What is a Retro Classic Road Bike ?

[David B]

Many framesets were built with, for example Nervex lugs, and whilst often these frames are regarded as"classic"many are grey porridge.

Plus there's lugs, and then there's lugs; cheapo pressed offerings are a long way removed from investment-cast lugsets from the likes of Reynolds (in the late 80s/early 90s I remember Dawes catalogues always emphasising the use of Reynolds cast lugs on the top-end 531c and 653 models).

David

 

[roadking]

Plus there's lugs, and then there's lugs; cheapo pressed offerings are a long way removed from investment-cast lugsets from the likes of Reynolds...David

Agreed.

And my point about Nervex is whilst a lovely lug set often just used to join tubes together...look at the builders who hand finished and modified Nervex lugs and look at their shorelines too.

That's where craft meets art.

Roadking.

 

[doctor-bond]

The original thrust of the thread was what criteria should we have for road bikes on this site - especially RBOTM entries, and the the OP used the terms Retro/Classic pretty freely.

The concensus on that question seems to be (for various reasons) that "anything before or around 1990" is a pretty good rule of thumb, but is by no means hard and fast.

The question of what constitutes a classic bike is going to get even more subjective, because it invlolves assessing qualitative differences in individual machines, rather than choosing a date range that is broadly useful for many.


I'd suggest a new 'What makes a Classic thread'. (And FWIW, that fantastic Passoni would be in according to my criteria).

 

[hamster]

Roadking, you have hit the nail on the head.

Where craft meets art.

Of course the functionality is a given. I think we can end this thread now and just place "where craft meets art" as a sticky.

 

[roadking]

I'd suggest a new 'What makes a Classic thread'. (And FWIW, that fantastic Passoni would be in according to my criteria).

Good point. But the Passoni is, IMO, not a classic; whether it is a retro classic is a matter for others to debate.

1989 is my cut-off point, and that encapsulates for me (a), the classic period, and (b), the classic bike.

Roadking.

 

[Lazarus]

What a lovely read since I was last here Have to quote this part:

"It is the kind of attention to detail that I associate with an engineer with sincere dedication to and a clear own vision on how things work best."( elev12's post Fri Oct 07, 2011 8:10 pm )

Perhaps after much thought, and soul searching my heart lies with this " The older hand built bikes where simply over engineered, that's why they have stood the test of time so well. As aptly said above attention to detail and an unquenchable thirst for over prefection is where all of our hearts lie, simple, pure, aesthetically perfect, perfectly engineered, perfect to ride bikes, custom built for the rider himself, before he became a catagory, when he was still a human, with his own strengths and dimensions, bikes engineered by experts, designed by the needs of the individual, built to perfection by dedicated craftsmen".

All just simple words my friends, "craftsmen", "experts", "engineers", "dedicated", "perfection" but combined in 1 simple sentence, "my Faggin from 1984". Well known ? unlikely. Debatable ? absolutely. True ? IMHO. Later everybody, like I said "what a lovely read that was ... all of it That's why I decided to join ..... stuff like this puts a smile on any cyclists face, because retro/vintage whatever, is ultimately about inclusion .... making allowances for ..... the 1 that might have got away Laz.

PS: Thanks for those PM's RK the other day re: bike stuff, a pleasure to read Perhaps like I said " a brain like yours is like a jar I need to pick from when all else simply won't do ". Passion my friend is something inside, and can't be grown or nurtured, it just shows itself for what it is