Originally Posted by southpawboston

Yes, the Stag. I got my pre-order in early. I'm taking it on faith that the bike will be all it is purported to be. I know several Rawland owners personally, and they have nothing but praise for their Rawland frames. They seem like a fantastic bargain. I was all set to purchase an off-the-shelf Boulder at twice the price before I heard of Rawland's plan for their 650B all-rounder.



I can kinda see where you're going but I disagree. I think anachronistic builds only look lame when they're affected-- trying to pull off a vintage-y look on a modern bike, for look's sake alone. But using a vintage part on a modern bike (or a modern part on a vintage bike) for purely functional reasons can work out great. The aesthetics begin to look beautiful from the purposefulness achieved. Function over form redefines the form.

Sometimes you can pull off modern ugly components on a modern bike, but sometimes even in the context of the whole, it's ugly. Take the modern Campy and Shimano cranks, for example. They're both current models and represent the state of the art, and are fitted to current high end bikes. Given the two cranksets in the context of complete bikes, I still think the Campy graces the modern bike with a classy yet modern look, while the Campagnolo just detracts. Just my $0.02.

Modern Shimano on a state of the art Seven:



Modern Campy on a state of the art Lynsky: