What a strange way to consider time..!
I have a Kona Kileaua ive owned 62% of my life it transpires!
Maybe to explain to others why post complete restoration it resides in my warm work office, and is all to rarely ridden, this percentage should be used..!
I bought it secondhand, battered looking with syncros post, middleburn cranks, odd lx / mavic wheels as a ride to work.
I had an stx rc grouped zaskar, and within a month I had sold it as the kona rode like my natural choice after, a succession of Marin, Cannondale, Trek... it just felt right and I loved it.
Its still got the middleburn and syncros parts and I dread to think how many miles I have done on that thing, its got an xt front derailleur I bought at the first car boot I remember going to for a tenner, still got the black shiny deore lx derailleur I got for doing some work on someone else's bike twenty years ago... and i think I want to fit the xt matching the front derailleur ive had for ages, but the smirk at the memory and how well that part has already lasted stops me!
I look at new bikes and cant see any likelihood of fondness of this kind and longevity that its a result of. Thats probably why I have an even lighter scandium Explosif ive had a long time from a new frame purchase, also middleburn and syncros, but all xt, hope wheels etc..
Like an evolution of that ride I loved . Which I dont ride enough but im working on it...!
To temper this from my perspective, I have much the same story with walking kit from the likes of Karrimor when a uk made decent brand, my small fleet of cars, including my first... tools you name it I am a sentimental and increasingly old hoarder!!
I increasingly suspect rather than misplaced nostalgia my generation is seeing throwaway culture mean that genuinely the older stuff i.e nineties bikes, older than that with cars.. its fixable, its relateable, and it lasts.. its comforting to have something reliable and well understood in your life when the world is such a bloody mess.