Classic & Vintage - C & V Median Age/Why are you here?

I was just kinda wondering what the average age was of the guys/girls who are into the vintage stuff? Are they mostly older guys/girls who were around during the bike boom era? Younger people who just appreciate retro stuff? Geriatrics who like the bikes of their grandkids?

If you are so inclined, post up your age, and maybe why you dig vintage so much.

I'll start:

I'm 31.

I grew up with 80's schwinns, but I really dig the lugged frames and simplistic friction shifters of teh 70's. I also always would hear stories from my father abotu his english three speeds and italian roads bikes of the late 60's, early 70's, and it made me want one. I like them because I like working with my hands, and I like to tinker. I also like them because people throw them away and you can find them for free or cheap, and make really decent modes of transportation out of them, very utilitarian.

I'm also into motorcycles and jeeps, but since I've purchased a house, I can really only afford to work on bicycles. Although I suppose 10+ bicycles could be as expensive as a motorcycle or two...

What about you?

Speaking only for myself, I am 42 and the main reason I ride an old bike is money (or lack thereof). I can't afford a new one. So I keep the old one going. It's 20+ years old and rides wonderfully. Pretty much everything on it is original (except the tires)....I recently had to get a new left crankarm as the old one cracked.

But I expect you will get a variety of ages and answers.

Doug
1986 Alpine

I'm 34. First bike was a Schwinn Stingray. A friend of my older brother had a Fuji road bike, and I always thought it was amazingly fast and beautiful (and fantastically out of reach financially for a grade-schooler). I suppose I inherited my retro-grouchiness from my father, who still has his three-speed from college, who still has the MG-TD he bought in the early '60s, just to cite two examples.

I enjoy all sorts of old things, especially those that can be tinkered with and fixed, rather than tossed out and replaced. Like -holiday76, I'm into motorcycle, although only the old ones. I don't do fuel injection.

I turn 31 (hex) a little later this year.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's - with some regularity hanging out at my uncle's bicycle shop. Raleighs were his bread and butter. He didn't sell Schwinns - but I think that had almost as much to do with not wanting to step on the local Schwinn dealer's toes, as it did with preferring Raleighs (although I grew up thinking Raleighs were better - and during this time period, they certainly were much lighter). All the way through college I did not have a car, and did not drive. I would think nothing of hopping on my bicycle and riding 60-80 miles in a day (wish I had that fitness level still).

It wasn't until I was in college, and was recovering from the latest in a maddening string of bicycle thefts that I rode my first "good" bicycle - a '77 Raleigh Super Course. Sadly, about a week before I joined the Navy in 1981, it was stolen. I even know whom by, but I couldn't prove it. :(

Anyways, growing up during the bike boom, and spending all those hours in the shop and riding was something that not even 18 years of not riding could keep out of my blood. I started back 3 1/2 years ago trying to get my late uncle's old 3-speed on the road. Mountain bikes just don't cut it, the three speed doesn't fare so well with the hills around here, and I don't have the resources to buy one of the latest and greatest. Finding, tinkering with and riding club and boom era bicycles has been very satisfying.

I am 51, and I tend to be into vintage bikes because it is fun and inexpensive.

I like tinkering, and usually have too many projects going at any given time... bikes being part of that.

I think part of my attraction is the expense of new bikes, plus the fact that to me the newer bikes (other than some of the REAL expensive ones) are UGLY!

I think old Schwinn middleweights are sleeker looking than the road bikes that many people in the other forums slobber over. I do like modern technology, and have a new 105 STI group on one of my bikes, but the bike itself is a lugged Schwinn Voyageur. Also, my highest mileage bike is a modern one, a 2003 Giant Sedona.

But my stable is predominantly old steel bikes...

26, first road bike was a Schwinn Traveler that was a year older than I was when I got it (only bout 3 years ago). Wanted to ride, was a poor college student who liked to tinker and figured he could learn as he went on an older bike.

