due ruote 

The oldest bike I've owned is my '73 Gran Sport that I bought new in my teens. If I happened on a good bike from my birth year, well, that would be cool; otherwise I'm pretty content with what I have.

Ex Pres 

I bought my first 10 speed in '72 or maybe early '73. (I was a pre-driving age teen then) I'm now paring down the 80's-90's bikes and will end up with these bikes from around that date:
1972 Frejus
1972 CNC
1973 Holdsworth
1974 Italvega
and my little brother promises that someday he'll remember to bring back to me that first 10s, a Gitane Interclub that's been hanging out in his basement for too long.

But I'll still have some other rides, too.

Italuminium

Yes. I was born when the wall fell, and my rides ATM are a 1983 ALAN Gran Sport, a 1993 SOMEC and a 1992-ish Giant Cold Rock, plus a Batavus Nitro MTB from the late to mid '90's.

Watching Bart Brentjes win the first Olympic gold medal put that era for me on the map, and I remember the first tours I watched vividly. So yeah, I do like colorful bikes and the last hurrah of steel.

justin10054

My newest bike is from 1986, a year before I was born.

jiangshi

^^^^^This

Shp4man

This bike is ten years newer than me, but I was riding one like it in '64 when it was made. Paper route!

vtchuck

I'm older than dirt, so I have over 20 years on all my vintage bikes.

dweenk

My first bike was my sister's (she born in 1941, and I eight years later). I was mortified (it was blue and had double sloping curved top tubes - blue was a girls color). But that it was the only choice that I had if I wanted a bike of my own, so I painted it white with silver fenders. I had to learn to replace tires and tubes, and soon I had a freedom machine.

A few years later my parents took me to my great uncles country store to purchase my Christmas present. He pulled out the Bennet Blue Book catalog where only businesses could place orders (at a discount).

While my parents were doing the deal for a brand new Rollfast mid-weight bike, President Kennedy came on the store TV (which was for sale, by the way) and announced the placement of Soviet missles in Cuba and the blockade. They were scared as hell and took me home as fast as they could.

But I still I wish I knew what happened to my sister's bike.

thumpism 

Nope.

nlerner

I have at least one bike from every decade from the 1930s to the 2010s. I'm old, but not that old.

greg3rd48 

Pretty much all of my C&V keepers that I currently ride precede my birth. My '74 U08 and '74 Raleigh Super Course TT are four years my senior. I also have a few in the queue that are either a tad older or right around my age but I also like '80s Fujis. I don't care much for cars but my dad was a master at rebuilding old American Motors vehicles and he would bring me to shows to show his beautiful builds. He also was a wizard when it came to knowing all there was to know about steam engines. He would ride with me on his 3speed English racer when I was young and on one of my frequently stolen Huffys. I always loved cycling and he instilled the love of older craftsmanship in me. I suppose it is one of the gifts that he left me and I think of him whenever I work on one of my older builds.

CroMo Mike 

My oldest bike is my 1972 Bottecchia. I bought it new when I was a senior in college. My roommate told me it was a "stupid" thing to buy. The bike is still around and still useful. The roommate, not.

iab

Every C&V bike I own predates my birth.

repechage

I bought adult bikes from when I was 12. Still have 2 from when I was in Junior high.

jimmuller 

When I bought my first derailleur bike in '72 people told me it was a bad choice, that the fork would break because it was seamed. My dad told me an LBS employee had told him that 10-speed bikes were just a fad, that nobody needed them. I was 23 so I knew better than they all did.

Well, the bike still get ridden regularly, I'm up to 12 speeds which is really 2x6, and my roommate is the sweetie I married back in '77.

RobbieTunes

Me, too.
All my bikes predate my adulthood in one sense, and none, in a legal sense.

1978 pending vs. a 1981 pending
1986 Ironman
1987 D'Arienzo
1988 Raleigh (MTB)
2001 GT (MTB)
2004 Cinelli
2014 Wraith

Growing up is hard to do.

mtnbke

I'm the wrong person for this thread. I'm a real Clydesdale cyclist at 6'7" and nearly 400lbs. So I detest the flex of steel frames and basically need the stiffness and strength of aluminum frames. There really aren't a lot of big aluminum touring bikes or road racing bikes in larger sizes. There are a TON in steel as during the bike boom a lot of frames were made in 27" (68.5cm).

I'm lucky that Cannondale made some of these in Aluminum and that's mostly what I ride for C&V bikes. A couple of ST800s, a frame I think is an ST400, a white one with lower end Suntour I think is an ST500, and another dark metallic blue one that I don't know what ST model it is (the differences were mostly paint & components within a model year other than caliper/cantilever brake mounting, or number of water bottles, other than that ALL frames were identical in terms of tubing and welding so I don't really pay too much attention to the other ones, they are just "frames" to be built to me).

