TampaRaleigh

I spent my lunch break visiting a new bike shop... it's been a long time since I've been in one of these "boutiques". I've come to the conclusion that I have no real desire to buy a new bike.

Yeah, this is probably just another "old guy rant". But when I look at these road bikes and see that I can't get out of the store for much less than $1,000... I picture what $1,000 in vintage goodies looks like. And then when you start looking at 2 or 3 or $4,000 and more... seriously, at what point does it just become a "p!ss!ng contest" to see who can blow the most cash? How many folks out there would actually get ANY benefit from a $4,000 bike over a $1,000 bike? They certainly won't be 4 times faster. Electronic shifting? REALLY??? That's just showing off. For $4,000 I could get a bike that I would be thrilled with... and that includes the plane ticket to Italy to pick it up.

Anyway... I'm hoping that my wife feels the same... 'cause she's going to be riding vintage for Christmas.

Am I alone in feeling that way?

jon c. 

No, I think the expensive new bikes are rather ugly.

TampaRaleigh

I agree! I'll take a beautufully crafted lugged steel frame over any one of those carbon frames.

KonAaron Snake 

Some of us have spent that kind of $$$ on bikes...do I need it? Absolutely not. Do I love it and does it make me happy? Absolutely. Pretty much everyone has that one thing they love and which they aren't rational or practical about...mine is bikes. I'm sure there are a lot of things others here spend money on that I could never understand (like buying a new car, buying an expensive car, stereo equipment, etc.).

I have very little interest in many of the bikes some here prize and they make no sense to me...we all have our stuff.

non-fixie 

No. I'll be picking up a very nice 70's Italian steel bike this weekend for about $ 200 *. I can have 20 of those for $ 4,000.

* and this will be the most expensive bike I have ever bought!

JPZ66

Nope, you're not alone. I like vintage. I like used. I like character. New bike prices make me sick. Like you, I see what a sweet ride I can get 'vintage' for similar money, and it's no contest. The newest bike in my fleet is a '06 Masi, that I bought a few years ago. Most I've ever paid for any bike is around $800 (and it was vintage) ...Heck I bought a full Super Record equipped, Columbus SL tubing bike for $250 just a month ago, and I bet it hadn't been ridden 300 miles !

But I like those folks that want the latest and greatest, as it means they will sell off their "old junk" to me for cheap !!

Cheers,

Joe

Ancient Mariner

I just bought a new road bike, and it's quite nice. It is certainly an improvement over my old one that was maybe 8 years old. Sadly, it has no personality....no quirks. My former bike was like an old friend. Not perfect, but very familiar. We had a comfortable relationship, and I find myself longing for just one more ride on it.That can't happen because I sold it (stupid, stupid, stupid).

I'm now on the market for another 'old' bike. I see this as offering a couple advantages: it will give me a little nostalgic relief from the current modern marvel, and it will be an ongoing project of restoration and customization. I'm looking for a decent road bike that needs some TLC, that will be worth the investment of time and money to make it like new, or as close as I can come.

KonAaron Snake 

8 years old?

sloar 

i like all bikes, i would love to have a new trek madone, just cant afford em. thats why i search craigslist and yard sales.

Snydermann

I couldn't agree more.

I have no desire to even visit a modern bike shop anymore, unless they have some type of vintage department. I have no interest, admiration or even respect for most new bike technology. I think it's mostly over-priced, ugly, "high-tech" fickle junk, designed for people who like to spend money and read too many bicycle advertisements.

I think high-end bicycle equipment is very much like pro camera equipment. Only 1% of the people who buy such things actually need them or can utilize all the features and performance they may offer, people buy that stuff for other reasons.

*In before the ubiquitous "Luddite" comment. One can reject some forms of new technology without rejecting them all.

oddjob2

Well, bricks & mortar, sales staff, labor, advertising, freight, and inventory costs add up. Fortunately for the dedicated C & V riders, there appears to be an almost endless supply of beautiful preowned bikes, no matter what you want, often for as little as $100 and rarely over $1000, unless you want a bike that you can't pronounce the name of from a boot shaped country. These are from the last 12 months, which cost less in aggregate than a new Trek Madone 5 series.

Mercian Rider

I can't say I've seen anything new lately at a bike shop I lust for, but there's any number of custom makers I'd love to have build me a new frame.

In polished lugged stainless.

I do like to support LBSs by buying tubes, cables, and other sundries etc. from them.