I am 39. I like old stuff and I like to tinker. I like the purity of design, craftsmanship, and the style of the older stuff. In many cases you also learn that there are real advantages to the way things used to be made. Performance and longetivity. I hate our disposable society. But back to bikes. I have always liked speedy mechanical devices and also rock music. I play guitar. I was in my formative early teens in the early eighties so everything that was cool to me was many times from the '70's or even '60's. My dad had a state of the art "hi-fi" from the sixties with tubes. A Schwinn Continental from about 1972 with a leather seat. Many cool cars from the '60's and '70's. There were all kinds of awesome motorcycles from the '70's back then. It stuck. I like caferacer style motorcycles. Hot rods. Sports cars. Tube guitar amps. Record players. Things made out of wood. Lean and mean looking steel lugged racing bicycles....... All the good stuff. I like to rebuild, customize it all too.
This kind of "lifestyle" just suits me.

I'm 44 (1st bike was a schwinn lemon peeler).

I ride vintage bikes, as I don't want to go out and buy new tools.

I was born in 1965 and am not 65 as some people think and that makes me...let me count on my fingers and toes, and my dogs toes... 42.

I always had a bike when I was a kid and my parents, who didn't have tons of money, always made sure I got an upgrade about every two years and my step father expected that I would be able to do the work that was needed to keep my bike running smoothly and safely.

Then as now, I could often be found spending a lot of time in the bike shop looking over every new bike, the new parts, and learning everything I could.

I have always enjoyed working on bikes nearly as much as I like riding them and seem to be pulled toward those classic steel bikes I grew up with.. I like their style and the fact they usually require some tinkering to make them right.

My first real bike was a Nishiki Professional, in blue... I never rode in the winter in those days as my work was close enough to walk to but I did ride that bike in excess of 8000 miles every year until it was stolen.

there have been few chapters in my life when I have not owned a bike of some kind and it was three or four years ago I started to move away from being a recreational cyclist and full time driver and am now a full time rider and a recreational driver.

My garage is now full of mostly older bikes and love being able to bring so many nice old bikes back from the brink of being turned into scrap.

I hate this disposable society we live in and I think that this too is part of the appeal.

P.S.

The prices of new bikes doesn't shock me as really good bikes have always cost more and as I could not afford a shiny new bike, it also seemed practical to rebuild old ones for much less money.

Also, the people who ride vintage bikes also tend to be pretty interesting folks.

Couda2K beat me by two years!

I'm 28 and me first experience with what I always used to call "ramhorn" bikes was a horrible one. I was a kid and I tried to ride a cousin's bike that was way too tall...and I kept falling off.

My re-discovery of vintage ten speeds was brought on by a natural aversion to trendiness so when I moved to Portland and wanted to get back into bicycling, I started working on improving my existing mountain-type bike and looking for a ten speed. I was lucky enough to find one and get it running again. Through all this, I found that wrenching on these old contraptions is easy for me, which is a good way to keep me interested (the garage is my favorite room in the house).

I also feel the same way many others do: hating disposable society, and loving the simple, beautiful, economy and grace of a lugged vintage frame.

Not being brought up with a particular brand, I feel a strong pull towards European classics, and of course you can now by some of them at a very affordable price!

37.

I loved BMX and road bikes as a kid. Went off to college and began many unhealthy years of drinking and smoking. I rediscovered my love of bikes a few years ago and naturally gravitated to old lugged steel bikes as they remind me of my youth and, at least initially, because they were cheaper than buying a new bike.

I rode and smoked for a couple years, and then finally quit smoking this past June 1st. Ten months! I can safely say that getting back into riding made quitting much, much easier.

I rode to work up until mid December but took a break because moving, weather, and being out of the country (my other love is traveling) for almost a month. I'm up to my neck in home renovations at the moment but plan on getting back on the road in the next few weeks. Riding to work wakes me up and invigorates me, and riding home relaxes me and entitles me to a cold beer. Of course, the new house is 13miles from work instead of the 3 miles from the old place.

