uncle uncle

My heyday of cycling was about 1983 to 1987... I was in college, had some time to kill, and did my first "serious" riding and bike purchasing during this time. I still own the Oschner bicycle that I purchased as a frame and groupo and built up in 1985ish. And, I have other bicycles from that time. But, I seem to gravitate towards bicycles from the US bicycle boom days, from the late sixties, to about 1974 (give or take). How about you? What, if any, is the time period you seem most connected to, collection wise?

mapleleafs-13 

my hayday was much later than most on here i'm sure, but i grew an appreciation for the steel bikes quite a bike. i gravitate to high end italian frames in slx tubings or so then i added STI shifting. Downtube shifters are a no go for me, i'm lazy.

Would love a 3rensho one day though even though it's not italian.

gomango

Been there, done that.

I can only rebuild so many Colnago Supers and old Bridgestone mtbs.

dunrobin

I listen to music from my hayday, but I have no desire for acidwash jeans. My new bike at that time was a miele with campy victory. I'd like that miele back, but I'd put veloce on.

bikemig 

I like bikes from the 80s and 90s as I worked in a shop then but hanging out in C&V has gotten me to look for and ride bikes that are older, from the 60s and 70s. I wouldn't mind finding and fixing up a prewar bike as well.

abellanti

When I first got into vintage bikes it was bikes from the early eighties. ..the period when I first got into road bikes. Over the years I moved on to earlier bikes as my knowledge has expanded and craved something different. Having a garage full of eighties race and touring bikes got monotonous. I do have fun changing the parts around on them every now and then. Keeps me from buying additional bikes....for a time! (Small packages look innocent to the wife)

1987

No

gugie 

+1

I loves me some early 70's bikes. Trying to find the roots of these bikes, I'm working backwards.

non-fixie 

My heyday of cycling is now.

bikemig 

I'm building one as we speak,

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...good-ugly.html

It has taken me a while to hunt down the pieces. When I'm done it will be a mainly french build and almost entirely European.

orcas island 

Entirely. My whole fleet ( such as it is) is made up of bikes that I drooled over and didn't have a prayer of affording when I was in high school and college. The current roster of road bikes is:
1974 Motobecane Grand Jubilee
1976 Centurion Semi-Pro
1978 Centurion Pro Tour
1974 Raleigh International
1972? Follis 572
1984 Specialized Expedition

Chombi1 

Yes!!,
My cycling "glory" days in college front the early to late 80's, mostly while in college and feeling young and invincible.......
Pretty much the era of Hinault, Lemond, Fignon, Kelly, Roche, Anderson, Davis Phinney, Grewal, Twigg, Carpenter, Longo, Thompson..........
Cannot get enough of them and their racing, my younger brother and I spending our precious college pocket money on mags like Winning and Bicycling to drool over their bikes and admire their racing action pics, and the occasional component to mod our lower model French bikes.....
Mostly explains the stable list on my sig below.....
Got my younger brother started on collecting and riding C&V bikes late last year too. Now he has 10 C&V bikes in his stable already, also mostly from the mid to late 80's (except for two modern CF bikes, a Cervelo and a Giant)...his wife must hate me now!

oddjob2

Nope. As a teen in the 1970's, the brands I recognized were Peugeot, Lejeune, Raleigh, Gitane, C. Itoh, Schwinn electro forged, and the American heavyweights. Trek wasn't even around then.

This forum has opened my eyes and wallet to Trek, Miyata, Bridgestone, Centurion, Columbus steel Schwinns, and the artisan bikes.

Couldn't afford Campagnolo as a teen, still can barely afford it, LOL.

Giacomo 1 

Still have and still enjoying one of those Colnago Super rebuilds of yours! Nice work...

Drillium Dude 

I used to. I was prejudiced against earlier bikes for a long time; my preference lay with bikes with full braze-ons, so early 80s. That changed when I got my first early-70s Colnago. Even later I decided to go modern with an 853 bike in 2002.

I won't go modern with carbon today. What I have is more than sufficient as I'm not racing anymore.

DD

Chombi1 

Thing is, I think the bicycle reached its aesthetic and simple mechanical elegance in simplicity zenith in the mid 80's.
That's why I still love 80's bikes so much. It was downhill in both areas after that........JMOs, of course....

iab

Naw.

Rode those bikes then. So manner other still to try.

RobbieTunes

This is easy for me.

Today is my heyday of cycling. Albeit quite muted.
Suffice it to say I'm not searching out any bikes.

Rollfast

I like 'em old and rusty, like me. I wasn't a thing in most of those cases.

MikeOK

I definately don't miss downtube shifters, what were they thinking when they came up with those?

cdmurphy

Probably that they were lighter, and sooooo much better than a lever operated front derailleur, or Cambio Corsa setup. :-)

Drillium Dude 

We just found ourselves a HEATHEN! Git a rope

DD

rhm

+1

When I first serious about riding (ca 1980), then racing and touring, bikes were boring and really hadn't changed in 20+ years. They were great bikes, and they still are, but they were all the same and they were all boring, and they still are.

The older ones tend to be more interesting.

Bradleykd

Nah... Not a fan of 2012 bikes... lol

jimmuller 

Glory days or youthful days? Not the same.

I thought about a youthful days bike a few times, was talked out of it.