bwilli88 

How many of you have a bike from your birth year, or other special occasion?
I would love to pick up a nice path racer type from 1956

malcala622

1988 Bianchi Giro

Slightspeed

I've never seen a bike built in 1949, but I still have my '64 Legnano Roma that I got new as a junior racer. Coming home from Eroica, I found a '61 Legnano Gran Premio, so I'm getting closer to '49. Maybe someday, though I'm not sure how fun it would be to ride a 70 year old bike.



'61 Gran Premio on the left, '64 Roma Olympiade on the right.

jeirvine 

Cool idea. I would need maybe a '66 Masi or Carlton. I do have a nice 1966 Vox AC15 and Fender Jazzmaster. Do they count?

CliffordK

Close, but not quite.

The old Colnago would have been made when I was 2 or 3 years old.

I purchased it used when I was 16, and still in High School. And, it has had many years and many miles.



Technically there may be some Colnagos older than mine, but finding a pre-Colnago Super would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Then getting one for an exact year?

ldmataya 

Off by a year. 1954 Tipo Roma.

friendofpugs

I've got a 1977 Trek TX700 that I specifically bought because it was my birth year.

fietsbob

You all are obviously much younger than I ..

Wildwood 

A forum member is selling a 1951 bike, drop bars and right size. Almost pulled the trigger about a year ago and again recently.

Then I think - I'm the only cyclist in my immediate family, my nephews all passed on taking any of my bikes (free) - so why do I want more than 15+ bikes. And I came up with no good reasons, not even for a birth year bike. I live part way up a small mountain, so the 1951 gearing is a limitation from the get-go. While I enjoy my bikes for several good reasons, I'm a rider not a collector and the 1951 date seems more an infatuation than another great rider in the group. Not long ago I bought a 20year old frameset from Italy NOS, that status of NOS has an appeal. But it turned out to be an infatuation - pretty but seldom ridden. attractive but lacking.

Maybe l'll change my mind, but no birthyear bike purchase for the foreseeable future. Besides we are in the middle of youthful grandchildren years, so here are better bicycle 'investments' to be made. For the time being, my gaze is to the future, not the past.

CliffordK

Gearing can be changed, of course, but you're right, perhaps not worth it for a chunk of nostalgia.

My father had ONE bicycle which my brother has taken. That might have been cool to have. But, I'd much rather have the bike that he rode rather than some arbitrary "birthday" bike that he thought was cool.

I do know my Father's birthday, but wouldn't consider the year of either my Father or Grandfather being something I'd strive for their birthday bike.

SJX426 

A 1950 Bianchi racing bike would be a good choice! Maybe an Oscar Egg or Legnano…...

delbiker1 

I bought this Ochsner steel frame bike in 1992 as a 40th b-day present to myself. I rebuilt the bike back in March and April of this year. As of today I am just short of 1,000 miles on it since I finished the project. I just switched saddles on it again and I have another one coming. Tying to find one that is just right. I also installed a 11-28 10 speed cassette on it yesterday and it shifts great in friction mode. I now have 50/38 chain rings on the original 105 crank. I like the gearing it has now very much. It is again my favorite ride.
It is a bit different today than it was in this photo.

Wildwood 

Buying birth year bike and modifying it seems sorta cross-purposelessness and against the grain of having it in the first place. The effort of getting it close to original would be a much larger concern for me.

1989Pre 

1963: The year I entered the steely halls of lower education. This bike helps me to re-write that experience:

CliffordK

Each person is a bit different.

That is part of the equation, but yes, for nostalgia, no sense in getting a 50's bike and mounting 2000+ Brifters on it.

My old Colnago above has been well used over the years, and I'm not sure I'd find it necessary to go back to how it was when I first bought it, or perhaps further back to when the frame was made.

Patina? Or is that just RUST?

fleslider 

I have 2 birth year bikes and one is a birth month bike

My birth month bike; July 1974 Raleigh Professional





1974 Schwinn Paramount

noobinsf 

Recently, I almost pulled the trigger on a Paramount frame from my birth year (that of Bikecentennial) for a fair price, but I just couldn't justify the purchase in my head. I still kinda regret letting it go, and I saved pics from the ebay listing that I occasionally ogle.

ThermionicScott 

Hell yeah, do you have pictures of that rig?

As for me, the bummer about being born in 1980 is that it was a time of malaise for cars, guitars, bikes, and many other things. I'd probably need to track down something custom to make it worthwhile.

texaspandj

Perhaps specifically 1980 wasn't a great year, but the '80s in general were awesome for someone like me in their 20s. And as for bikes, aero levers, click shifting, clip pedals, aero everthing, non traditional cycling colors, the list goes on. I'd venture to say the decade for the most innovations in cycling.

ThermionicScott 

For sure! 1980-1981 were like the bottom of the 1970s from what I've gathered, but things generally got better (if not awesome) from there.

DiabloScott

1990 - The year I graduated college... after dropping out the first time and joining the Navy and starting over. Bought new in 1993 and still sees a lot of road time. That's not WHY I got a 1990 bike, but I do think about that sometimes as a delayed graduation gift to myself.

Ged117 

My uncle bought the Schwinn Voyageur in 1990 - the year of my birth. He gifted it to me 26 years later. I need to take some decent photos, but here. Since these photos I've put on a Nitto Technomic stem and longer seatpost. The frame is a 58cm when I need a 60 or 62cm, so the high stem and post help for a more comfortable ride.

merziac

Absolutely a factor in the acquiring of this 1958 Paramount, I was stripping the mental gears getting this done, couldn't wait.

nlerner

1960 Ken Ryall

2cam16

Not that I'm looking for one but if I ever do come across a '64 and it's something in my size and affordability, I'd buy it.