The sooner that we get our kitchen finished and the rest of the house painted, the sooner that I can build a bike workshop in the basement! I've digressed enough.

Old enough that when I was playing with my small children at a local playground another father came up to me and asked if my kids were from the "second time around". I did not know what to say.

Why here? Information.

I turn 31 (hex) a little later this year.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's

Did you get your age wrong? something is wrong here.

I'm 27. I like steel. I like lugged steel better than welded steel. old racers are simple and beautiful, and new ones sometimes look like they belong in a science fiction movie. Older, quality bikes seem more reliable to me, than quality bikes of today. When aluminum (or Carbon fiber) is damaged its diffucult to tell. as a hobby mechanic, I don't have to "tip-toe" as much when working with good steel. Whenever I work on an aluminum frame I have to be more delicate. final word: there are plenty of quality frames out there from decades past, and these bikes need to be on the road. Lets pace down bike consumerism, and pace up affordable riding and giving our resources (raw materials and energy) a break.

I'm 31, and I like older and used bikes for the following reasons:

1) I like to recycle things
2) I love tinkering, reworking, remodelling
3) I don't like the styling of new bikes
4) There are far too many great bicycles sitting abandoned in garages, basements, barns and op. shops that are dying slow deaths
5) Our disposable culture and notions of planned obsolescence often make me queasy
6) I love to use bicycles as transport where possible, as opposed to driving a car
7) Steel frames are nice
8) So are lugs

Did you get your age wrong? something is wrong here.



I am guessing that he means 31 in hexadecimal base.

Age: 57 (39 hexadecimal)

Bicycling experience: started at age 12, serious transportation and recreation since 1968, 100k miles / 160k km cumulative experience on the road.

I, too, hate the throwaway society. I am a sincere environmentalist who literally walks the walk as well as talking the talk. I love the look and feel of a classic lugged steel frame, and I relish being able to tinker freely, changing gear ratios or even gear counts at will, without fretting over compatibility issues. The stereotypes are true -- my Scots genes impel me to seek value (quality per unit price) in everything I buy and to take care of my possessions so that they last a very long time. I generally keep my cars 15 to 20 years and my bikes much longer than that.

I am guessing that he means 31 in hexadecimal base.

What the heck is hexadecimal base?

14

and I ride a 1984 Dawes Galaxy, it started because it was the only roadish bike available to me at the time (last year).
I also ride a 2006 Al framed bike with STI etc... but prefer the ride and simplicity of the Dawes, and the fact I restored it myself makes it much more sentimental to me, and I love to ride it.

Im 20. I ride an old BSA fixed gear. Aside it being quite cheap and a lot of fun for commuting, I think the older bike offers such a distinctive change from my racing stuff that I have a more casual riding style on it. The geo isnt hugely different, so im guessing it just brings about a different state of mind :)

I am guessing that he means 31 in hexadecimal base.

exactly. It helps me to not feel like I'm getting so old.

tradtimbo - I'm guessing you're not a math or engineering major at MIT. :)

Hexadecimal: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 20, etc...

I'm 40.

I love the elegance and timelessness of vintage bikes. I love the fact that a person of middleclass means could restore a bike that's identical to Eddy Merckx's. (A middleclass person couldn't build up a Jackie Stewart F-1 car or AJ Foyt Indy car, for example.)

And I enjoy tinkering and wrenching. It's very therapeutic for me.

40

Came here because East Hill said that I should check it out when I first joined BF. Pshawed the suggestion, then checked it out one day, it's a regular stop now for me (Bike Mechanics and Road Cycling are the others). Cut my teeth on bikes in the early 80s so I know pretty much from there on forward. Worked in shops from 83-97 so know that stuff the best. And it seems that there are fewer people than I thought who knows the 80s era of road bikes, and since I tinkered at the time, I sometimes know about some of the questions people ask.

