Retroism......why?

I think there are only to real questions to answer

1) does the bike make you want to ride it?
2) does it make your heart sing when you look at it?

it doesn't matter what combination of frame, groupset and adherence to catalogue correctness you go for as long as you end up with something that answers yes to both those questions.

I enjoy tracking down and giving a new lease of life to old bikes but I don't keep many of them for very long, because I have to want to ride them.

my only retro at present is a mid '90's bontrager but its running a mix of M950 with modern M9000 xtr drivetrain and proper modern tyres. It means I can actually ride it offroad properly and i'm not too precious about the drivetrain getting spannered.
 
I think some people have the wrong end of the stick about this post....its certainly not negative about retro bikes......but i also feel its quite important to question motivations and actions in life.

Just doing the same thing because you always did it is hardly a useful philosophy imho.

I don't think so they have the wrong end of the stick.
As there should not be a wrong end, as the merkins say "you do you" is what applies here afaic.

I love to see the pimped out all original year X MTB's and the love (read money) people put in them, but I also love my 97 'dale with a cheap Ebike engine and old school mint Magura's and XTR hubs with anodised red FIR rims.
People just don't understand when they see me ride by their fancy van Moof or 8K Stromers.
I'm just sniggering, the thing cost me 500,- total and does what they can do.
 
Riser bars and bar ends... Oh my! The main problem isn't what other people think; it's having to look at the combination as you ride. Remember, if you vomit forward, it will hit you in the face! 🤮

Catalogue spec... Oh my! What is catalogue spec other than some other dude's idea of what a bike should be? Why should it be any more worthwhile than your own? After all, you're the rider; whoever decided the catalogue spec was just doing a day's work and didn't necessarily even ride the bikes in question.

There's a healthy scepticism on Retrobike toward the bike industry today; why not have the same scepticism toward the bike industry of the 80s and 90s? It's not as if cynicism in business was only invented in the current millennium.
 
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