I hear those of you who bristle at the prices of new bikes. Shoot, I can buy a nice complete C&V for less than a new carbon crankset.

mynewnchome

LOL...yea, one of mine was made in 1982, the other 1985....

cehowardGS

In my humble old opinion, nothing like snagging a sweet C&V bike at a knockout price!! Nothing like it. IMO again, buying a new bike doesn't give up that joy, at least not to me. Let me track down, some bikes I have been hunting for, find them, in my size, and get a knock out price (I am batting an 8 out of 10 win record! ), a new bike can't even come close. You must remember, you in the C&V forum, only speaking for myself, you can't give me a NEW BIKE!!

TampaRaleigh

But you CAN give me one... just know that I'll be trading it in for a couple of classics.

RJM

I don't mind buying new or spending money (heck, I own two Rivendells), but I have given up buying a bike from a bike shop just because nothing interests me. The look of new road bikes does nothing for me. I did see a Raleigh Sojourn that was nice in a bike shop a bit ago, but for the money I would like something more me.

I tend to buy frames and parts separately anyway, not many bike shops around me do it that way.

TampaRaleigh

The little shop where I was "reunited" with my old bike has won a customer for life. But they aren't a "normal" shop. They are one of those that has a couple dozen vintage frames hanging from the ceiling, along with several partially assembled vintage bikes, and many, many wheel sets. You have to really search if you're going in there looking for "new".

calamarichris

Pity inclines me toward wanting a new bike more than covetousness. A lot of these bike shops are going to be going out of business after the recent Lance news, and the bandwagon jumpers are flocking to The Next Big Thing, like P90X workouts or those running feet-gloves that separately encapsulate each toe.
I didn't mind the carbon fiber marketing, because it kept a healthy chunk of bicycle consumers from driving up the Ebay bids on the steel bikes & NOS parts I wanted.

Snydermann

It's also a huge thrill spotting or meeting other riders on vintage bikes while on a ride, or even in the car. I can't say I care either way if they are on a modern bike.

Anyone can buy a new bike, but spotting someone on a vintage bike carries a different admiration in my eyes.

KonAaron Snake 

I disagree...a lot of the recent bike explosion and focus centers on practical urban riding, and Lance has no effect on that. The club guys on their CF might have been introduced to cycling because of Lance, but that doesn't mean they'll disappear without him. The ball has its own momentum and cycling can survive Lance in the long run.

It's possible to like vintage bikes without judgmentally attacking new bikes and/or those who buy them. Much of what many here do is equally ridiculous to many others. Riding a 30 year old Raleigh with poor quality control and dated parts that can be difficult to quickly source and which will require hours of work to overhaul isn't really more sensible to most than buying a new bike.

cyclotoine

couldn't agree less... there is always new custom.. the satisfaction of assembling precision manufactured new components out of the box.. makes you feel like a kid and fits together so flawlessly and works so perfectly... it's amazing. I love assemling a new wheel. new hubs, rim and spokes.. stress relieving and finally the strip of velox. I love new bikes and new bike parts. I would think that this is the same mentally that applies to NOS.

cruiserhead

Well said Aaron!

I enjoy all kinds of bikes based on their merits and usefulness to me.

Chombi

I have not found any new bikes in all the bike shops I visited in maybe the last decade that would excite me as much as my 80's bikes, and like many here, I have pretty much given up in hoping for something that might catch my attention in the future. Only thing I can remember that might have gotten my pulse up were Cannondale's MTB bikes with full suspension and "Lefty" front end,......but it was just because of the unique one sided front end that they caught my eyes. Otherwise, everything looked ugly to me, specially as their ergo bars seem to tilt up higher and higher every year, perched on also ugly threadless stems. Cranksets, which used to be such beutiful things on bicycles are now shaped like melted/stretched taffy, with none of the classic beautiful looks that fluted cranks used to have. Every other component seems to just look like the one next to it with no really unique designs being done out there.....
Sad thing is, there's no turning back with bicycle technology.......bikes will just keep getting uglier and uglier to our eyes as they morph into something more and more different to the beautiful bikes we rode in the past.
Thing is, I haven't heard of too many people who rode in the 40's to the 70's putting down bikes from the 80's and early 90's (except for maybe too gooney fade/spaltter Miami vice paintjobs that kinda went out of control after a while) as we now do with modern bikes....which proves to show that we were going the right direction till the late 90's when everything just went kinda ugly afterwards.......
JMOs...

Chombi

TampaRaleigh

I'm not attacking or judging. I appreciate the responses that AREN'T agreeing with my opinion. Like I said... it was just an "old guy rant".

Maybe I was set off the guy that was in the shop raving about how light his new $4,400 Cervelo bike is... while the mechanic in the back was adding the $200 bit of carbon fiber that will allow him to carry another 2 pounds of water on the back of his seat. (Apparently the 2 pounds of water in the frame cages wasn't enough.)

TampaRaleigh

Hey now... I have those "fade" decals.