Although I'll be "restoring" at least one of my old bikes, I don't really ride C&V. Never was into steel. So although I might contribute to C&V, I don't drink the KoolAid :(

cdr

Although I'll be "restoring" at least one of my old bikes, I don't really ride C&V. Never was into steel. So although I might contribute to C&V, I don't drink the KoolAid :(


If you don't drink the koolaid, there are other methods to convert you!

As you have surely found, this forum is open to anyone... just stand by for ribbing if you call a 1998 bike vintage. :)

You'll get a mix - but my guess is that average age on C&V is over 40.

I'm also 42, a got into older bikes, as a cross-over commuter. I found that I could save $1200/year by not paying septa (regional rail), then pay myself to exercise and subsidize for a swanky gym membership. Life's too short to deal with crappy, expensive public transit.

Three neighbors around me bike commute, so I joined the bandwagon. I first rode an old, low-end panasonic that I had sitting around, until it got stolen. Out of the four of us, three had bikes stolen within a year.

Bottom line is that vintage bikes are a good value for commuters. In an urban area - bikes have many lives. I'm one of the cross-over commuters, where entry-level - even bike boom can be of interest. I can keep a modest fleet and learn. After all, I now have a $1200 a year spending account to go towards gym membership, gear, and replacement bikes. With vintage bikes - I think that there's a thrill in the chase. If I have to replace a bike, I get less upset with the loss because I get a new buying excuse. Maybe like some others with young kids - I'm not a 25 mile weekend tour rider. More of a get-me-there, daily rider, who likes more interesting, vintage options. I like to stealth older, bikes with a lower price point with vintage parts.

I thought that maybe this was an interesting perspective...

I will be 30 this summer. I rode a bike as a kid and in college to get around. I really stopped riding after college until '04 when I got a new mountain bike and got back into riding. Eventually, I decided I had to have a road bike as well, but couldn't afford a new one. So I figured a vintage one would be cheap enough to try and I could do the work myself. I also wanted to build a fixed gear road conversion so finding vintage lugged steel was the way to go. Those first bike projects snowballed into buying every half way decent vintage road bike that I find for a reasonable price to fix up and flip. My personal bike collection is up to 12 with 7 of those being vintage lugged steel road or track bikes, but there are generally another 30+ bikes or frames/forks in the basement shop at all times. I am not saying I won't ad a new non-vintage road bike to my collection, but I don't see it happening any time soon with the prices they ask for them.

I'm 38 and I like the vintage stuff for it's elegance and simplicity. Don't get me wrong, I love the modern stuff too but vintage allows me to tinker, learn and make mistakes that aren't too costly.

I have an insatiable hunger for knowledge and I need to work with my hands after 8 hours a day in front of a computer screen in a large corporate office. Vintage bikes feed my need and there is so much to learn.

I also like having vintage bikes around for the quick trip around town. No need to don the spandex or the clipless. Just hop on and go; enjoying the freedom of the road.

I'm 48.

I started being aware of, and fascinated by, older bikes fairly recently, when I was trying to buy a bike for serious riding. I was looking for a form of exercise that wasn't deadly boring, and that would be easy on the knees (I had a knee replacement a few years back). I had done quite a bit of riding up until I started to have really bad knee problems (the cause had nothing to do with cycling), so biking seemed like the way to go.

I couldn't find a bike that fit. I'm fairly tall, and it seems that all the bikes out there today have those god-awful sloping top tubes, and that every LBS and every bike manufacter wanted to put me on a frame that was too small for me. I'd go in, check out a bike, discover that it was too small, and the salesperson would say "no problem! We'll just put a taller seatpost on, and a longer stem, and you're good to go!"

I knew this was just plain wrong. I'd had decent bikes in the past, that fit me fine. In high school, I rode a Raleigh Grand Prix (25" frame). Later, at some point in the eighties, I had a really nice Schwinn Tempo that fit me just fine.

