JonBailey

that you were truly fond of for under $150 retail new?

Name the year, make and model, please.

I would have to say that virtually any Schwinn or Excelsior made before 1980 and
made in America that retailed new originally for under $150 would be a truly great bicycle.

I guess we can through in some Raleighs of old too.

I really enjoyed my Murray Monterey cruiser bike I bought at Montgomery Wards in 1989. I was in the army at the time and age 25. Single speed, coaster brake and balloon tires. 26". Maroon paint with white letters. $99 bucks plus tax. I was young, thin and strong then. Nowadays I need a lot of derailleur gears to pedal over rolling hills and less than perfectly flat roads.

Paul Barnard

I am saving my money for this one.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/26-Schwin...lC8hoCjk_w_wcB

livedarklions

Those Murray Montereys were good bikes. I had one in New Orleans. Great bike for an almost no-hill city. But, $99 in 1989 is worth $202 now.

Do we really need you to start another good old days thread?

JonBailey

I don't know what "we" really need me to do but somebody has to spice this joint up somehow.

Lawton, Oklahoma has some pretty steep streets for being in a Plains State. I handled my single speed here like a trooper back in '89
but no more could I hack a single-speed here with my old age and arthritis. In the old 1989 days of Tom Petty Full-Moon Fever and George Bush, Senior, I had to stand up and push hard on the pedals to go up these Lawton grades as I was strong as an ox back then but I'm too pooped to pedal that hard anymore. I rode my Murray also
back during the cold winter months and didn't have to bike during the humidity and heat however. I got the Murray while stationed at Fort Sill
in the Army. Had it from about October 1989 through January 1990. Pedalled all over Lawton (even out to the Goodyear tire plant and the airport) and all over the army post. Had a generator light too that was always troublesome however. The army MPs once got after me once for not wearing an orange vest on post though I had a working taillight and headlight. For Christmas of 1989, I got a present from my mother: a check for $5,000. I put this money down on a brand-new Oldsmobile and left the stupid bicycle chained to the bike rack at my barracks to be forever abandoned. It was so much nicer to sit in the driver seat and let the Rocket motor carry me all over town with Chicago playing on the factory Delco AM/FM cassette stereo. I hated that bike by the time I got my new car but now kinda miss it.

Moe Zhoost

I loved my 1970 white Schwinn Varsity before it got stolen. I think I paid about $80 for it. I absolutely loved my 1972 Peugeot U08 and kick myself for trading it. Paid less than $125, new.

livedarklions

So your strategy for "spicing up" this forum is to turn it into the Jon Bailey Biography Channel?


No thanks.

Quit starting stupid threads.

livedarklions

Just for point of comparison, $125 in 1972 is equal to $759 now.

hillyman

Good lord do you still drive a Chevy Vega?

hillyman

Clamshell phone?

FiftySix

The Verizon store by me has exactly one new clamshell phone model for sale. Year after year it tempts me to time travel.

indyfabz

Heh. This week marks the two-year anniversary of me getting a smart phone. Work gave it to me. (and my employer pays the bill.) Earlier that year I needed to replace my flip phone. Went to the Verizon store and the employee literally said "Seriously?" He walked me over to their display and said "We have these four."

hillyman

I know. Was hard for me to let go of my clamshell too years ago. Got a brother aged 66 just did. With new folding screen technology kind of making a strange comeback.

seamuis

I’ll say it again, you should be IP banned.

freeranger

Only one-I think it was a Columbia maybe? Put it together from a box full of parts when I was around 14-15 years young (that was way back!) I remember it had a Sturmey-Archer 3 speed hub. I painted the frame a bronze color. My father was mechanically inclined and I was his helper, but this bike was all mine to put together and get adjusted correctly. I learned to adjust and pack cone bearings, as well as all the other adjustments, on this bike. Had lots of fun on it--lived in W.Va. then, so lots of hills. Don't remember whatever happened to it-feel like I should-probably sold it when I started riding motorcycles. We built my sister's first trail bike (a Honda 100cc) from parts also. Still like to tinker today-tho not as crazy about it as I used to be.

AlmostTrick

I kid. If there's interest and replies to your threads that's good enough.

My Murray Monterey was zero $$, found in the trash. I re-greased the bearings, added a rack and mud flaps and used it for schmucking around in the winter for a few years so I could keep my "truly good" bicycles clean. I then let a coworker use it for a few years. When he returned it, I sold it for $40.

mstateglfr 

What could possibly be the point of this? $150 now isnt close to $150 before 1980.
$150 in '76 is $675 in present day. Why not ask if anyone has a bike they recently bought for $675 or less that they really like?

AlmostTrick

^^^ but, but... what about the good old days?

rebel1916

A boat anchor is a boat anchor, no matter the price or era.

DHPflaumer

I've got to say... A TRULY GOOD BICYCLE and a bicycle you enjoy are two totally different things. You enjoyed your MGWard bike for $99, I enjoyed the $100 department store bikes I had when I was a kid (born 1989) but... Neither of them was a particularly good bicycle.

Most of those vintage Schwinns (I checked and $150 in 1980 is about $450 today) were perfectly good bikes but nothing TRULY special. Much like a $450 bike from a decent brand today is a perfectly good bicycle but nothing special. Lots of vintage models did cater to more enthusiastic riders and ran $300+. So... $900+ today. I paid that for my Cross Check (flat bar) and it's a very good bicycle, but again nothing TRULY special.

As someone stated in one of your previous threads, a high end bike then could easily run $1000+, so $3,000 today (he actually cited an $1,800 bike). Now we're getting into TRULY GOOD territory. I'd argue that the $1,500 I put in my Soma Grand Randonneur resulted in a TRULY GOOD bike (the wheels were the cheapest I could find but hey, you can't have everything). Hell, The bike that guy cited would give you about $1,500 left over after what I have in my Norther.

The point of all this is... Let's not confused a fun, rideable bike with a TRULY GOOD bike.

OldTryGuy

2002, Target, $100.00 for new Magna 7speed Hybrid 26 x 1 3/8 tires now have 10,000+ miles and still going good.

Kyocera flip phone similar to currently in use.

bikecrate

Well, I got a Trek 7500 FX for $350 back in the good ole days of 2003. I put 10,000 plus mile on it. I regret selling it, but got seduced by new bike fever.

guachi

Doesn't qualify as cheap but I loved my Bianchi Boardwalk I bought in, I think, 1990. On the one hand, it wasn't cheap at about $450 for a junior in high school in 1990. On the other hand, I used it as my sole transportation vehicle and it was certainly cheaper than a car.

Great bike.

Trakhak

Helyett mod. J. Anquetil Tour de France track bike, Reynolds 531, tubulars, $125, 1964. My buddy's Peugeot PX-10 was $120. Schwinn Paramounts were unaffordable, at $175.

Fahrenheit531 

Has anyone here ever had a truly good calculator for less than $300? Just wondering.


...In other news, I wish my Motorola Razr were still a viable option phone-wise.

Retro Grouch 

To honestly answer that question I think you need to provide your criteria and with what you are comparing your treasured bicycle.