thinktubes 

Early 80's to early 90's for bikes. The guy across the street had a red Mid-80's Specialized Allez. I was hooked.

July 1984 was a hell of a month for music:

rootboy 

Your wife too? I haven't played the actual album for so long because I can only do it, at the required volume levels, when she isn't around. In fact, I bought a copy of the Mobile Fidelity master tapes re-issue LP, which is good, but it doesn't quite have that certain "something" of the original LP. Maybe it's all the scratches and pops. And my vintage B&O belt drive turntable is on the fritz anyway.

Velognome 

My wife sold all my Feat, A. Brother & MTB albums during a yard sale one year. I discovered the crime when a few months later when a few of us got together for some beers...I uncovered the turntable, opened the cabinet and...... ... & she replied, "Ya, I sold all those old albums you had from college"....I still weep over the incident.

rootboy 

ACK! Oh, that is a shame V'gnome. I sold most all of my LPs back in the day, stupidly. I was too nomadic. All my Feat, F. Zappa, etc.
I've had to slowly rebuild the collection, but it's nothing like it once was.

Cougrrcj

Mid '70s! --



I was finally on my own, going to college at Ohio State for Mechanical Engineering --



driving a poppy red '72 Cougar, white top, white interior, black dash, carpet and console --



Listening to the Eagles - either Greatest Hits Vol 1 or Hotel California - take your pick --





and finally got my first 'good' bike - that I still ride today - my '75 Fuji S-10S. Riding TOSRV, Hilly Hundred, and numerous organized century rides in the area...



OK, sure, there were better cars, and better bikes - but for an 18 year old I was in heaven!

Oh, and no parachute pants of big hair for me - I was a straight-leg cords, rugby shirt and Hush Puppies kind of guy. And I still am!

noglider 

My favorite period for high end road bikes is mid-70's to mid-80's. A lot of this has to do with my age. I was born in 1961, so the bikes I love the most are the bikes I lusted after when I was 14-18 years old. Then the bikes that followed soon thereafter were improvements on those bikes but not radically different, i.e. they still had steel frames and Campagnolo components and non-indexed shifting.

I also love other bikes, though. I love the three-speeds from the 50's. I love early 20th-century track bikes.

Did you know that age 14 might be the time of greatest influence? Take a musician you admire greatly, and then look at the music that was around when that person was 14 years old. NPR had a story about this. Very interesting. Think about the music that was around when you were 14?

noglider 

theblackbullet, a neighbor of mine has a CRX in his yard that appears not to be running and in no-so-great shape. If you're interested in a project car, I could ask him if he's interested in selling it. He's a salty old character, and I don't know much about him. The car he drives is also a wreck.

Italuminium

My sister sold my Thunderbirds island and my SNES at the same flea market. Grrr.

Italuminium

So that explains my stupid weird soft spot for Eminem and Snoop Dogg.

rodar y rodar

A half century of good stuff...

50s jazz
60s women
70s movies
80s bikes
90s autos

Gimme indexing and let there be EFI!

Sixty Fiver

My collection ranges from the 1951 to 2001 with a notable gap in 1960's era bicycles save for my Moulton F... for a time I had some 1940's roadsters which were just beautiful but I could no longer ride them. I love them all and would be hard pressed to say which bicycles I like better.

Although I really appreciate vintage cars I am a little too practical and prefer my "modern" 1993 Nissan which is simple, reliable, and far safer to drive than a classic car.

I need to get a SVEA stove for my kit... I use an Esbit alcohol stove for lightweight backpacking and touring which is really decent and a very old design (same as a Trangia) as well. Some of my camping gear dates back to the second world war, I use a WW2 German mess kit for carrying provisions and cooking and have a 1960's U.S. canteen stove.

Bianchigirll 

Shipping to Hotlanta may be a deal breaker.

Shp4man

I think the bikes from the '80's were the the best riders. But I do have a soft spot for 1890's models . I can't afford one of these, but if I could, I'd ride the thing, not just look at it.

aixaix 

1960s:

The most beautiful sports car ever built. Period.

rootboy 

Can't get that link to work Michael, but dying to see what you think what the most beautiful car is ...

let's see;

Ferrari GTO?
275 GTB LWB (my personal fave)
330 LMB
330 GTS

Jag D type ???
AC Cobra
Birdcage Maserati **********?

OK, running out of guesses.

rootboy 

EDIT: OK, now the pic appeared after I re-loaded. I agree Michael. (almost any Ferrari from the 60's gets my vote, with a few exceptions of course) But that one IS it.

aixaix 

These sublime down tube treatments also turn up in the 1960s (though both may have debuted earlier).

Unlike the Ferrari GTO, whose position at the top of the sports car heap is unassailable, these are merely my favorites. You may differ without arousing rancor.

Svea stoves are cool. A little fussy, but cool. Not sure I'm down with the self-cleaning jet...

clubman 

50's Brit bikes.

Not sure when Turm Sport alcohol stoves were made but they too are awesome. I've got 2

Chombi

I have some of those......

But all in 1:18 scale.....
The 275 GTB was on the top of the list for me too at one time, till a fellow model collector convinced me that it's a bit bloated looking, especailly conmpared to a 1962 250GTO...so my present favorite in my collection is my 1:12 scale 1955 LeMans winning #6 Jaguar D Type....


Chombi

rootboy 

I like the pre-self-cleaning version myself.

rootboy 

Yes Chombi. the D type was a beautiful thing. As was the Aston Martin DB4. I've always been enamored with the 275 GTB. I remember showing my dad one of those tiny ads in the back of Road & Track, this must've been about 1970 or so. "dad, we really ought to buy this car. It would be a great investment." Of course, he just smiled and scoffed. It was a 275 GTB and my memory is hazy but I think it was about 12 thousand dollars or so.

aixaix 

I have both kinds. They both work and I must admit the later version does its thing as efficiently and with as little drama as the earlier one. Still, it seems wrong to have this little wire just waiting in the fuel stream below the jet. Total prejudice I know.
Wonder how many bike folk have any idea what I'm talking about...

aixaix 

Mike Hawthorn, Le Mans, 1956:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hx21E5CM0U
Prepare to be riveted to your computer.
Bike content: check out the cyclists scrambling out of the way.

otg 

For bikes and music, early 70's. For boats, late 50's, early 60's wooden speedboats.

Catnap 

For me the eras depend on the countries - for example:

- French campeurs and randonneurs of the 40's and 50's
- Japanese road bikes and tourers circa 1980's to early 1990's
- Italian road bikes of the 1960's - 70's
- British road bikes and path racers of the 1960's
- Handmade custom American bikes of the late 1990's - to present

i'm criminally overlooking some great eras and countries in my list, but that's what comes to mind for now