madpogue 

Miss it? I'm expecting I'll be riding a lot more. No rainy ride days, no flats, definitely no bad car drivers where I'm (knock wood) going. Not sure what the hills and the wrenching will be like. I suppose there's no lost bearing balls or seized seat posts.

Mr. 66

Me to, except the feeling was in 1980, picking up the thrashed and fixing my brothers bikes. I still have his much loved original first year Rodriguez.

Road Fan

Probably it started something like 20 years after the first safeties were put on the market!

Kabuki12

I started in 1976 or so . I was in my twenties and got really tired of my Schwinn Varsity. I had made friends with a bike shop owner at Channel Islands Harbor down the street from our condo. My wife and I had moved on to a sail boat and decided to quit driving cars and ride bikes . In those days , on the docks , there was always a beat up pick up truck or car that you could borrow for groceries or laundry if you needed more than would fit on the bike. We had rented out the condo and kept our cars in the garage on blocks until we were ready for them. My wife rode a Kabuki Submariner which was promptly stolen and replaced with a Raleigh Touring 14. I rode my Kabuki Diamond Formula and loved it . We both worked so we rode many miles a day , yes even in the rain. My friend at the bike shop built racing frames under his name Stan Johnson and did well with that . I was doing an apprenticeship at an aerospace factory making cutting tools and would take his Campagnolo cutters to work and sharpen them for him and he would "trick my bike" out in exchange. I ended up with a nice racer and still have it. I guess the real fuel for the fire came when my daughter decided she wanted a bike like dad's . This was in the mid 2000's and we built her a Raleigh Super Grand Prix with some Campy stuff. Until this happened I just rode my old steel bike and didn't really pay attention to the other bikes around me, I just loved my Kabuki and continued to ride and maintain it. After working with my daughter on her bike and riding with her I stumbled on to some bikes I could never have afforded in my twenties and started a collection of bikes.Joe joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

elcraft

My words would just be restatements of what others have already said.
There are reoccurring themes, though, the "seminal" bike of one's youth (- '75 Raleigh Super Course Mk. II, in my case); the "affordability" of what was once out of reach and only longed for; the hiatus of career and family with the subsequent rediscovery of an old reliable bike, fulfilling a renewed need or desire.
Two themes that are not as well covered are the following:
Getting that " seminal" bike, for many of us, came at a hefty price (sometimes over the objections of others about its ultimate value). We, therefore, treated this possession with extreme care and meticulous concern. We learned to maintain and often "upgrade" our prized possessions and became "mechanical". Anyone who becomes "mechanical" in this way, begins to appreciate better made or designed components and the beauty of maintainable engineering.
The other theme may only be personal, though. The paradigm for frame building changed. Gone were the artistically crafted lugs that were so much a sign of the care and craftsmanship of its builder. Now the artistry was supposedly found in the virtuosity of the welds (not really). I initially became interested in my trade, Jewelery and silversmithing, because I longed to build my own frame (I still haven't!). These older construction methods still catch my eye and soul-
The idea that the frame, being made by a flesh and blood human, was imbued with some sense of soul or spirit by the care of its manufacture. Can you imagine such a soul in a robotically made bike of the modern era? Fortunately, there are still makers of that style of bike- and plenty of us around who can appreciate them and all that came before them.
Bicycles may be blessed that they never really become obsolescent (assuming tires and tubes are still available), they continue to be an enjoyable means of conveyance.
Drillium Dude; having exposure to the amazing and sometimes eccentric British "Enthusiasts" for period mechanical things and otherwise antique hobbyists is a great influence. Almost no where else can one find enthusiast societies or clubs that have the level devotion and expertise that they exhibit- in Italy, old Vespas are held with as much enthusiasm as an old lawn mowers are here, in America. In the UK, people proudly and meticulously restore old Vespas and Lambrettas with what can only be described as religious devotion. Likewise, they restore, trade , and preserve the hand built cycles at a level that defies our sensibilities. As stated before, the Internet, though, has been the catalyst for finding other people with the same level of interests.

StuckinPark

Bought my first Vintage bike in 1992, a beautiful KHS Touring Bike. Still regret selling it

justcynn

for me, my mom bought me a new Schwinn World in about 1986. I got back into biking 2 years ago and ride a Specialized Roubaix that I bought used, then I thought why not start collecting old Schwinns which is leading to collecting other bikes, which leads to a full garage of bikes

Repack Rider

I'm not a collector, I just have bikes and 50 years of riding them. I started following this stuff when bikes I had personally helped to build started turning up on these lists, and when I realized that bikes I had owned since they were new were now "collectible" objects of desire.

Cougrrcj

Hmmm, lemme put in my thoughts --

This 'thing' started as the pages on the calendar kept changing. I bought my now-C&V Fuji new in October of 1976. I've been riding it ever since. 'It' didn't start for me, I've always had it.

Although I will admit that have been bitten my the 'better' bug - I gotta get a bike a 'bit better', but I guess lugged steel and friction shifting pretty much went out of fashion in the '80s... So there you have it. My reasons for sticking with what I like.