I'm probably an outlier as I am the right age to have participated in the 'boom' years of the 70s and 80s, but was not into cycling, at all.

So when I stumbled into cycling, and C&V specifically, a few years ago, I had no preconceptions or favorites, and have just learned as I went along and developed my own interests and taste. This definitely has been an evolution as I started out only wanting something nice and basic but before long a very special bike practically dropped into my lap (Centurion Turbo) and that kind of spoiled me. But generally I have been excited by whatever has come my way: that Turbo for sure, a Pro Miyata, a PX-10, several lesser bikes. Oh and my wife's Bob Jackson mixte, but that was a very deliberate choice. The only bike for myself that I actively searched for was my Motobecane Grand Record, and that was not hard to find, as they're not an uncommon bike. Just uncommonly nice.

'Enjoy the journey' is a maxim that applies to C&V as much as anything else, it seems.