Retro Trends

[john]

As Jez suggests reckon the next big thing for next year will be near enough stock mid to high end bikes. These are austere times - ringle and pauls out full xt or dx in. Let's keep the builds super clean though chaps
.

All my current projects slated to be complete in 09 will be bling-less race machines.

AB,

look forward to seeing some of those complete. Your builds are always worth checking out. Guess if there is no bling at all you'll be like 'the anti-Jez'

 

[ridevintagemtb]

Guess if there is no bling at all you'll be like 'the anti-Jez'

Thx. In all fairness to Jez, some of his best builds IMO have been bling-less (the original Goat, the tiger Trimble, etc).

 

[8lezard]

 

[Sam R]

I wasn't insinuating we should start tearing up people's childhood dreams of blinging out a Trek 930 or Fire Mountain or Krapakoram or whatever.

My own opinion is that there is often a lot of time, money and effort being thrown at builds that either have little historical interest, engineering merit or personal involvement. For example ameybrook's Kona Cindercone (or was it a Lava Dome?) - not exactly a piece of exotica, repainted in a non-standard colour, but the build had personal involvement as it was his old race bike, something that had been used in anger and meant something to him. I could relate to that (it also won BotM, maybe this was a reason). Conversely, jez's build offer little in the way of this kind of personal involvement (correct me if I'm wrong jez), but they are detailed exquistly and he clearly understands the lineage and ethos of the designers of the bike he assembles; i.e. he gets what brands like Fat Chance were driving at. This means his builds are interesting from a historical perspective, essentially being "time warp" show pieces. Now compare this to some of the stuff on here that has been built with none of this in mind and you can't help but wonder que?

 

[legrandefromage]

My moneys on Shogun and Barracuda catalogue brand bikes...

 

[ededwards]

I wasn't insinuating we should start tearing up people's childhood dreams of blinging out a Trek 930 or Fire Mountain or Krapakoram or whatever.

My own opinion is that there is often a lot of time, money and effort being thrown at builds that either have little historical interest, engineering merit or personal involvement. For example ameybrook's Kona Cindercone (or was it a Lava Dome?) - not exactly a piece of exotica, repainted in a non-standard colour, but the build had personal involvement as it was his old race bike, something that had been used in anger and meant something to him. I could relate to that (it also won BotM, maybe this was a reason). Conversely, jez's build offer little in the way of this kind of personal involvement (correct me if I'm wrong jez), but they are detailed exquistly and he clearly understands the lineage and ethos of the designers of the bike he assembles; i.e. he gets what brands like Fat Chance were driving at. This means his builds are interesting from a historical perspective, essentially being "time warp" show pieces. Now compare this to some of the stuff on here that has been built with none of this in mind and you can't help but wonder que?

I think you've got it right there about personal involvement - people are often building their bike in the way that they would have wished BITD, getting a bike they lusted over or simply new to the game and having a go (goodness knows, I made enough errors of judgement in my early days and expect, to many, I still do). As has been pointed out above, taking a photo and posting your bike tends to mean that you are proud of it (although I suppose there may be some who want to go "whoo, look at the pile of poo I've just built", it takes all sorts) although not everyone incudes details of why the bike means something to them or why they built it (for what it's worth I feel that personal resonance adds a whole new layer).

To offer a perspective, there are other forums where I would not dare to post any of my bikes as they would be ripped apart by the self appointed style police. We clearly don't want that but some gentle pointers are helpful but I think needs to be exercised with care and sensitivity - if we don't know the perspective of the builder then it can so easily be seen/interpreted as just straight criticism.

 

[legrandefromage]

''...some who want to go "whoo, look at the pile of poo I've just built..."

I fall in that camp - I love building 'whoo pile of poo' bikes becuase thats what most of us rode when we on our way to school or paper rounds.
I find it down the tip, rebuild it (or not) and post it here to show what a wastefull society we are.

I also like building up nicer stuff here and there.

 

[one-eyed_jim]

My own opinion is that there is often a lot of time, money and effort being thrown at builds that either have little historical interest, engineering merit or personal involvement. For example ameybrook's Kona Cindercone (or was it a Lava Dome?) - not exactly a piece of exotica, repainted in a non-standard colour, but the build had personal involvement as it was his old race bike, something that had been used in anger and meant something to him.

It was also a damned pretty bike! Aesthetics count for something, and in a photograph they count for a lot. As I said to console a friend of mine who'd sent his picture to "Hot or Not", it's not you they're judging - it's the picture.

 

[one-eyed_jim]

I love building 'whoo pile of poo' bikes becuase thats what most of us rode when we on our way to school or paper rounds.

Not only that - you can build a bike from scrap that can take you across the country, or halfway around the world. I like nice bikes as much as anybody, but a lot of my best miles have been ridden on bikes that some people wouldn't ride to the pub.

"A bike's a bike, and if you love yours, don't take no shit from nobody!" - CHUNK 666

 

[lewis1641]

i really hope the retrobike world doesnt become too "scene"

i am enjoying this thread. its interesting to see that sublte builds have been suggested a few times, then there has been a few posts saying they are looking forward to more subtle stuff, then someone saying thats what they are doing. seems this very thread is marking the retro future!