More seriously, we have a lot of discussions about what makes something classic, vintage, etc. I've offered a number of opinions on this, probably each one contradicting those that I've offered before, so why not one more? It seems to me that the term "vintage" is usually intended to convey that the item being described as "vintage" will be in some way "better" to some group of people for some reason by virtue of its age or period of origin. The reason may be nostalgia. It may be because said group is a bunch of curmudgeons who are convinced "they don't make 'em like they used to." Or it may be something else. This part is elusive, but I think that the item has to be substantially different from a current or "recent" versions of the same item. For instance, you can't really have a "vintage" Bic pen because Bic pens have hardly changed at all in 75 years. A 75 year old Bic pen is just old.

With that in mind, I'd like to suggest that one way to approach this is to ask whether the same basic technology used in the candidate item is still in use today. There is going to be some gray area here, but I think this has possibilities. For the sake of discussion, I'd like to ask whether the basic technology might be used on a mid-level bike today. As a point of reference, I offer the 2025 Specialized Allez Sport, and I'm going to argue that a bike component doesn't contribute to a bike's "vintage" character if the same basic technology is used on the Allez Sport. Consider a few points of comparison.

Frame: Aluminum -- Not vintage

You can make a strong case that round tubed aluminum frames are vintage, but hydro-formed aluminum is still going strong in the market place. Carbon fiber hasn't filtered down to mid-level bikes yet.

Shifting: Mechanical, indexed -- Not vintage

The 2025 Allez has 10-speed cable actuated indexed shifting, which is not substantially different from the shifting mechanism on a typically 2005 road bike. When electronic shifting trickles down to Tiagra, I will accept that mechanical shifting is vintage.

Brakes: Mechanical, dual pivot rim brakes -- Kind of vintage

The 2025 Allez Sport has hydraulic disc brakes. This one might be open to debate because you can still get caliper brakes at the Dure-Ace level, but generally speaking, even Tiagra-level bikes are spec'd with disc brakes these days.

Pedals: clipless -- Not vintage

Clipless pedals have been around for a long time, but have they changed in any substantial way? If so, I'm not aware of it.

Headset: External cup threadless -- Vintage!

This one kind of surprised me, but a quick glance at a few sub-$2000 road bikes shows that integrated, even tapered, headsets are typical.

Quick release wheels -- Becoming vintage?

I might be stretching my argument thin here, but the 2025 Allez Sport has thru axles. Thru axles! On a Tiagra equipped bike! This is what disc brake users are coming to expect.


So, looking at all that, I still tend to think a bike made in 2005 isn't vintage quite yet, but it's definitely getting there.