I would like to assert that it can be relative, especially if one is to reduce a bike to its elements. For example, in the recent past I owned an early 80s Colnago that felt less vintage than my '98 Serotta does to me today. For me, it mattered that Ernesto had been fabricating bikes similar to mine for just short of 30 years when my bike was new stock. Conversely, my Serotta was fabricated in the heyday of the ti movement (given Litespeed brought ti to the masses in the 80s, and it was only in 1974 when Teledyne was the first to mass produce ti frames).

Of course, this feeling neglects that my Serotta is equipped with 2004 components.