3alarmer 

.
...somebody gave one of these Novara "Barrow" bikes to the co-op last week.
Even though the bikes I ride around on are old ones, I found the design of it to be quite intriguing.

I had a passing conversation about it with the guy I know who was in charge that day.

3alarmer 

...I'd like to point out that I am just as unapproachable on this yellow Cinelli as I am on a black Raleigh three speed. And I hardly ever wave.
.
.

3alarmer 

...if you think you have a problem with old people, try being one for a couple of weeks.

Koyote

I'm just hoping that people will start loving old men - not just old bikes.

tkamd73 

Wow! From your list of bikes, and comments, I thought you were really old people. Any chance you could post a pic of your Trek 970?

Thanks in advance, Tim

70sSanO

I am. I'm 70.

John

tkamd73 

I get it, not a fan of old people either!

tkamd73 

But you have “ friendship is magic” under your screen name. You don’t believe in magic do you? Nice bike!
Tim

3alarmer 

...the reason friendship is magic, is because I have so few of them still alive. Old people know about this stuff.

tkamd73 

Earlier I posted, not a fan of the sloping down tube, and extended seat pole, I stand corrected, it works on this bike, really nice looking ride!
Tim

tkamd73 

So True!
Tim

rdecredico

Old person here.

Modern bikes are awesome.
Old bikes belong in a museum.

It's a good time to be alive.

tkamd73 

Spoken like a true Newbie!
Tim

Ironfish653

Not every old car was a 250 GTO or an E-type, just like every old bike isn’t a Herse or Tommasini.

There’s nothing ‘crafted’ about an electroforged Schwinn, or a’65 Impala.

An old Ferrari, or Herse, you knew those were special things when they were new, and they’re usually treated as such; the Schwinn and the Chevy were more of a commodity. They’re ‘special’ in 2021, because “you don’t see those anymore” ie, they weren’t once common, but now they’re not, as opposed to the things that are rare because they always were special.

dedhed

I've been keeping my eyes open for an affordable Trail 70. Spent many hours on one in my youth

dedhed

I don't own any CF and mostly older stuff.
Without fail, no matter when or where I ride it, this is the only bike I own that will never fail to have someone approach me and ask or talk about it.
Bike event, not bike event, bike people, not bike people, doesn't matter.

OldTryGuy

Geesh --- 70 ain't old, it's just older.

PeteHski

Being an engineer and working in cutting edge design I've never been particularly impressed with vintage bikes. From an engineering perspective most of them are pretty crude. That's not to take away from the craftsmanship involved in producing them, but it's a bit like comparing a steam train with a modern high speed bullet train. The same goes with vintage cars. Plenty of craftsmanship, but often poor or crude design which wouldn't stand up in the modern world. I enjoy a bit of nostalgia as much as anyone, but I don't let it put me off the modern world like some people do. When I see a nice vintage bike, I'm always curious but don't have any interest in riding or owning one.

Germany_chris

Yea the old “they don’t build them like they used to” saw is crap.

Machining and engineering have gotten so good that you can go 6-10,000 on oil and your #6,000 symbol of America gets 30+ MPG. That doesn’t make any of it beautiful but they are better built for sure.

Trsnrtr

I agree. I'm proud to have made it to 70.

TiHabanero

"From an engineering perspective most of them are pretty crude."

Remember this 50 years from now as today's designs are considered crude. Every generation has its limits based on the advancements in technology. For example there is nothing crude about the Titanic, in fact it was considered an engineering accomplishment at the time, and still is considered as such. Aside from the armor issue it had, the thing was an outstanding piece of architecture and used the latest maritime engineering. Not crude, simply limited by technology.

Sy Reene

I always thought it was the style of sunglasses worn that indicated approachability.
approachable


not so approachable

livedarklions

I was hoping this wasn't going to be a "new is better than old" or an "old is better than. new" thread, but that ship sailed, I guess.

There's no valid comparison between driving vintage cars and riding vintage bicycles.
As an engineer, I think you'd probably appreciate that car engine, electronic controls, materials and construction technology have changed the longevity of cars, their emissions and safety in ways that just haven't happened for bicycles, which have always been long-lived machines. Also, I think the average bike hasn't had that much change since the introduction of STI, it's the small percentage of bikes at the high end that really look very different from the supposedly "crude" older ones. The vast majority of new bikes being sold today aren't anywhere near "cutting edge" technology.

An older, well-constructed, well-maintained bike is an eminently practical vehicle for daily use. For the most part, an antique car, which was probably built with planned obsolescence baked into its design, is not.


What people comment on on the street is a relatively new topic on BF. Do we really need to hijack this thread into another silly debate about how other people's preferences are ill-informed?

indyfabz

+1.

Hiro11

I've ridden and raced road and MTB since the late 80s.

In my opinion, three things that were better about older bikes:
- Standardization, serviceability and guaranteed swapability of almost all parts. Building a bike was more about personal choice than about what was going to work, because almost everything was going to work. Replacing anything broken was super easy and parts were all readily available.
- Lower cost. I used to race an SLX Tommasini with 7402 Dura Ace, Modolo everything else and a variety of top-end wheels. This was just about the nicest bike you'd see at any race back in the early 90s. Adjusting for inflation, that bike cost me the equivalent of about $4,800 in today's money. $4,800 is low-mid range these days. An off the shelf SWorks Tarmac is now a completely ridiculous $13.5K. Bike prices have gone insane.
- Diversity of paint. The frames were all mostly round (or round-ish) tubes but the bikes looked wildly different back then. Take a look at a Rossin from 1990, they had some crazy and really cool paint back then. Everything's is comparably super conservative now. Rapha has set the tone of chic, minimalist aesthetics and I think something's been lost. As another example, the pro kits also used to take way more chances back in the day, and the peloton looked better for it. Nothing today even remotely compares to the kits from Vetements Z and La Vie Clair.

In my opinion, three things that are better about newer carbon bikes:
- Diversity of offerings. You can get stuff off the rack these days that would have been custom only just 20 years ago. Race bikes back in the day all had 72 degree parallel frames, identical trail numbers, identical chainstay lengths, room for 21s at most etc, etc, etc. They were all fairly relaxed Grand Tour type geometry. If you didn't want that, too bad. I love that now you can get the precise bike you want easily and off the rack. People complain about the micro-niche marketing of modern bikes, I think it's a huge plus.
- Durability. People forget but old bikes used to make all kinds of creaks, clunks and noise. If you rode a lot like I did, you were constantly breaking stuff and wearing stuff out back then. My old shop had a "service course" fee, you could just pay them ~$200 a month and they would take care of whatever was going on with your bike, this was necessary because stuff went wrong all the time. Materials science, metallurgy, engineering etc all have made huge leaps over the past 30 years. Stuff is generally far more reliable these days, lasts longer and doesn't make noise. I'll be controversial: the BB86 on my current road bike is far more reliable than the square taper Dura Ace BB I had on my old Tommasini. Crash survivability is maybe questionable here, but I've never had an issue.
- Functionality. Modern carbon road bikes just ride better. They handle better. The are more comfortable. They feel like rocket ships out of the saddle. They shift better. They brake better. Tubeless 28s at 70 psi is just far better than tubed 21s at 120 psi. Di2 and eTap are both far better than 2x8 with downtube shifters. They are just better bikes.