Interesting.
From the opening post i get the impression you are speaking of the bike itself having soul. There seems to be 2 other types of soul which are mentioned above, the soul put into a bike by the builder and the soul put into a bike by the owner.
Now i suppose the soul put into a bike by the builder comes through, as mentioned, in its construction, materials and engineering skills along with time and passion etc. The soul put into a bike by the owner i guess comes from personal preferences, expectations, desire, aesthetics etc. Which leaves the original notion of the actual bike having soul, which is what i perceive as the meaning when someone mentions the bike having soul.
For me it comes down to the ride, does the bike come alive, react to the terrain, adapt, overcome, above and beyond what the rider or components bring to the ride. In my view it changed when (can not remember the year for reference) for regulations frames had to meet certain strength targets so builders lost some of the ability to build flex etc and the frames lost their character, their soul, and became more of a tool than an full complete experience.
I prefer steel bikes mainly for this characteristic, i can feel the bike, the bike feels alive, has soul. Now i have had and do have modern Prestige bikes, they are made from the same tubesets but have to be built stronger and definitely lack some of their earlier cousins soulful traits, they feel lifeless in comparison.
From the opening post i get the impression you are speaking of the bike itself having soul. There seems to be 2 other types of soul which are mentioned above, the soul put into a bike by the builder and the soul put into a bike by the owner.
Now i suppose the soul put into a bike by the builder comes through, as mentioned, in its construction, materials and engineering skills along with time and passion etc. The soul put into a bike by the owner i guess comes from personal preferences, expectations, desire, aesthetics etc. Which leaves the original notion of the actual bike having soul, which is what i perceive as the meaning when someone mentions the bike having soul.
For me it comes down to the ride, does the bike come alive, react to the terrain, adapt, overcome, above and beyond what the rider or components bring to the ride. In my view it changed when (can not remember the year for reference) for regulations frames had to meet certain strength targets so builders lost some of the ability to build flex etc and the frames lost their character, their soul, and became more of a tool than an full complete experience.
I prefer steel bikes mainly for this characteristic, i can feel the bike, the bike feels alive, has soul. Now i have had and do have modern Prestige bikes, they are made from the same tubesets but have to be built stronger and definitely lack some of their earlier cousins soulful traits, they feel lifeless in comparison.