What qualifies a bike to be either classic or vintage?
01-21-19, 07:43 PM
#1
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What qualifies a bike to be either classic or vintage?
I am confused on this issue. Can the requirements for either be provided? Thanks, Ron
01-21-19, 07:48 PM
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Fat Guy on a Little Bike
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You formally submit a certification request to Judge Warner. He typically gets back within 30 days.
01-21-19, 08:19 PM
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A perusal through a number of past threads on this exact matter should answer the question sufficiently.
01-21-19, 08:21 PM
#4
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Honestly I think being over 30 years old is a good litmus.
01-21-19, 08:24 PM
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For cars, a classic is 25 years old. Vintage, well, that's debatable, isn't it?
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01-21-19, 08:41 PM
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Road bike of lugged steel construction with the traditional geometry like the horizontal top tube of its main triangle.
Old ones are classic and vintage. New ones are just classic (for now).
Old ones are classic and vintage. New ones are just classic (for now).
01-21-19, 09:01 PM
#8
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If you could get laughed out of the other forums for say a road bike , because your bike is ancient technology compared to today's tech on road bikes, then its vintage.
01-21-19, 09:41 PM
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01-21-19, 10:29 PM
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You can google the terms and drill down on "antique, collectable, rare", etc. You will still have to decide for yourself where you draw the lines and what you can live with.
01-21-19, 11:23 PM
#11
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Vintage: Older than me.
Classic: I wanted it when I was younger and the bike was new, but I couldn't afford it.
Classic: I wanted it when I was younger and the bike was new, but I couldn't afford it.
01-21-19, 11:28 PM
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Yeah, classic & vintage in Holland is even tougher, since they are still building many of the same features into some of today bikes ...
I'm wondering when aluminum frames will be either C or V ... When will 1999 roll into these arena's?
I'm wondering when aluminum frames will be either C or V ... When will 1999 roll into these arena's?
01-22-19, 12:10 AM
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Have I seen this answer in previous discussions???
(I would hate to plagiarize someone - unacknowledged)
If the rear hub spacing is anything greater than 128mm, it's not classic or vintage.
it might be old, it might be a great resto-mod - just not true classic or vintage.
and of course the requisites:
1987 or older framesets, DT shifters or IGH or single or fixed, quill stem, no dlipless pedals, etc.
(I would hate to plagiarize someone - unacknowledged)
If the rear hub spacing is anything greater than 128mm, it's not classic or vintage.
it might be old, it might be a great resto-mod - just not true classic or vintage.
and of course the requisites:
1987 or older framesets, DT shifters or IGH or single or fixed, quill stem, no dlipless pedals, etc.
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01-22-19, 12:31 AM
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Hmm, gonna be hard to find any early- to mid-'80s MTBs with downtube shifters.....
01-22-19, 12:50 AM
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Have I seen this answer in previous discussions???
(I would hate to plagiarize someone - unacknowledged)
If the rear hub spacing is anything greater than 128mm, it's not classic or vintage.
it might be old, it might be a great resto-mod - just not true classic or vintage.
and of course the requisites:
1987 or older framesets, DT shifters or IGH or single or fixed, quill stem, no dlipless pedals, etc.
(I would hate to plagiarize someone - unacknowledged)
If the rear hub spacing is anything greater than 128mm, it's not classic or vintage.
it might be old, it might be a great resto-mod - just not true classic or vintage.
and of course the requisites:
1987 or older framesets, DT shifters or IGH or single or fixed, quill stem, no dlipless pedals, etc.
So ... if you own a true vintage and classic ride (say an early 60s Allegro and spread it for 9-speed, it no long is? I took my 1979 Mooney and spread it to 126 33 years ago and have toyed with the idea of going 130. (Staying downtube friction or ratchet shifting.) So it would no longer be a true anything significan't? It probably isn't now as a 126 spaced fix gear and certainly not with the 2-3 chainline drivetrain currently on it. Even though the frame was ordered with horizontal dropouts just so the buyer could go fix gear if he ever wanted to.
Now that bike was built by a builder who had apprenticed with an English builder a few years before. Now it is a fix gear road bike along the lines of a classic English "tourer", just with some inventive touches that make fix gear "touring" very feasible for older riders. (Touring and tourer in quotation marks indicating that these were not touring bike in the American sense but superb day riders that the English cherished.)
Ben
01-22-19, 05:57 AM
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So ... if you own a true vintage and classic ride (say an early 60s Allegro and spread it for 9-speed, it no long is? I took my 1979 Mooney and spread it to 126 33 years ago and have toyed with the idea of going 130. (Staying downtube friction or ratchet shifting.) So it would no longer be a true anything significan't?
Ben
Ben
Is C&V the frameset? Is C&V the whole bike?
Should it include age appropriate drivetrain?
What about modern improvements?
("I spent $1500 on painting it (my favorite Unicorn color) and $3500 for that electronic 12spd Campy, improved it with thru-axles and retrofitted disc brakes …...and Wildwood says my Beautiful '85 DeRosa isn't Classic, because my new adjustable adapted stem raises the carbon h'bars 6"??? Should my carbon fibre wheels have deeper rims???")
