Originally Posted by
Stucky
LOL! Very true!
My old $59 single-speed 20"-tire banana-seat Ross from c. 1970 was personal favorite bike of alltime; the one I had the most awesome memories on.... but I wouldn't ride one of those today if I had it. I didn't have "good" bikes in the 70's & 80's (Actually, I didn't have ANY bikes in the 80's
!) so I really don't have a dream-bike from that period that I "always wanted" at the time- but to me, I just realize that bikes from that time were pretty much the pinnacle of the art of bicycle-making; and it's even better in my view, that (not having had good bikes back then) they are essentially "new" to me. My interest in C7V is not about hearkening back to bikes I rode or lusted after in my youth- but more about the actual bikes, themselves.
I have a feeling it will be that way with a lot of the young'uns today, too- but there will also definitely be a segment who want the newer stuff, as you said, too- just likely not as large as the set today who are into C&V.
Obviously we're in opinion territory here. I definitely don't agree about that period as being the pinnacle...I find the 80s to be the least interesting (outside of early MTBs, outliers like aero craze and the Japanese tourers). The geometry started getting more extreme, the monster tubed aluminium bikes started popping out like bed bugs. The pre-boom stuff is usually built with more care, and has more craft touches (granted IC looks cleaner).
For me the pinnacle of steel is when they started doing stuff like air hardened tubes, OS, shaped, etc. The index/ergos of that era are also amazing; for a combo of looks and performance, it doesn't get much better than 8 and 9sp alloy campy and Dura Ace 7700. We all have our preferences! I do LOVE what happened to tandems, tourers, and MTBs in the 80s.