What exactly is 'period correct'?

[paininthe]

If using a 91 frame as a starting point then the parts must be 91 for it to be period correct. Not before or after but the same year. It's as simple as that. A spade is a spade, black is black etc etc.

No that's clearly wrong. There is no reason to limit the meaning of the word 'period' to a year.

The early 90s is a period. The mid 90s is a period. If you want to stick to one year, you should say 'year correct'.

I'll add my two cents to this thread by saying I completely disagree. Period-correct means the bike is built with parts from the same year as the frame. You couldn't put M737 spec components on a '92 frame and call it period correct. Dr S is spot on with his definition.

pe·ri·od (pîr-d)
n.
1. An interval of time characterized by the occurrence of a certain condition, event, or phenomenon.

So V brakes, front suspension, rear suspension etc.

 

[brocklanders023]

If using a 91 frame as a starting point then the parts must be 91 for it to be period correct. Not before or after but the same year. It's as simple as that. A spade is a spade, black is black etc etc.

No that's clearly wrong. There is no reason to limit the meaning of the word 'period' to a year.

The early 90s is a period. The mid 90s is a period. If you want to stick to one year, you should say 'year correct'.

I agree with Anthony. As I mentioned before, there's limits (such as fitting M737 to a 1992 frame) but I class the M732 rear mech fitted to my 1993 frame as just about period correct as it's very similar to the M735 of 1993 except for the colour of the main body.

 

[mfh126]

If using a 91 frame as a starting point then the parts must be 91 for it to be period correct. Not before or after but the same year. It's as simple as that. A spade is a spade, black is black etc etc.

No that's clearly wrong. There is no reason to limit the meaning of the word 'period' to a year.

The early 90s is a period. The mid 90s is a period. If you want to stick to one year, you should say 'year correct'.

I'll add my two cents to this thread by saying I completely disagree. Period-correct means the bike is built with parts from the same year as the frame. You couldn't put M737 spec components on a '92 frame and call it period correct. Dr S is spot on with his definition.

pe·ri·od (pîr-d)
n.
1. An interval of time characterized by the occurrence of a certain condition, event, or phenomenon.

So V brakes, front suspension, rear suspension etc.

So you're saying a bike built with a '92 frame would be period-correct if it has a brand new Rock Shox SID fork on it simply because the frame was built during the "front suspension" period???? I'm not sure I understand that argument.

 

[Dr S]

Well that makes the whole discussion pointless then. 20th century can be classed as a period just as the Devonian period is a period- but that is not the point in this discussion is it? When refering to bikes we have to narrow it down to smaller portions of time.

Becomes pointless trying to define anything otherwise :roll:

 

[SF Klein]

deleted

 

[MikeD]

No that's clearly wrong. There is no reason to limit the meaning of the word 'period' to a year.

The early 90s is a period. The mid 90s is a period. If you want to stick to one year, you should say 'year correct'.

Only in a particularly pedantic universe Bikes and parts are generally updated on a yearly schedule, so for the most part all instances of a particular model from year X are the same, but different from any from year Y. Which makes the year the most appropriate period over which "correctness" can be ascertained.

FWIW I think you'd have to be dangerously obsessed to ensure that parts like XTII mechs and Flite saddles that ran over several model years had in fact been manufactured in the appropriate year, though [/quote]

 

[mfh126]

When I rebuilt my '93 Gator Attitude to period correct, I used both the Klein catalog and this website link which shows the available brands and parts for a given year. You'll see that there are some parts/model #'s that were available over several years. I'm not talented enough to know the difference between a pair of 1992 Shimano XT M735 pedals and a pair of 1993 Shimano XT M735 pedals but since XT M735 pedals were available over several years, I'm comfortable that as long as they're M735, they're period correct for my bike. Sella Italia Flite saddles are one of the only components that I can think of where you can verify the actual year a given seat was made because they mold the month/year on the bottom of each saddle.

http://mombat.org/Timeline.htm#1990

I agree with what you're saying. If a component was produced with the same specifications over multiple years (e.g. M735 pedals), then it doesn't matter what year the component you put on your bike was manufactured in order for the bike to still qualify as period-correct.