So off to e-bay it was. I found a lovely '74 Raleigh Super course in the largest frame size (25 1/2", I think). It fits just right. I'm not a purist -- I swapped out the crank for a new Sugino triple, and the wheels are 700C, with Shimano hubs and freewheels, but I really think the older bikes suit me better. And the lower cost was a big plus.

50, as of ten days ago.

I've heard it said that, as we age, we tend to collect the things which we couldn't afford when we were younger. When I was 13, I got my first "real" road bike, a Raleigh Super Course with straight gauge 531, Huret derailleurs, and 27x1-1/4 tires on Weinmann rims laced to Normandy hubs. I rode that bike like fury for two years, when it got stolen. By then, the gods had sorted me into the "tight ends and rugby forwards" pile instead of the "elite road racer" pile, and that was that ... but I still had this little piece of me which lusted after 531 double-butted frames, sew-up tires, and anything with "Campagnolo" on it.

My buddies and I used to salivate over all of the exotic stuff which the pros rode, and dream of the day when we, too, could afford to spent $500 - FIVE HUNDRED BUCKS! - on a bike, because that's what a top of the line production bike, all Nuovo Record, went for back then.

A couple of months ago, I snagged a Scapin, Columbus frame, CInelli bars (another brand which we lusted after back in the day ....) Campy derailleurs, tubulars, and so on, for a bit over $300 including shipping. It is red, so of course it is very, very fast. Or at least it FEELS fast when I'm on it, and that's what matters. It joins three 531 bikes, one all-Campy, one all-Dura Ace, as well as others.

I am in heaven - and yes, at 50 years old and with a broken down linebacker's body, it's the ILLUSION of heaven, but I know that - but as habits go it's very cheap and very healthy.

I'm 39. My first bikes were red 60s & 70s Schwinn kids' bikes (weren't all kids' bikes red Schwinns at the time?), including a cruiser that we converted into a Stingray.

In the early 80s I got a pearl-gray lugged steel Peugeot with orange decals that I rode through high school, college and grad school. No idea what model it was, and I never so much as lubed the chain. After grad school I moved and abandoned it in the basement of my old apartment.

To answer the later part of your question, I initially got into C&V figuring I'd save money and learn bike wrenching on a used throwaway bike. I rescued an old bike to restore, and got lucky with a great find. Since then I've gotten more into the esthetic and history/trivia aspects of C&V bikes.

Now I like going on group rides and having a cool bike without having to compete with the guys who like to show off their cycling cred by seeing who can spend the most money on their modern bikes and gear.

My story is very similar to MajorA's.

I turned 50 about 2 weeks ago.

In 1974, I begged and hounded my dad until he finally relented and bought me a Raleigh Supercourse. Prior to that, I had a Sears (made by Puch), carbon steel frame, etc. My Supercourse was similar to MajorA's except that mine had Simplex derailleurs and it cost my dad about $160. We were not very well off, so I learned to wrench by necessity. My friends and I soon began to upgrade our bikes and I eventually replaced the 27x1 1/4 wheelset on my Supercourse with a custom built Campy Nuovo Tipo (Grand Sport) high flange hubset with Mavic sew-up rims. Fortunately, the long reach Weinmann centerpulls were able to accomodate the 700c rims on what was essentially a touring frame geometry. I also replaced the cottered cranks with a Sugino Mighty Competition crankset. The tubulars transformed my Supercourse into a relatively lively machine. I also rescued a backyard find Mercier and spruced that one up with some nice components too (Weinmann Carrera Sidepulls and Stronglight 93 crankset).

I was never able to afford a top-end racer until the late-90s when I found a 1984 Raleigh Team Replica (full Campy Super Record group) on Ebay. I currently ride that, and also a 80's Nishiki Tri-A w/Shimano 600EX group. I am currently ressurecting a Nishiki Competition (?) that a friend gave to me.

