Originally Posted by
Bianchigirll
I persoanlly take a slightly different view and base my break down on technological advances. Anything older than say '84/85ish is a real C&V machine. Bikes from '85 to '92ish are what I call 'Nuovo Classics'. From the advent of the deraileur systems in the "Golden Age" (the 1930's as labeled by the "Dancing Chain") bikes had not changed much. There were various derailleur designs and crank systems but most all bikes were steel and had brake cables flapping in the breeze.
In '85ish bikes saw the first big changes since the industry and consumers settled on the two pulley parrellelagram derailleur and double rings. Indexing and aero brake lever came on the scene alnong with aluminum bikes and some Ti bikes becomeing musch more mainstream. The road bike or "10spd" took a huge technological step but still retained it classic look of drop bars, DT shifters and round tubing. In '93/94ish the classic road bike or "10spd" changed again with most employing "Brifter" type shifting and Aluminium displacing steel and Carbon Fiber becoming mainsteam.
BG, I really like how you break this topic down into these categories. When I got to thinking about it I guess I probably think along very similar lines myself, mostly because some of the changes in technology coincides with my own personal timeline: five to six to seven speed; changes in shifters; eight, nine, ten speed; changes in tubing; and so forth. I don't know if such things designate a "classic" bike or not, but they are certainly meaningful to me and relate to the bikes that appeal to me.
This topic seems to come up a lot and there are always a million different takes on it. I agree: this really needs to be a sticky.