What is YOUR favourite era?

[one-eyed_jim]

80's

lugged steel
Super Record then C-Record
Shamal

Were Shamals really around before the mid nineties?

In terms of the stuff I like to ride, I lean towards the nineties: oversized steel, cassette hubs, threadless stems. There's no one golden year for all that. The mid nineties were great years in professional racing as well, between the departure of Indurain and the rebirth of Armstrong. The lack of any one dominant individual makes for more interesting competition.

The postwar years were also very interesting - the postwar British touring boom, hub gears, the Campagnolo Cambio Corsa, and the arrival of effective derailleurs. Robic, Bartali and Coppi - long Tours and dirt-road mountain stages. The great years of the Bordeaux-Paris.

Then you have the golden years of Campagnolo and Merckx.

I can't decide.

 

[klasse]

Were Shamals really around before the mid nineties?

not exactly sure what year - but that was around mid 90's
I had a pair of late C record hubs laced to Shamals, guessing 1994

 

[Stick Legs]

Very much in line with the Guv'nor the era I find most interesting is the early 90's. LeMond in 88 - Indurain in 93.

The bikes are the ones I lust after today, the components are gorgeous and the racing epic.

Image of the era for me? Laurent Fignion, pony tail flying in the breeze. RIP.

Bike of the era? It has to be a Z Team issue.

 

[Agency_Scum]

For nostalgia ( though I wasn't even born then ) I voted for the 50s...

...an adequate number of gears, post-war austerity paint with beautiful low-colour pigments that didn't shout, no traffic, a frame's reputation dictated by the builder ( not the material ) and elegance throughout.
For technology I'd vote for road cycling's " thumbshifter moment " as the 90s...

the right number of gears, thick chains, indexed bar-end shifters and the bottom bracket sorted.

 

[Qubit]

Late 80s/early 90s for me. This does sort of coincide with my original interest, but i think it represents a period where both form and function came together nicely (with respect to road bikes). I really dislike very modern gear, i find it rather ugly.

 

[Agency_Scum]

Bump! I like this thread.

 

[ShiftySteve]

I guess it will depend on when each person was growing up and discovered cycling as a sport.

For me the classic road era was late 80s. Fignon, Roche, Lemond, delgado and Millar. Had me hooked.

Then in 91 i bought my first MTB and the rest (takes on old 70's prog rock musicians voice) as they say is history......

 

[jCymbal]

Late 70's/ early 80's for me. Before index shifters and carbon ugliness.

ps: voted 80's

 

[playford]

I like the early track bikes 40's-50's such clean lines, 50's seems to be the golden era of the small bespoke frame builder. In Northern Ireland we had close to 10 builders at that point, amazing for a population that size.

I like the half way house (trad/modern) of some of the 70's stuff too.

No interest really in the carbon stuff.

 

[Polco]

I liked the 80s for the no nonsense racing from Hinault & Fignon, Moser was the height of cool, didn't like some American bloke who appeared on the scene then though!