (just like old cars), some of the builds and restorations on here have cost easily as much as a decent spec new bike, it's a hobby where you can spend as much or as little as you want but usually end up spending more than you should