sloppy12

personal observations in order of most heads turned. Fat bikes, Junk/art/lowrider bikes, Cargo bikes, Ebikes, Vintage, everything else seems to get no cares.

livedarklions

Velo and recumbent are a whole different story, but I've never seen non-cyclists take an interest in a new-fangled carbon bike. Maybe some of this relates to where we ride?

seypat

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. I was sitting at a stoplight the other day. In front of me were 2 half ton pickups from one of the auto brands. One was from the late 60s-early 70s. The other was from the latest design of that company. Both stock. In fact, the old one had "Farm Use" plates and had seen better days. It was amazing how sleek and racy the old truck looked compared to the new one. The new one looked like a tank, locomotive or rhino, while the old one had the stance of a NASCAR Truck Series truck. I muttered under my breath, "Jeez, trucks sure have gotten ugly!"

livedarklions

I wouldn't disagree, but I could see how someone would look at that and think you weren't the friendly conversational sort. There's a certain undefinable "get out of my way" vibe I get from a bike that looks like that.

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

livedarklions

I think that's a pretty good list.

I find the most conversation starter bikes that I have ridden are cruisers which I have ridden pretty fast. I got both the nostalgia crowd commenting on it and a few "wow, I had no idea you could do that on that kind of bike" comments. I haven't ridden one in almost 5 years now, conversation starting isn't enough of a feature to overcome the bike's absurd disadvantages for my purposes.

tkamd73 

My newest bike is a 91, so would have to agree, if I’m stopped on the MUP, someone will always stop to talk or comment. Sometimes it’s just disbelief that I’m still using dt shifters, still I’ve met a lot of nice people. We also have a couple of 70s sports cars, you can’t stop anywhere without people approaching you to comment, or just look.
I think with older people, it brings back their youth, which for many was a happier times, for the young possibly something they haven’t seen before.
For me it’s simple esthetics, just not into the sloping top tube, long seat pole look. I don’t really care how light or fast it is. But looking at alcjphil’s post, I could definitely do one of those, great look!

livedarklions

Which Eurobike? They're diversifying:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Eurobi...A?ref_=ast_bln

70sSanO

This is really a pretty pathetic thread.

John

burnthesheep

It's nostalgia. Classic car shows, classic bicycles, etc.... People like things that remind them of good times in their lives. People also like and buy into the idea of being a part of those times even if they never lived at that time. Nothing wrong with it, it's super common and it can be really fun.

"New" items can often be more seen as just appliances. Sorry, but 90% of classic cars were just that when new......appliances. Just like a toaster. Turn key, drive to work and back. People with nostalgia give them their soul. The appliance had no soul at the beginning.

This might be why folks oogle over the "supercars" and "superbikes" for newer products. They're the ones marketed and sold as having "soul" to begin with. A Ferrari. A Pinarello Dogma. Etc.... Part substance large part marketing.

One key difference with the bike versus the car is the bike "superbikes" take a bit more personal development to get that childish grin on your face than a "supercar". The blokes on Top Gear are good at driving them, but they're not Ayrton Senna. It doesn't take a ton of skill to have a massive smile on your face driving a Ferrari. Riding a Dogma or Bolide? You need at least a bit of legs, heart, and lungs to get the equivalent smile. With bikes, I think this edge goes to the classic stuff. You can ride and smile big on a cool rig without needing the strong input. Just spin and smile. I would personally try to build up a classic rig for endurance rides but would need to research which I could get decent tire on. I'm not a big guy, but the comfort of squish matters enough I would want to ride it comfortably. Not cuss and swear all day on 19mm tires.

MarcusT

The trick is perception. When I sit on a classic steel racer with my beer belly, the observer may believe that at one time I was a fine racer. One sits on a very expensive modern bike with the same beer belly and they may think, why did he waste all that money?

Russ5415

Not old versus new, but yeah, it happens all the time. My wife has a modern carbon fiber road bike and an Electra cruiser. When she rides the cruiser, that's the one that gets all the attention when people want to come up and talk about bikes.

livedarklions

My experience with cruisers is that they're just about the friendliest looking ride one can imagine--you might as well be driving the ice cream truck with the bells going.

People aren't actually talking to the bike, they're figuring out whether you're approachable based on your bike for whatever conversational reasons they might have.

livedarklions

Do people know that they're looking at a relatively new bike? I really do think there's more than nostalgia involved here. The custom-built frame has that minimalist aesthetic plus craftsman flourishes appeal I was talking about.

I'm finding this thread really interesting from a sociological perspective.

seypat

The trucks in this post were Chevys. I forgot that Ford made the retro Eliminator Concept to hype their electric crate motor. The Eliminator is lowered some, but otherwise stock looking. You decide which looks better. The old one, or the new one?

https://media.ford.com/content/fordm...r-concept.html

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/

indyfabz

Probably, since it still looks brand new. Except for the current bar tape, which needs replacing.

Bald Paul

You can spend all that time, money, and care to restore your old muscle car, and you'll end up with - a new looking, old technology, slow car.
I built up my current carbon fiber, Di2 equipped bike from components. I bought the frame/fork, cut the steering tube to the proper length, ran all my Di2 wires, installed a press fit BB, etc, etc. Is that any less work than restoring an old bike?

It's all about what you want, and what you enjoy doing. Have at it.

tkamd73 

There’s lots of pathetic threads here, read one you like!
Tim

Koyote

I owned an old pickup truck. I'd take a new one every day of the week.

genejockey 

I get comments on the old bikes, and I get comments on my new CF bike - though they're all about the matte electric blue finish. The bike that's always gotten the most comments is also the reddest bike. I had an early 90s Battaglin frame in a yellow/blue fade stripped and painted Ferrari red, and I kitted it out with all bright alloy 2006 Chorus (that was back in 2007), so it's all red and silver, with white bar tape. That one gets the most comment.

rdecredico

Pathos is what this forum does best.

seypat

We're talking about aesthetics here, not actual functionality.

Sy Reene

Could be why I like the lugged carbon Colnago look. Or would prefer to wear a classic dial watch rather than Apple smartwatch.

livedarklions

Again, this thread is about street conversations. One of the big drivers of such conversations are the tinkerers who work on and build their own stuff. I'm pretty sure that more of the bicyclists who do this are working with older frames, mechanical drivetrains, etc. No one's arguing you don't exist, just that most people buy their entire bike when they buy new, so you're less likely to find someone like-minded randomly on the street. If you hang out with a group of such people, of course you'll be talking about each other's bikes.

surak

I've had multiple people, adults and kids alike, admire my matte black with hyper green accents carbon Spec Roubaix when I've stopped at different parks to use the restroom. My Canyon Inflite AL in Miami blue/sunset gets raves every time I post a photo of it on Strava, and once on a group ride, a guy riding his beautiful custom steel Hampsten gushed over it and started waxing poetic about how much he admired the bang for the buck that Canyons like mine and a friend of his offered.

​​​​​​Anecdotes, yep.

tomato coupe

It just screams "I'm old!"