My earliest bike is an '86 and I was in the 8th grade then, and probably not quite able to ride a 68.5cm bike. So for me its rational, what I have is what actually comes close to fitting.

What I want is a 66-70cm Klein and I don't care the models or years.

jon c. 

I'd have been about 21 when my bike was new. It's the bike I would have wanted had I kept riding at that point in my life. So it was my logical 'new' bike, I just waited 35 years to buy it.

Sir_Name 

Yup.

Klein - 75/76
Windsor - ~79
Motobecane - 80
Colnago - 83 (birth-year bike)
Specialized - ~91/92
Giant - 95
Cannondale - 07

I'm not sure what the rhyme/reason is to what I've 'collected' so far apart from having interest, opportunity, and means coincide. My late teen through young adult years (those will last for quite some time yet...) were almost entirely consumed by music, then college/grad, so that may at least partially account for me not being especially nostalgic for the high-zoot stuff of those years.

The Specialized (Rockhopper) is probably the most nostalgic to me as it was originally my father's. The Giant (MOSH BMX bike with S&M pitchfork, redneck stem, slam bars) was the first bike I really built up beyond stock - a keeper that hardly gets ridden (rubber side down now). The Colnago is important to me for reasons beyond the birth year. The others just struck my interest at the right time, almost all of them are built to a specific purpose different from the others. I'd love to build an early '90s Colnago with modern Campy, but others (like the Klein) may distract me.

As for the interest in C&V, it's what I grew up riding and working on for road bikes (parent's Raleigh) when not riding BMX or MTB. When my interest in road riding was rekindled C&V was chosen because I was already fairly familiar with the basics, plus I got a whole lot more bike for my dollar. I still don't have much interest in carbon (apart from maybe a C60).

daf1009

My earliest bikes definitely predate my adult years...my group of Raleighs...1952, 1958, 1962, 1962...all predate my birth! Of my main "riding" bikes, most of those are borderline adult years (dependent on definition of adult)...1981 Miyata 1000 and then, from there, newer...1982 Colnago, mid-80's Tommasini...etc...

I think the interesting question here is not the what are they...but the why are they...and as you guys have pointed out...my fleet is a bit eclectic! So, as I think about...I think this is my possible, but likely to change, answers...

50-early 60 Raleighs - love the look and styling of these bikes...to me, the exude the word "cool"...slightly laid back and understated...but definitely some interesting lines/colors/lugs/thought/etc

70's Fillet Brazed Schwinns - I grew up on a Schwinn Varsity (wish I still had it)...and, my first "adult" purchased bike was a Schwinn Traveler in 1987...so...Schwinn in the blood...I find the uniqueness of these bikes to be appealing...add in a few other unique Schwinns (the Volare and Sprint with the curved seat tube)...and you have my Schwinns...

Miyatas (1000 and Team) - the 1000 is one of my favorite riders...smooth and munches the miles...but not particularly exciting, sexy, attractive or cool...just great riding. The Team...one of those sexy bikes! Racy, wanting to go...cool colors...

Bridgestones (RB-1, RB-T, XO-1) - because I like Grant Petersen...and his willingness to be frank and out there about his opinions...plus they are great riding bikes!

Italians? Tommasini Prestige and Super Prestige, Colnago, Tommaso, Pinarello - Sexy, fast, racy bikes...that I could never afford when they were new! Lusted after the Pinarello for YEARS...then when I could afford any bike I wanted, I did not buy the Pinot...got one a few years later...

I think that sums up most of my collection and my thoughts on them...

rhm

I was born in '62, and worked in bike shops in '80-'83. Between those years ('62-'83), bike technologies were in stasis; there's really very little difference between a top of the line 1962 bike and a top of the line 1983 bike. But a lot of things changed in the years immediately after 1983.

Bikes from the years of my childhood or a little earlier, like my 1959 Allegro, are just normal bikes. I think of bikes with later tech as modern bikes, like my 1993 Basso. They have no c&v interest (though they may ride well). My "old" bikes are the ones that employ technology that was funky before I was born, like my Fothergill.

Unlike many C&V guys, I am not interested in truly obsolete gear like Cambio Corsa, and I don't care if it says Campagnolo on it. If you take a close look at my Fothergill, you'll see that the 1930s components on it are fully functional by modern standards, and I'll gladly ride it in a race against anyone riding Cambio Corsa. Oh, and I'll plan on winning that race.

cb400bill

I said adulthood. I said nothing about growing up....

iab

Oh.

It's.

On.

rhm

Needless to say, I'll extend that challenge to Cyclo Oppy, Pizza Margherita, etc.

KonAaron Snake 

Whoever has the lighter RHM saddle wins.