What is a Retro Classic Road Bike ?

[roadking]

The w124 were introduced in the same year as the Saab 9000, in 1984.
In a previous post you considered SBDU deminish as appropriate for cut off point.

I am fortunate in that I currently own two W124s, a coupe and a 500E. The W124 was introduced in the UK in 1986 (on a C plate - although very few were registered on that letter). It was the W201 or 190 that was introduced in 1984. The W124s predecessor, the W123 was still in production in 1984 and the following year.
My winter car is a"proper"Volvo (i.e a RWD one).
The Saab 9000 was a departure at the time for Saab, the 9000 being a joint venture with Fiat group, sharing major body components with the Fiat Croma, the Alfa Romeo 164 and the Lancia Thema - the Fiat and Lancia widely used by pro cycling teams throughout the second half of the 1980s.
The SBDU, I did not select the closing of SBDU as a cut-off date as such (although it co-incides), but it would be one of the considerations in a thesis about the"classic period" - although the defining factors would be more holistic (about pro cycling and business in general) rather than"just"about bicycle technology.

Roadking.

 

[roadking]

On a UK scale, this isn't a new argument - even pre-WW2 the likes of John Betjeman were commenting on the increasingly identical high streets of big British towns and cities, each with all-too-similar looking branches of Boots, M&S, Woolies, Burtons, etc. (the latter two often used their very 1930s "house styles" of building regardless of the prevailing architecture of the rest of the town).
David

In fact Betjeman was against over development well into the late 1970s, revising his earlier fervent Victorianism at the same time. We must remember Betjeman was a great snob and many of his diatribes were against the aspirational middle classes of which he was one!

He was first and foremost a poet of the suburbs and all that goes with that.

He did much to help raise awareness of architecture and I believe he would have revised his views - the paradox with Betjeman is that on the one hand he was ahead of his time, on the other behind the the times.

He was a keen obeserver though, and a keen cyclist (as a means of transport). Many of his poems refer to bicycling, makes of bike and components - he was a great user of brand names!

"I clicked my Sturmey Archer gear and pedalled 'til I nearly burst..."etc.

Roadking.

 

[Elev12k]

Apparently the UK market was served two years later with the w124 and w201.

I never owned a w124, but I would be happy to own one. My farther owned one in the early 90s. Malachite green with 8 hole wheels. It looked a bit like the 500E, but it was an 'economical' 230E 4 cilinder. Couple years later it was replaced by a 9000. Brilliant car.

 

[roadking]

I never owned a w124, but I would be happy to own one. My farther owned one in the early 90s. Malachite green with 8 hole wheels. It looked a bit like the 500E, but it was an 'economical' 230E 4 cilinder. Couple years later it was replaced by a 9000. Brilliant car.

My coupe, a 300CE, was bought new by my Father in '89, he sold it to a friend of his, I was fortunate to be able to buy it from the friend nearly 10 years ago (both mine are Blue Black Metallic - looks like black).

500E largely handbuilt by Porsche, with a subtle wider body (bigger, wider wings). Wanted one for years, all left hand drive, a friend in Germany found my one owner example a few years ago (sadly off-road this summer having a front suspension overhaul).

Winter tyres going on the old Volvo at the end of this month!

Back now to a proper things, sorting out a Record hub and rim for my Holdsworth Mistral!

Roadking.

 

[Agency_Scum]

Anything that makes me feel I'm on that 1955 Cyclists' Special does it for me.

 

[roadking]

Anything that makes me feel I'm on that 1955 Cyclists' Special does it for me.

Are you referring to one of those special trains BR laid on BITD?

If so saw a great film about those trains recently.

Rk.

 

[Agency_Scum]

You've seen the very film itself.

 

[doctor-bond]

Interesting (if rather dull) observation that public transport used to adapt to people's needs, and now people adapt to the transport: viz the rise and rise of folding bikes.

 

[David B]

You've seen the very film itself.

Can't beat a good BTF documentary.

David

 

[hamster]

Also heard in this thread is that a frame needs to have lugs. So that excludes this Slim Chance that can imo can be considered a very interesting classic, just because it is an early attempt with no lugs >> Slim Chance

Personally I don't think that TIGged steel is classic. Chance built really great frames with all the ethos of craftsmanship of the great frame builders. But for me a neat weld is just simply not the same as a lug. I'm not saying it's a bad frame, just a harbinger of things to come, and those things were not classic. Interesting? Absolutely. Advanced? Yes. Ahead of it's time? Yes. Classic? Hmmm.
Of course any of these definitions get ragged at the edges, things did not change overnight and all at the same time.