There be something missing here ......

[letmetalktomark]

(This might just be me - you have been warned )

I love the bikes that appear up on the this site - old, new etc.

The thing is when I think back to what I was riding and what friends were riding back in the day (early to mid 90's) I cannot make the connection to what I often see on this site.

For example .... There are a lot of period correct/catalog speced bikes on the site.

From what I remember very few of us rode bike like this - they always seemed a mashup of parts and often different biking genres. Riser bars with anodized braces, 130mm stems, parts in whatever color you could afford.

I also remember many bikes being completely OTT with decals - ONZA, Hope, Oakley etc.

Now perhaps its me and that I have missed them on the site but there seems to be very few of these "ratty" bikes around.

Prove me wrong please do

Or don't as it may just be me!

 

[kaiser]

What about that FUNK!

 

[Dead Rats]

All my bikes are custom I guess lots of us are older now and have got more into the restoration phase, in the man cave with biscuits thing. My Kili is a right mash-up TBH

 

[mattbrown]

its because these bikes are rare nowadays, so just sticking any stuff on, you could only buy with your rubbish paperround money, doesnt make sense,

plus we have all grown up in fashion sense, so now we have an idea of what goes with what, unlike when we were hormonal teenagers.

 

[passiflora]

I really like that cheap build Giant, with all the stickers which was shown in march I think, anyone got any pics as a reminder?.

BTW I once sprayed a racer I needed for college, some sort of petrid green, as it was my dads left over spraypaint. Fitted old campag parts and stuck what must have been 30 cosmic trail stickers and little bits of white tape in triangles all over the frame.

Come on own up am I the only peep to have done the sticker thing, coz I doubt it

 

[gibbleking]

its because we had less taste then......think about all those large wings on small cars with large exhausts...would you drive one now?......we just have the extra cash to get ,what we tried to emulate with a limited budget in the past...



this theory does not apply to me as im still broke and my sannie is covered in anodised stuff ...

 

[MattyZaskar]

I grew up with a mate that was a single child and he had every top spec bike going in the early 90's, Al Carter Black Panther, Dawes etc his were never stickered up with onza, MBUK, but my other mate had a giant carbon fibre with pace RC3odd with stickers all over it, so back in the day i think different people liked different looks..

Saying that both my mates havent changed now, one rides a specialised and the other rides a retro sticked up one lol

 

[letmetalktomark]

All good points but.....

There are an abundance of non rare bikes on here (not rubbishing anyone or anything) So I do not agree solely with the approach of what they deserve.

A lot of folk talk about buying/restoring a bike to replace one they had in their younger years but they ofter build a period correct calalog build rather than as they had it.

Which brings me on to taste. I know this is personal but I would happily ride what I rode BITD now. But then I guess I like gullwing cars with whale tails and big bore exhausts.

Like I said at the start its probably just me ......

 

[MattyZaskar]

I do agree with you, BITD i didnt like a bike covered in stickers, each to there own i guess. I craved XT or XTR but could never afford it but the Caloi Frame im building now will be built to the spec i craved BITD so i would ride a bike that i wanted BITD if that makes sense

 

[lewis1641]

i get you mark. bar ends - they were everywhere bitd. in fact before i knew anything about bikes i thought bar ends were the sign of a propper bike. very few people fit them now.

as for stickers, ny first propper bike had loads but subsequent ones very few.

when we were younger most of us had one bike. nowardays we tend to build a bike up. theres no desperate rush to get it rideable and plenty of people take care in making it how they want it.

tastes have definately changed too.

i tried to do a "pocket money bike" with the saracen in my sig. first thing i did was ditch the onza bar ends...