Why vintage bikes-two pictures.
 

This picture kind of summed up our current world of bicycles to me.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d29f20fd2b.jpg

"Made in Taiwan", "U.S.A." and "Motobecane" all in one head badge/close to it. A historic French bike now is a brand and while I am sure there is function in this bike, when I look at these welds (seat stay to seat tube) all I see are robot arms (but likely still a welder putting out x hundred frames a day?).

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...adb8f1ac70.jpg

Functional, but disposable, rebuild? Why?

Yet for the cost of this bike, which seems to be what I see in build up to $1,000.00 price range, you could have a vintage bike built by hand, made to be rebuilt and ridden life times and at the $1,000.00 price you're looking at some grail bikes (Miyata Pro I've been lusting over on ebay....).

Yet, there is a comfort, an affirmation, a bicycle is a very very old technology when measured against the every year turn over of the digital world, and yet it works, some would even say it is perfected.

To ride functional hand crafted art, for a pittance, for me it is the why of vintage bikes.

Oh, and the grand kids love to look at them too...their future riders. :)

Agree. Many modern bikes are hideous.

I didn't think I'd miss lugs that much,..... but I do on these "retro" modern bikes....
Welds just look hideous to me, unless they do a fillet job (A good, clean, well proportioned one).....

Those are sad welds. I don't mind clean ones!

Modern bikes can be eye sores but there are many modern artists/craftsmen who do work like David Kirk's fillet brazing and lug work that show gratitude, respect, and admiration for the C&V artists/craftsmen of the past.

Yeah, I’m just not willing to pay that much, for functional, but ugly. That price buys an awful nice CV ride.
Tim

Plenty of "vintage" bikes look terrible as well...many have visibly ugly gaps, unfiled lugs...paint Stevie Wonder would write a dirge about...

Threads like this offer nothing IMO. Don't want one? Don't buy one. Buying/restoring a used bike is very different than buying a new one...and it doesn't make you smarter to prefer one to the other. If people said this about your vintage bike, there'd be thread(s) about being picked on. Old bikes can be great. New ones can be great. Get the tool right for you and your budget.

I don't see why this belongs here and not foo.

And the rest are generic, bland, indistinguishable.

I can appreciate a well-done (generally NOT mass-produced) TIG weld. It really comes down to how much character you want in your bike and sorry to say, welded just ain't got it.

The welds on that Bikes Direct Moto are fine. It's an aluminum bike, so the welds are going to be bigger by virtue of the material. From a welding point of view that is pretty well-done. They are not done by a a robot but by hand. Look up Frank The Welder's current aluminum work and you'll see they aren't that different.

TIG welded bikes do have character and take a lot of skill. The majority on this forum don't find them aesthetically pleasing because to a layman they are not as geometric as a lug.

I agree with the point that the new bikes are usually not a great deal compared to vintage, but you are paying a premium for newer tech and not having to rebuild your bike.

Yes the new Motos are ugly, but other people feel the same way about C&V. Luckily aesthetics is subjective.

Personal opinion: I hate sloping top tubes, and I hate big visible welds. I like cleanly brazed lugwork, either simple or ornate, and a good, clean fillet braze job.

Empty brands are sad. Especially when they really have their own production and development. Why purchase an old brand, when you can just call it your own name and everything would be fine.

I wonder what Alberto Masi says about these:
https://masibikes.com/collections/ur...iale-otto-2019
https://masibikes.com/collections/ur...-vita-tre-2019