Classic & Vintage - What makes a bike C&V ? My ride is...

My ride is a 1989 Bianchi Advantage. Right now she's at the Bicycle Spa getting a makeover (fenders plus some bar ends, and some new greasy treatments), but essentially she's stock from day one.

So, what make a bike classic? vintage? I'm just curious...

... much obliged!

- D

There's not really a hard and fast rule. My general rule would be, if you show up on a group ride, and people comment that your bike is old... :lol:

Seriously though, I would consider your bike an appropriate subject for C&V.

For me, vintage means any bike that came with downtube shifters, a threaded headset. (I'm partial to road 'racers')
Classic means any bike I lusted for during that younger period of my life.
;)

You guys are funny... :)

Well, according to Zorro, mine is C&V, then. When I took it to the bike spa yesterday, five dudes clustered around my old ladies style hybrid (would that make her a cougar? Hmmm...) oOOHing and Ahhing. "What year is this bike?" and all that.

Well, the first thing is that it has to have some features that were popular back in the day but generally unavailable on typical mass produced bikes of today. Some of this has been mentioned, but I'll add (these are just a basket of features)

freewheels, lugged frames, leather seats, non-aero brake levers, friction shifting, less plastic rather than more, 27" tires, Suntour components, French components, French threading, Swiss bottom brackets, cotton bar tape, toe clip strap buckle pads, chromed areas of the frame, bikes actually made in Japan, France, Switzerland, England, Netherlands,...almost anywhere except Taiwan or China, chrome brake housing clips, clamp on shifters, clamp on derailleur cable guides, no water bottle brazeons, no brazeons, long horizontal rear dropouts, long horizontal rear dropouts with adjuster screws, no lawyer lips on dropouts, fully crowned fork, non-recessed brake mounts, stay bridge for center pull brake cable stop, metal rivetted on head tube badge, lug lining, 144 BCD cranks, spring wire derailleur cable housing, loose bearings in hubs/bottom brackets/etc, 120/126mm rear dropout spacing, LBS sez your bike is obsolete, LBS tries to get your bike for lowball price figuring you might be an ignoramus, other guys on C&V bikes give you knowing glances, roadie guys on latest technology don't make eye contact.

Not an exhaustive list, and some non C&V bikes may have some of these features, but these are some indicators.

Bravo.

For me, vintage means any bike that came with downtube shifters, a threaded headset. (I'm partial to road 'racers')
Classic means any bike I lusted for during that younger period of my life.
;)

So... my stem shifters are too old?

Hah! Not at all. Just wasn't my personal preference back in the day. I like downtube braze ons for their versatility. With them you can mount bar cons, brifters, stem, or downtube shifters.
I've come to appreciate stem shifters more now. I just picked up a NOS Suntour 6 spd indexed stem shifter. The levers are simply bar-con levers. Hoping to see if a set of Ultegra 8 spd SIS bar cons will mount on there.

...LBS tries to get your bike for lowball price figuring you might be an ignoramus, other guys on C&V bikes give you knowing glances, roadie guys on latest technology don't make eye contact...

I'll look out for this. Thank you for the heads up.

For me, vintage means any bike that came with downtube shifters, a threaded headset. (I'm partial to road 'racers')
Classic means any bike I lusted for during that younger period of my life.
;)

Yeah +1. My house is 80 years old so it's vintage, the white house is classic. I guess vintage is a nice way of saying old?

Another "C&V" bike goes by, he looks over,..knowing grins are exchanged, no words.

The young guy on the carbon Specialized thinks it's cool, says he didn't know they made bikes in Japan.

You outrun a 30-year old on his P3 with your Ironman and he wants to know how something that heavy can roll so well. (ball bearings)

Someone asks "is that chrome?"

Its when (those are the bikes I play with) your 20 year old sons buddy says "Wots ur ole man doin ?" and the boy says --"Dont mind him,he,s old" !