age of interest ?

[NeilM]

Personally, the appeal has nothing to do with age, but everything to do with look and style.

I rode in the middle to late 80's, but the style of those bikes does not appeal to me, neither do the bendy / swan neck modern bikes with 140 plus mm of suspension travel.

I like the style of the bikes made in the 90's and my oldest bike is a 92, my newest a 02.

Vive la difference.

 

[mikee]

Three groups.

Canti fans
V fans
Disc fans

I'm in group two but I'm experimenting with group 3. When you're as bad a cyclist as me you need all the help you can to avoid trees.

so no room for us u-brake and roller cam fans then ?
as i said ........

 

[Stodgy]

Will today's bikes be retro in 20 years time? Of course they will be if they still exist. Don't really think they are built to last, on the whole, and carbon won't take the neglect of an old steel frame.

Times of quality, they were...

 

[shogun700]

As best I can tell, here's how it goes, although the exact timeline is inexact:

Bikes come out, are purchased by people of sufficient age/economic status to afford them, coveted by those who cannot.

10 years pass, and these bikes are 'yesterdays news' to some degree. A few special examples will always buck the trend. Stuff that used to be pricey gets relatively cheap as the latest and greatest is introduced.

15 years (or so) pass, and the people who used to covet can now afford what they really wanted 'back in the day'. Prices start to rise, and even slightly abused/not mint/lower end bikes attain value. Certain parts become 'must haves' for builds, and attain astonishing prices.

20 years gone, and to some degree, interest fades/starts to fade as many people have found or built what they want, and only 'mint' bikes/parts/frames retain value-and these can be quite expensive, relatively.

25 years-everybody gets old, set in their ways, and unable to understand how 'new' stuff is now considered retro!

 

[mkaavin]

As best I can tell, here's how it goes, although the exact timeline is inexact:

Bikes come out, are purchased by people of sufficient age/economic status to afford them, coveted by those who cannot.

10 years pass, and these bikes are 'yesterdays news' to some degree. A few special examples will always buck the trend. Stuff that used to be pricey gets relatively cheap as the latest and greatest is introduced.

15 years (or so) pass, and the people who used to covet can now afford what they really wanted 'back in the day'. Prices start to rise, and even slightly abused/not mint/lower end bikes attain value. Certain parts become 'must haves' for builds, and attain astonishing prices.

20 years gone, and to some degree, interest fades/starts to fade as many people have found or built what they want, and only 'mint' bikes/parts/frames retain value-and these can be quite expensive, relatively.

25 years-everybody gets old, set in their ways, and unable to understand how 'new' stuff is now considered retro!

What about the bikes of today will you miss in 10-20 years? Nothing, beacuse you will get the same bike with newer technology.

But try to find a Klein or a Fat in todays bikes.........

 

[cactus-man]

late 80's early 90's bikes are the best-coolest-awesomely assembled bikes in the world IMO

 

[gtRTSdh]

What about the bikes of today will you miss in 10-20 years? Nothing, beacuse you will get the same bike with newer technology.

But try to find a Klein or a Fat in todays bikes.........

I agree, none of the new bikes I've seen recently have any form of craftmanship that one could actually get attached to, nor does anything seem particularly quirky, i.e. girvins or the whyte PST (is that right)

 

[Raging_Bulls]

I agree, none of the new bikes I've seen recently have any form of craftmanship that one could actually get attached to, nor does anything seem particularly quirky, i.e. girvins or the whyte PST (is that right)

Probably because the late 80s and early 90s were the era when manufacturers were still experimenting with bold new designs.
In the second half of the 90s they more or less knew what worked, what didn't, what was not cost-effective enough, etc.

The Whyte PRST models and the BMW Q6S are notable exceptions, but the rest are mostly variations of a few general designs that proved to be effective.

As for craftsmanship and boutique bikes, you can still find that, but it's extremely expensive (Delta7 Arantix, for instance).
Mountain bikes have become a consumable as well. Generally speaking, they're supposed to be replaced after 2 or 3 years.

 

[dbmtb]

This is the old "should we move the cutoff date?" thread in disguise isn't it?

Personally - MTB kit for me went down the poop chute after M735 and Shimano only got it right again with M770 (except hubs which are still down the poop chute unless we're talking Saint and SLX).

M739 was too weedy. The later variants were too plagued by shifting standards and compatibility issues....

 

[incorrigible]

Personally - MTB kit for me went down the poop chute after M735 and Shimano only got it right again with M770 (except hubs which are still down the poop chute unless we're talking Saint and SLX).

I suspect that in Denmark "poop chute" refers to a toilet, but it means something entirely different in the USA, and we ALL have one, and so I can't imagine trying to fit bike parts in there, although I've bought some post 1994 stuff that I'd like to.....um...."introduce".....to the manufacturer's poop chute.

For the record, mine has a tattoo on it that says "exit only".