Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I find it very easy to get nostalgic about my 1960s and 70s vintage bikes. That is because I have not ridden them in years. If I was still riding them, there would be nothing to be nostalgic about.
Are you sure that you want; non-indexed gearing, shifting without assist by ramps/pins, water bottles that are strapped on instead of bolted to dedicated dropouts now that cages no longer come with straps, smaller diameter frame tubing that is less stiff than you remembered, downtube shifters, cloth or plastic bar tape instead of thicker cork/gel tape, ten or twelve or maybe 14 gears, etc.?
I lived in England from 1982-1986. Shortly after I arrived, I bought a Dawes Lightning, and rode it, literally, everywhere (I didn't have a car over there.) When I returned to the States, I fell out of bicycling for a long while (the first place I lived was extremely bike-unfriendly.) I gave the Dawes to a friend of mine. When I got back into cycling many years later (2002), I bought a new road bike and started really racking up the miles.
About two years later, my friend and his wife went away on vacation, and I was going over to their house once a day to give their dog her insulin shot. One day, as I was walking up to the house, I noticed my old bike in the yard, leaning up against the fence. Feeling kind of nostalgic, I walked over and looked at it for a while, and then went to pick it up . . . and it barely moved! I actually looked down for a second, thinking, "What, is it stuck in the mud or something???"
No, it wasn't stuck, it was just that damn heavy, and I had gotten so used to being able to easily pick up my new bike with one hand! My moment of fond nostalgia came to a rude end.
I have a Trek 520 that I use for commuting and touring; agree that that's probably the closest readily-available bike to what the OP is looking for.