FWIW I think you'd have to be dangerously obsessed to ensure that parts like XTII mechs and Flite saddles that ran over several model years had in fact been manufactured in the appropriate year, though

Exactly!

 

[paininthe]

[So you're saying a bike built with a '92 frame would be period-correct if it has a brand new Rock Shox SID fork on it simply because the frame was built during the "front suspension" period???? I'm not sure I understand that argument.

I am just about saying that, but being this is RB we wouldn't do that, would we? But we would fit Pace (even though the amount of bikes originally specified on must be tiny).

But clearly there is a front suspension period, manufacturers changed frame design to suit it, same as for a disc brake period.

My favourite field event. Discus.

 

[one-eyed_jim]

When I rebuilt my '93 Gator Attitude to period correct, I used both the Klein catalog and this website link which shows the available brands and parts for a given year. You'll see that there are some parts/model #'s that were available over several years. I'm not talented enough to know the difference between a pair of 1992 Shimano XT M735 pedals and a pair of 1993 Shimano XT M735 pedals but since XT M735 pedals were available over several years, I'm comfortable that as long as they're M735, they're period correct for my bike.

In that particular case, I'd disagree. The design of the M735 pedal was changed from a standard axle and dustcap to a cartridge axle in a closed body. The later design wouldn't be quite correct on an earlier bike.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28920

Likewise for the Flite saddle. There were many small changes to the Selle Italia logo over the years - notably going from red to white at some point in the mid nineties, then a variety of stitched logos. An early bike should have a red-logo Flite.

That's not to say that a later part might not in some sense be appropriate - but it might not necessarily be strictly correct.

Incidentally, most Shimano parts have a two-letter date code giving the year and month of manufacture:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/ ... _codes.htm

 

[silverclaws]

I think what I try to achieve within my cost range, is period of ownership correct, as my last bike, the '92 Saracen Traverse Elite I had for twelve years. In that twelve years of daily use, for recreation and commuting it did change, but not by much. Because I had sentimental issues over the loss of that bike, later I sought out a black Saracen with the pierced top tube that I liked, it turned out to be a '93 Tufftrax Elite, and I spent quite a lot of money thereafter turning the '93 bike into the '92 bike as near as I possibly could in terms of things that are hung on the frame. I turned it into what my '92 bike had in terms of groupset and add ons, but they were available in '93 and thereafter, so my current '93 bike is to me period correct as near as I can get it, i.e. as near as to what I had before in the twelve years of having the first bike.

The other thing about now, this present age, is I can now afford a load of the bits I hankered after back in the day, not because I have more disposable funds, but because the bits are often pre owned, in need of restoration, a bit battered and are priced accordingly or we have places like ebay now so though a deviation from stock, they are period correct.

But some thing of the period are scarce now, so what I have to do, is basically what I did with my lost '92 Saracen, is fit what is available and works with the bike, I am doing now what I did then, say after ten years of ownership when the original '91 XT rear derailer wore out, or the original Ritchey Vantage Pro rear rim exploded ( wore through and inner tube went with a bang taking the sidewall of my new Panaracer Smoke with it, green slime efferywhere),or I found something better than something that annoyed me on the bike, the XT low profile canti M-system comes to mind.

So, if one has a memory of period of ownership of something they liked as it evolved over years, then to me that is a good enough application of period correct, as it is my period correct.

And perhaps I have evolved, my Saracen now sports some colour other than the bipolar black and silver, but this only came about because the SARACEN decals had colour in them, a sort of crimson colour leading me to source and fit red anodised bits where I wanted them.

So, is it acceptable to evolve or stay static in the past in terms of period correct ?