Sitting here in all my cider drowned glory something suddenly occured to me. Why has everyone, including me I might add, taken time out of their day to comment on a £100 or so frame, whether it is good, bad or indifferent quality.
Surely, the entire discussion is moot when we consider that even the most expensive retro frame is cheap as all hell.
What are we talking here. For the highest end, rarist frame, £3,000? I dunno, someone correct me? Barring any ridiculously rare Victoria and Albert museum pieces, I'd say that from what I've seen people barely spend more than £1,500 on a used retro frame, NOS or not.
£3,000 today is roughly what, £1,600 in 1990. Why are we wasting time on discussing a frame which costs £100. Who cares. £100, its nothing, its two days wages at most. The thing us old blokes dont get, is inflation. We seem to think of £100 now being the same as it was in the 90's. It aint. £100 is barely a night out clubbing these days, for some people its half a monthly Sky subscription.
At £100 for a frame, that Mustang is still only a BSO, or is it. Tesco full bike for £70. Frame cost? Say £10 at most.
Oh but wait a second, you can get an On-One for £150. Which is the higher quality?...now theres a question. Certainly the On-One has more "cred" but quality I go "hmm".
£100 or so is peanuts. Sure, you can do better than a Mustang frame for that money, but you wont find anything NOS for that price that isnt a BSO.
Seriously guys, lets get a grip here. Being a Retro biker is nothing to do with the price of a frame and/or bike, its to do with the feeling you get whilst riding your bike, reliving your childhood, owning something you could never afford as a child be it a Mustang or Merlin. Surely thats what this is about, not the size of a persons wallet or their individual taste.