@madpogue raises the good question of classic mt bikes. Did we have h'bar shifters by 1987?
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Last edited by Wildwood; 01-22-19 at 07:20 AM.
01-22-19, 06:20 AM
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If I'm buying it, it's just an old bike.
If I'm selling it, it's certainly both classic and vintage.
If I'm selling it, it's certainly both classic and vintage.
01-22-19, 06:45 AM
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My oldest MTB was built in late '84 and has handlebar-mounted thumbies. Every pic I've seen of those first few years of MTBs show the same.
Best definition yet. Clarified, finalized, sealed.
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01-22-19, 07:09 AM
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[QUOTE=madpogue;20758949]My oldest MTB was built in late '84 and has handlebar-mounted thumbies. Every pic I've seen of those first few years of MTBs show the same. [QUOTE]
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01-22-19, 07:22 AM
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If you say it is... I guess it is.
IMO- lugs or fillet brazed, non-OS tubes, a little rake on the fork, shiny components, a relatively level top tube... some of that gets you in the neighborhood.
At least close enough for government work.
IMO- lugs or fillet brazed, non-OS tubes, a little rake on the fork, shiny components, a relatively level top tube... some of that gets you in the neighborhood.
At least close enough for government work.
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Commence to jigglin’ huh?!?!
"But hey, always love to hear from opinionated amateurs." -says some guy to Mr. Marshall.
01-22-19, 07:54 AM
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How about this one? C+V???
Bought an old bike, "Confente" or something close. Rode it, the drop bars are NOT comfortable, saddle hurts my crotch, and my left arm is shorter than my right (reaching the FD shifter is hard); so I decided upgrades would make it more fun.
When watching my favorite classic movie (Hell's Angels find doG on Schwinn Stingrays) I got an idea.
So I 650b'd that old bike, 2" fat white tires (like I fondly remember), banana seat, ape hangers with streamers, suicide shifter on top tube, chain guard, shorty fenders
Needed more gears for hills, so SRAM 1X drivetrain with 11-50 cassette did the trick.
Respaced the rear hub to 145. Do I need to coldset the stays?
And the paint was dingy so had it powder coated, metal flake in candy red with 10 coats of clear gloss. and labeled it Huffy, because I could never afford a real Stingray.
Now it's a better ride. Helps me find doG, when I ride it. Tell me what you think? Sorry no pic.
Bought an old bike, "Confente" or something close. Rode it, the drop bars are NOT comfortable, saddle hurts my crotch, and my left arm is shorter than my right (reaching the FD shifter is hard); so I decided upgrades would make it more fun.
When watching my favorite classic movie (Hell's Angels find doG on Schwinn Stingrays) I got an idea.
So I 650b'd that old bike, 2" fat white tires (like I fondly remember), banana seat, ape hangers with streamers, suicide shifter on top tube, chain guard, shorty fenders
Needed more gears for hills, so SRAM 1X drivetrain with 11-50 cassette did the trick.
Respaced the rear hub to 145. Do I need to coldset the stays?
And the paint was dingy so had it powder coated, metal flake in candy red with 10 coats of clear gloss. and labeled it Huffy, because I could never afford a real Stingray.
Now it's a better ride. Helps me find doG, when I ride it. Tell me what you think? Sorry no pic.
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01-22-19, 08:15 AM
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LOL Wildwood, but my "modern" bike is approaching 30 years of age and already has had to have its brifter gruppo swapped out because its original gruppo is becoming unobtainium (though this time I'm stocking up on the perishables before they're gone, but man are they going fast).
Time marches on, Miata's are now 18 years old, Mustangs nearly triple that, but exotic bikes unlike exotic cars can be ridden and restored, heaven help you if you have a modern (made in the past 10-15 years) exotic car where are you going to find new engine management computers, electronic sensors or coding? What was a million dollars becomes parked.
Time marches on, Miata's are now 18 years old, Mustangs nearly triple that, but exotic bikes unlike exotic cars can be ridden and restored, heaven help you if you have a modern (made in the past 10-15 years) exotic car where are you going to find new engine management computers, electronic sensors or coding? What was a million dollars becomes parked.
01-22-19, 10:10 AM
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I'm with Robbie on this one.
Any attempt at a specific definition will fail. Someone above said steel and horizontal top tube. How about an old Alan frame? Or a mixte? There are all kindsa bikes and the movement of time means something is always becoming "vintage".
Post whatever bike you want here and people will either respond with glee if it works or apathy if it doesn't.
Any attempt at a specific definition will fail. Someone above said steel and horizontal top tube. How about an old Alan frame? Or a mixte? There are all kindsa bikes and the movement of time means something is always becoming "vintage".
Post whatever bike you want here and people will either respond with glee if it works or apathy if it doesn't.
01-22-19, 10:19 AM
#25
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I think the odds are pretty high that I’ll die on a bike. Y’all can argue if it was classic and/or vintage afterwards. 😜
