Originally Posted by
AlmostTrick
The darling bikes of the C&V forum are the middle and high end road bikes. The higher dollar bikes that most here have and crave. These are the bikes that comprise the bulk of the banter around here, so these are the bikes (in my mind) that are being referenced when the OP asked about the future of C&V.
Youngsters wanting to commute aren't likely to look to these bikes as viable options. Young racers and racer wannabe's won't either. Spend a little time in the commuting and road bike forums and you will see this is true. If the fancy C&V road bikes are not sought after by the younger generations now, why would this change in the future?
What would you define as the ultimate commuter bike? I'm suggesting one in the attachment. I'm going to make the hypothesis that "only" young people are buying that bike. If young folks didn't want steel bikes, then why on earth would a single one of those Bianchi Pistas be bought by anyone? The bike is frikkin expensive. Anyone buying it must want it really badly to lay down that type of coin.
As well - how you define "Darling" mid and high end is different from how someone else defines it. Perhaps your "high end" is Columbus SL, full CR in pristine condition from a top-3 manufacturer. Perhaps for some guy riding a Walmart bike to work, ANY Italian celeste Bianchi is high end to him. And who's to argue against that? A $500 vintage Bianchi CDI certainly classifies as C&V, just as much as a $1500 Specialissima does. And the $500 CDI is most certainly a viable commuting option.