--Warren

I'm 30,
I rode a lot when I was younger, bike-a-thons ect, won my first two 10-speeds that way. Got out, got fat (Real fat), then started riding again in '06. I'm interested in History, I'm also usualy rebuilding something, any given weekend will see vintage car/truck/tractor/machine tool/woodworking equipment parts scattered about, so old bikes are a natural fit for me. Returning to college has limited my heavy iron budget, making bikes look better and better as a "Cheap" hobby, har har har....

I've lost about 75lbs, gained a basement full of vintage steel, and spent more than I ever intended on bicycles. :D

65.

My dad worked for Schwinn for thirty years, and my first bike was a 1955 Schwinn World "lightweight". As a teenager, I rode Dad's track Paramount in local Amateur Bicycle League of America track events in North Florida.

As an adult, I've always had bicycles and believe riding is a great way to stay trim and fit.

My first bike:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/195526-inchWorld.jpg

55 decimal
37 hex
67 octal
(does this remind you of the old joke about 2 types of people and binary?)

anyhow, programming aside,
Started getting into bikes in a semiserious way back in 1971 when my best friend at school
got a Falcon San Remo, something about that bike really hooked me. I've always liked tinkering
and I always learn something new here.
Most modern bikes just don't 'do it' for me, I guess I'm still chasing bikes I wanted either
in college or shortly after (thus the 25+ year search for a Zieleman). There is a look, or feel
or aesthetic that modern bikes just don't have for me.

Marty

I feel honored and humbled to follow Stan and Marty!

50 in 6 more days. Whoo Hoo!

Vintage bikes are like a good dog. They are loyal and rarely ever bite back, and when they do it is for a good reason, such as to tell that you forgot to tighten something. Also, they never complain about the hymns I select for Sunday services.

39

Cause I have a Zeus...

I like to share...

and let people stare...

=8-)

60 yrs old.

My first derailleur equipped bike was a '61 Schwinn Varsity.

27 in 5 days.

Here because I found a bianchi at a scrap metal drop off.... wanted to know more about it. That was close to 4 years ago. I took about a 1 year hiatus and now I`m back. Started off with an affordable commuter then an affordable road bike... then I just got addicted to vintage steel and campagnolo.

Now I have a super record bike, a nuovo record bike, a modern component on lugged steel bike, a touring-commuting bike, a track bike, and a fixed gear... all lugged steel.

My first real bike was a BMX from sears.... obviously.

42. I hang out here because I love road bikes built in the 70's and 80's. They just have an elegance that I don't see in more modern bicycles. Plus I'm a collector of Puch bicycles and pretty much the only place to find people who share that interest is here.

I'm 31, and I like older and used bikes for the following reasons:

1) I like to recycle things
2) I love tinkering, reworking, remodelling
3) I don't like the styling of new bikes
4) There are far too many great bicycles sitting abandoned in garages, basements, barns and op. shops that are dying slow deaths
5) Our disposable culture and notions of planned obsolescence often make me queasy
6) I love to use bicycles as transport where possible, as opposed to driving a car
7) Steel frames are nice
8) So are lugs

That about sums it up perfectly for me as well, just subtract a year.

48 yrs old.

Started building wheels when I was in 9th grade, and just loved 10 speed bikes! I've been a bit slow to adopt new technology, since I was pretty happy once I upgraded to 6 speed freewheels.

It was 1997 when I bought a 1982 Olmo Competition with full Campy Nuovo Record parts. The parts were heavily pantographed, and the cranks had the "Mexico" treatment (milled and lightened). It was my first full Campy bike, and lots of fun. Now I've got 7 bikes and they are all steel. Of these, 5 are vintage bikes. The other two are custom bikes from local builders.

Steve K.

53
Loved bikes and the freedom they gave me since my first 3 spd as a kid. Bought my first "road" bike in college and took a 200 mile tour that summer. I managed a bike shop in 1984 at the end of the real Japanese and touring bike era and have had a soft spot for 1970 - early 1990 bikes ever since.

