When is a bike retro?

ape

Senior Retro Guru
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Just thought I'd ask how old do you think a bike has got to be before its considered retro, or what makes a retro bike?. Is my DDG slammer 2 considered retro now that they don't make them anymore?.
 
there's a thread somewhere that discussed this... can't remember where though or what the outcome was! :roll:
 
It is all about style if I remember, a Independent from 2000 is 'cos it looks retro, a Kona stinky from 2000 isn't 'cos it doesn't. I think that is what the out come was.
 
Is a bike that originally came with cantis but has since had V-brakes fitted (of a suitable vintage of course) still considered retro? I would love to restore my Parkpre Pro Image to it's original spec but V-brakes are such a huge improvement over cantis.

I'm sure we all have stories about our first rides out with v-brakes or first time I tried a handfull of front disk brake, or is it just me that goes over the bars? Not forgeting the first time I tried SPD pedals, always best done out of site of anyone else.
 
:LOL: Just don't try new brakes and pedals at the same time :LOL:

I did this, M Sysytem servo wave brakes with 1st time on spd's all on a new bike = lots of falling over! (my Dyna Tech)
 
When is a bike 'Retro'?

The Golden era was really between 1990 and 1995ish

In 1990 you couldn't get a 'good' ready to race mountain bike, that's why all the machine shops and custom builders sprung up.
A top of the range frame from around 1992 like a Klein, Marin Team Titanium or Salsa A la Carte with all of the best machine shop parts (Ringle, Cook Bros, Grafton) would have cost £5k! but it would be able to hold its own with a top of the range '07 bike and it was all hand made in the US. It's bikes from this era that alays win Bike of the Month.

In 1993 Shimano started letting manufacturers pick and choose parts and just get the showy bits like the XT rear mech and shifters from them. Before 1993 a manufacturer had to buy an entire groupset from Shimano whether they wanted it all or not!
From '93 you see guys like Specialized and Canondale (CODA) making own brand hubs, QR's, levers and brakes themselves in Taiwan (these parts were not much worse, or even better, than the machine shop exotica) and from '93 production bikes were about 5lbs lighter than in '92!
When you could get a 25lb bike with front suspension for under a grand the machine shops and custom guys were doomed.

By 2000 you could get a Klein Attitude (Klein ere bought by Trek) with Taiwanese parts branded 'Bontrager' (now owned by Trek) and Rock Shox (now owned by SRAM) for under a grand.

I am sure it is a great bike, but it is not exactly collectable!
 
Re: When is a bike 'Retro'?

bordercollie1":1q9jmtn5 said:
In 1990 you couldn't get a 'good' ready to race mountain bike, that's why all the machine shops and custom builders sprung up.

Not too sure I agree with this comment, there were class race ready bikes from Marin (Eldridge Grade upwards), Specialized (Rockhopper upwards), Orange, Trek (7000 upwards) in 1990 not to mention several others...the UK race scene was made up of exactly these bikes...sure, the custom machines were dreamy, but not alot of people could afford them...custom builders cropped up because there were those people out there who wanted something made for them...

Maybe I'm just jealous I didn't have one eh... :roll:
 
Must admit I agree with Rich...
1993 Orange Clockwork XT (DX was cheaper still and only 1/2lb heavier), £935 from stif, 25lbs (or there abouts).
If you cant win races on that a new bike 'aint gonna help! :LOL:

Seriously though, anything more expensive will only be a variation on the theme.
 
In 1990 you couldn't get a 'good' ready to race mountain bike, that's why all the machine shops and custom builders sprung up.

I'm not sure that's entirely true - A Fisher Competition or Procaliber, Stumpjumper Comp, closer to home a Pace, or even one of the Raleigh USAs that John Tomac seemed to do "OK" on were perfectly adequate for racing out of the box. Bling doesn't win races, cyclists do.

I think people are far more likely to consider as retro the bikes that they were just a bit too young to get their mitts on, the bikes older brothers had or that were just way out of your price range when you were busily saving away. For me that's 1986-88 so my retro dream rides include a Tushingham B-52, a high end Muddy Fox (Monarch), a Roberts painted as a Peugeot as ridden by Baker and Gould, and a U-braked Fisher Competition (the hours I spent stroking that thing in the Brighton Bike UK store). When my daydreams turn to the road it's a Raleigh Team Professional.

The first mountain mass-produced mountain bikes enabled a lot of people to get out there and do something that hadn't been done before (or only extremely rarely). I remember the shock on people's faces when they saw a mountain biker heading along the South Downs way. I lugged (no pun intended) the thing up Helvelyn just so I could ride it around on the table top and truly say I'd been "mountain" biking. After the hurricane in 1987 I could get places that land rovers couldn't reach. All of this was new and amazing.

So, in a rather long-winded way, my vote goes for pre-1990.
 
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