What state is retro biking in at the moment?

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I started three years ago by doing a complete renovation of an Orange clockwork,I then made three Cannondales.In my case I have sold my Beast because I was never going to use it given that I have a 2004 Specialized Enduro which is so much more capable offroad than a 1990's rigid bike.I have been using the Clockwork and an ordinary 3.0 series Cannondale but they just kept on morphing into road bikes so today I have ordered up a new Specialized Roubaix.I will still keep the Orange as a pootling around sort of bike because I enjoy riding it and nostalgia wise it was the first decent mountain bike I ever bought.

Price wise things have been interesting recently.There are still people trying to make some sort of market,especially in NOS items,but I have found the price of everyday secondhand items has dropped substantially.The three Cannondale frame and pepperoni forks cost between £26 and £34,which proves how unfashionable this brand has become,despite this there are sellers asking three figure sums for quite ordinary Cannondale frames and forks.One or two of the eBay power sellers reduce me to tears of amusement at their prices,can't imagine they sell much.

When I first joined this forum I was slightly put off by the elitist attitudes of some of the members.A lot of people have been very kind but every now and again you come up against the catalogue perfect brigade,the period correct only permissable point of view and of course the Klein people.I find some of these attitudes vaguely amusing,I lived through the 90's and well remember how much people modified their bikes at the time ie purple bits,lightweight bits and later improvements like V brakes.The Roubaix I have just ordered has a 105 groupset but the brakes have been downgraded to Specialized own brand,so I will replace these with a pair of Ultegra brakes to rectify the problem,which is typical of what happened BITD.

I think retro bikes will continue but logically as younger members come in the definition of retro will change,so what is retro now will in a few years become vintage.
 
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Retrobiking might have peaked a few years ago. Certainly the build threads and enthusiasm looked more intense around 11/12. It's more meh.... these days. Too many of the same top end copycat builds. I can sense that a lot of the hoarded bling parts are now starting to get dumped onto the market, almost in a panic they will take a bigger hit if they delay further.

Truth is, a lot of the bikes and parts from ~ 20+ yrs ago were better made from better quality alloys and still ride as good as it gets. How many of the vast array of full sussers will be rideable and even worthy of nostalgic resto in 20yrs ?

Happy to keep my classic bikes and just enjoy them for what they are.
 
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Agree with the last 3 posts.

Although I fully enjoy Retrobike, for me the term 'retro' doesn't quite fit. My bike's built from what could be classed as 'vintage' frame, forks and choice of parts. I've kept the original parts going for as long as practical but have upgraded when better components came along or if things needed fixing or replacing. Bitd, we would have all upgraded kit from the original as we went along or as we were seduced by shinier groovier looking trick bits. I do love seeing the all the finely restored "catalogue correct" bikes on RB. However, my bike didn't come out the shop as a complete – it has evolved over the years. It gets full hard everyday use but now it just happens to be an old vintage bike.
 
So, when retrobike was founded in 2005 the newest bikes that were considered retro were 1997. 8 years old

2005 is now more than 8 years ago. By the formula originally applied (and yes I know, v brakes and bombers), a brand new bike that rolled out of the shop on the day retrobike started might well qualify....

food for thought
 
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M-Power":3hjv6p5t said:
Retrobiking might have peaked a few years ago. Certainly the build threads and enthusiasm looked more intense around 11/12. It's more meh.... these days. Too many of the same top end copycat builds. I can sense that a lot of the hoarded bling parts are now starting to get dumped onto the market, almost in a panic they will take a bigger hit if they delay further.

Truth is, a lot of the bikes and parts from ~ 20+ yrs ago were better made from better quality alloys and still ride as good as it gets. How many of the vast array of full sussers will be rideable and even worthy of nostalgic resto in 20yrs ?

Happy to keep my classic bikes and just enjoy them for what they are.

Amen to that....
 
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frank.youngman":37hadw0j said:
When I first joined this forum I was slightly put off by the elitist attitudes of some of the members.A lot of people have been very kind but every now and again you come up against the catalogue perfect brigade,the period correct only permisable point of view and of course the Klein people.

Very true....

frank.youngman":37hadw0j said:
I think retro bikes will continue but logically as younger members come in the definition of retro will change,so what is retro now will in a few years become vintage.

I'm not sure I agree with this - I would imagine that the majority of forum users, will be still hankering back to the "proper" retro days of circa 87-93 in terms of kit, frames and restorations.

Why? Because this is when MTB'ing properly hit the UK for the first time, we were all reading the Freewheel catalogue and drooling over the Merlin made Ridgeback Titanium and Kestrel carbon framed bikes et al, as well as being sucked in by Syncros, Manitou, Ringle and so many other uber cool brands introduced to us via MBUK etc.

Whilst bikes of 2005 when this forum launched will become "vintage" at some point, I don't think they'll ever be cool or retro in the same way that the original bikes from the original era are - simply because of the time period they represent and how we were all being sucked into riding MTB's as a result.
 
cce":3hgt20yy said:
So, when retrobike was founded in 2005 the newest bikes that were considered retro were 1997. 8 years old

2005 is now more than 8 years ago. By the formula originally applied (and yes I know, v brakes and bombers), a brand new bike that rolled out of the shop on the day retrobike started might well qualify....

food for thought

No there was no cut off in 1995 that didn't come till quite some years later 2010 ish.
Then a cut off was made buy the person who own the site, these newer not so retro bikes could be added, they have their own section.
It's his business after all and it's up to him to see fit how he runs it and would like his board to make money to keep it going.
We don't have to use it.

But retrobiking around here (physical location) is probably more popular than it was.
They don't however all use this forum.


Elitism, period correctness, hot rodding or just banging bits on so it can be ridden. Refurbs, restoration or just riding as is.
It's all good and keeps it interesting rather than same old same old.

Getting pissed of at people because they want everything perfect restored and period is like getting pissed of for people because they have ginger hair or want to type in perfect English.
 
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rjsdavis":2wq0oltf said:
Why? Because this is when MTB'ing properly hit the UK for the first time, we were all reading the Freewheel catalogue and drooling over the Merlin made Ridgeback Titanium and Kestrel carbon framed bikes et al, as well as being sucked in by Syncros, Manitou, Ringle and so many other uber cool brands introduced to us via MBUK etc.

Whilst bikes of 2005 when this forum launched will become "vintage" at some point, I don't think they'll ever be cool or retro in the same way that the original bikes from the original era are - simply because of the time period they represent and how we were all being sucked into riding MTB's as a result.

and the people who were too young for this? the people for whom the height of nostalgia is an early jump bike?
 
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cce":24eder01 said:
rjsdavis":24eder01 said:
Why? Because this is when MTB'ing properly hit the UK for the first time, we were all reading the Freewheel catalogue and drooling over the Merlin made Ridgeback Titanium and Kestrel carbon framed bikes et al, as well as being sucked in by Syncros, Manitou, Ringle and so many other uber cool brands introduced to us via MBUK etc.

Whilst bikes of 2005 when this forum launched will become "vintage" at some point, I don't think they'll ever be cool or retro in the same way that the original bikes from the original era are - simply because of the time period they represent and how we were all being sucked into riding MTB's as a result.

and the people who were too young for this? the people for whom the height of nostalgia is an early jump bike?
I'm sure they can either setup their own forum of retro-jump-bikes (just wait a second whilst I register the domain name... who can't seed a market, eh...), or there'll be some virtual campfire for them to sing kumbaya.

If this site has an arbitrary line in the sand, that has a bit of gnashing of teeth over, but is largely true for when MTB-ing first really took off in the UK, then why not. If it changes, then that will surely be because the guv wants to.
 
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