I was never into racing so I don't know much about the higher class stuff on the forum. I'm mostly interested in seeing good solid steel bikes stay on the road in one form or another. I lean toward touring and utility bikes that are modified/updated to provide more benefit to the rider, but appreciate anything in pristine shape also.

Recently turned 48. Went through the usual cycle of Sting-Rays, 3-Speeds, and then my first road bike was a brand spankin' new '73 Schwinn Super Sport in Opaque Blue (thanks Dad). First really nice road bike was a brand spankin' new '75 Peugeot PX-10 (thanks me). Road regularly up until about 1985 when I moved way out into the boonies (and didn't get into mountain bikes). Moved back to town, had an '85 Schwinn Super Sport but didn't ride it that much as I was surrounded by kids, college and career at that point. Bikes faded away until I stumbled across an old Schwinn Sting-Ray at a old car swap meet in the mid-'90s and the cycle started over again (this time I've included mountain bikes in the mix). I like the old steel as it is attractive to me, easy to operate and work on, and typically a bargain for what you get. I like my motor vehicles old as well ...

Bob

48 myself. :D

I'm 27 decimal earth years.

Vintage bike design seems to be just as functional for my purposes (mostly daily transportation, some recreational) and far more beautiful to my eyes. I like the feeling I get walking over to one of my bikes before hopping on and smiling because it looks nice, even though I've looked at and used it nearly daily for the past few years. I like how steel frames, alloy components and leather age so gracefully when properly maintained.

I am 38. Bikes were a part of my life in some small or large way from childhood to around college age. Then they disappeared, and then came back to me a couple of years ago.

I like bikes generally for fun and utility (more and more, as time goes on in fact) and health and as a silly distraction. I like older bikes because I am cheap, and because they are easier to tinker with, and because they are sooper cool.

jim

I'm 47. I read through here and post on occasion, but don't actually ride a "vintage" bike as such. At the moment, I've got a Worksman Industrial Cruiser that I ride, and almost have my Arpan Low Gravity bike ready to go. Both are vintage style, but are new bicycles.

Holy crap! 46 replies to my thread. I'm not used to having more than 3.
Good stuff!

Keep it coming.

My "racing age" is 50 :D, but I'm not quite there yet (Don't race yet, either). Had bikes as a kid, including a Schwinn Apple Krate, and my first ten speed was a '71-'72 Gitane Interclub. I really wanted the TdF, but just couldn't do it on my lawn mowing money. Now I have one, NR equipped, and have traded in and out of several other vintage bikes. Love tinkering. I was the kid that polished all of his components even back then. Painted a few, both rattlecan and gun. Next up on the block is an '83 Trek 600.

Here for great info and as a bike voyeur.

I am 44 and my first 'real' bikes were a crappy 3 speed and 10 speed from a department store bike that I got one Christmas because the department store where they came from was going out of business. That was a happy Christmas. My parents got both bikes for a total of $70.00. I used the 3 speed on my paper route, well for a few weeks, until one of my customers backed their car over it while I was collecting. :( Had the 10 speed long enough that the rims looked like rusted brillo pads. Now the bike that I really wanted was a Schwinn Varsity, which was financially just out of reach. I didn't even aspire to anything that cost more than that.

Fast forward to adult times and back in 1992 I wanted to start riding again and I bought a Bridgestone XO-2 that I still have. Great bike. Still have it and sometime this year it will get a complete tear down and rebuild.

About 18 months ago I decided I wanted a drop bar bike and started searching, learning, buying and selling. Since then, due to the low cost and relative simplicity of the mechanics I have been buying, rehabilitating and selling a succession of bikes. I love how they look, how they ride and how affordable they are as a hobby. Of course I now have over 25 bikes....and I keep looking for more. :rolleyes: