Nemosengineer 

A while back workmate friend of mine "Bill" who was vintage curious was questioning me on the virtuous of steel, having grown up on the first wave of tigged aluminum frames. One thing led to another and I gave him a Raleigh Alyeska frameset and supported his project with a few bits here and there, he produced a really nice retsomod commuter with the help of Craigslist. Interestingly enough his wife took an interest in these activities and wants vintage steel for herself. Now my friend has started work on a classic steel road bike for his wife, I donated a Tange 2 Japanese road frame and coldest it to 130mm to get the project going.
Now there are two wonderful people involved in this magnificent obsession of ours and their projects are self sustaining as are their new interests. So I guess I'm saying invest a little time and a few parts in people to sustain the interest and grow the audience for C&V. (My little secret is this also frees up more room for my frames and projects.)

: Mike

merziac

I lucked out with my only kid, managed to get him into classic rock and bikes, the Raleigh SC he loved was stolen and we replaced it with a substandard place holder that does just fine but if he can hold onto it for awhile longer I'm going to build him a proper one.

Maybe a Raleigh Pro.

I don't think he even considers modern ones "bikes".

A guy at work had a Bianchi Veloce, aluminum rattler that was a nice bike but too small for him, I got him onto a new steel Breezer, disc, gravel deal that he loves.

droppedandlost 

Well, you guys did it to me. I wanted to cheaply ride gravel, got an old steel frame, put on 38mm tires and I was hooked. My "nice" carbon bike is now just a frame hanging in the garage (and it's taking up space that could be occupied by another steel frame).

merziac

Well then, what's the holdup?

RiddleOfSteel

My friend and coworker has gone through a number of bikes and bike-related endeavors. Came from vintage fixie land (old Nishiki that he had powder coated a super gregarious hue of sparkling orange, with appropriate polished pieces) and worked up through some race bikes while doing some local racing for a few years. Did track for a year as well and still has one he built for it, buuuut he picked up a Breezer and really likes it. He's an outdoors-biased kind of guy plus no car, so he digs the versatility and capability that a big tire disc steel frame affords.

I feel like a recent BF member (ctak) had the C&V seed lying around for a while (had some nice vintage rides), but the day he and I met, it was for a CL meetup so that I could buy some wheels he'd had for a long time. We talked for an hour and a half. Lol. He's gone full tilt into it, which is fantastic. We have a blend of bike knowledges and bike types that we like--a good bit overlap, and some don't. I think we learn a lot from each other. Lot of fun.

Andy_K 

That’s kind of what happened to me to. I bought a steel bike to ride to work when I wanted something sporty, so I could keep my nice carbon bike clean. I sold the carbon bike about two years ago.

Dfrost 

Having spent time in your garage, Andy, and appreciating the bounty that it now holds, that really made me chuckle!

SurferRosa

Passing c&v on to others

Too bad you can't just ride the bus and spread it that way.

merziac

Those Breezer's seem to have it going on, didn't hurt that Performance was really dealing on them before they sank. I even gave it a hard think for a minute.

RiddleOfSteel

For sure. Looking at their website, my coworker got an Inversion Pro in the gloss tan with black and yellow. Great looking bike. Sloped top tube works with the overall proportions. You get a lot of bike and a lot of capability (and tire clearance) for the money. I still want to take an old tourer that could run 42mm tires or so, modify it for modern cantis and any other needed braze-ons, repaint/coat and go from there. I mean, I'd take on another old, tired (paint) Paramount frameset and go that route. 650b perhaps to get the tire clearance plus fenders. Who knows. Welp, guess that's what I'm going to bed thinking about...

Lascauxcaveman 

I had no idea! Having visited your garage myself, I'd say you've made a clean break.

merziac

Yep they are a pretty good deal no matter how you look at it. After reviewing, my guy got the Radar Expert in OD Green with orange, Smokin deal at 6 or 700 with triple 10% back. I think it paid for his road wheels that he had them setup. 52mm tire clearance is a lot.

Andy_K 

There are still two new-ish aluminum cyclocross bikes hiding in there.

beicster 

I would like to hear more about his experience with the Radar Expert. There aren't a lot of reviews out there and I have been interested in one of those for a long time.

ramzilla

merziac

Make it so.

My buddy was taken with it from the test ride and more so with every ride. We rode Crater Lake and it was stellar, he loves it and it did exactly what I intended, he got the steel is real and isn't looking back.

Here's the review from Bicycling and even if its biased by advertising it lays it out just as we see it, great bike, good value and pretty dang cool.

https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear...expert-review/

randyjawa 

I totally agree. Help others when you see that they could use your help, and if they want it. I helped the interests of others, in the vintage bicycle world, with my website, which some of you may now know that it belongs to someone else. But it is still there, free to use and use it if you will. Learn, enjoy and have fun doing so...

beicster 

Thank you. I we come out of this quarantine in good shape, I'll have to start looking more seriously.